Piloting A New Model for Treating MPA: Training a Singing Teacher to Use ACT Coaching w/ a Student
Channel: David Juncos
Date: 2020-05-17

Author 1: Teresa Shaw, MA, University of Chichester, UK, teresashaw.voice@gmail.com  

Author 2: David Juncos, PsyD, Hornstein, Platt & Associates, Philadelphia, PA, USA, drdavidjuncos@gmail.com 

In this video we discuss the results of a recent publication, in which we piloted an alternative model for treating music performance anxiety (MPA): Training a singing teacher to use techniques from Acceptance & Commitment Coaching directly with her student with problematic MPA, rather than outsource this work to a psychologist.  Part of this work was presented by the 2nd author at the International Symposium for Performance Science's 2019 conference, Melbourne, Australia.  

Abstract: 

Piloting A New Model for Treating Music Performance Anxiety: Training a Singing Teacher to Use Acceptance and Commitment Coaching with a Student 

Objective: Thus far, treatments for music performance anxiety (MPA) have focused primarily on using clinical interventions administered by mental health clinicians with training and education in psychotherapy.  While these interventions are promising or even efficacious, many musicians prefer not to work with a mental health clinician due to stigma and lack of time/access.  Student musicians are particularly vulnerable to developing MPA, and while they may prefer consulting with their teachers about MPA over psychotherapy, many teachers feel unqualified to help.  

Method: We investigated an alternative model for intervention, in which a clinical psychologist with MPA expertise trained a singing teacher with no training or education in psychotherapy to use an evidence-based coaching model, Acceptance and Commitment Coaching (ACC), with a university student vocalist with debilitating MPA in a single-case design format.  ACC is a version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that has been used effectively in a variety of non-clinical settings, i.e., with athletes, at the workplace, with undergraduate students, to help people enhance psychological flexibility and improve well-being.  

The professor received approximately seven hours of ACC training via Skype.  In turn, she provided six one-hour ACC sessions to her student, a 19-yr-old male studying Musical Theatre Performance.  The materials for both the training and coaching sessions were taken from an ACC book and an ACT-based self-help book for musicians.  

Results and Conclusions: The vocalist made clinically significant improvements in two ACT-based processes shown to correlate with improved psychological flexibility in previous ACT for MPA psychotherapy research, i.e., acceptance of MPA related discomfort, & defusion from MPA related thoughts.  The student also reported a significant shift had occurred in his thinking about MPA: he became more willing to have it, and so he volunteered to sing in class early in the semester and auditioned for a lead role, both of which were things he previously avoided doing.  These results indicate ACC is a promising MPA intervention that can be administered by a teacher with no formal training or education in psychotherapy.