Pellitteri, J. (2009). Emotional processes in music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona. 255 pages. ISBN 978-1-891278-51-8. $44.00

Pellitteri, J. (2009). Emotional processes in music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona. 255 pages. ISBN 978-1-89127851-8. $44.00The history of mankind is rife with narratives that extol the virtues of music to heal difficult emotions, from descriptions of shamanic healers to the biblical account of David playing the lyre for King Saul to Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Music is an integral part of joyous and solemn occasions, rites, rituals, and spiritual ceremonies, and it permeates our daily life. In all of these events, music and emotion are intimately connected. In fact, the genesis of modern music therapy springs from the intertwining of music and emotion in the treatment offered to veterans returning from WWI who had emotional difficulties due to trauma. Emotions are integral to the functioning of human beings. They are central factors not only in interpersonal relationships, personality development, and individual well being, but also in family, community and global relations. Music, in which sound is predominantly linked to emotive meaning, is often considered to be the language of emotion. Thus Pellitteri's book that explores the intimate relationships between music, emotion, and therapy, and integrates research on the science of emotion, makes a timely and welcome appearance.The author's primary goal is to provide a foundation from which to examine emotional processes as they apply to clinical music therapy. This emotion-focused view, the author states, can enhance the music therapist's work "through a more precise, complex, and multifaceted focus on emotional processes" (p. 148). The author makes the argument that the field of music therapy is ideal for the client's development of emotional functioning because emotions are integral to both music and to interpersonal relationships that occur in clinical work.In this well-researched book, the author draws upon many fields of study, psychology, physiology, neuroscience, anthropology, aesthetics, and music, and filters this knowledge through the lens of emotion science. Divided into four parts, part one presents a framework that encompasses aesthetic, scientific, and anthropological perspectives from which to view the interplay between emotion, music, and the therapeutic process. Part two provides a synthesis of significant empirical research that has emerged in the study of psychophysiological foundations of emotions and explores musical processes and personality development from the standpoint of these foundations. Pellitteri applies this knowledge to clinical music therapy practice in part three from the perspective of emotional functioning and emotional intelligence. Part four examines issues of professional identity.Part one, comprised of three chapters, begins with a discussion of the central role of emotions in human functioning and considers how the creative process in music therapy is both artistic and scientific. The author concludes with three frameworks that inform our understanding of the therapeutic process. The first is an aesthetic frame in which the client is viewed holistically and is metaphorically understood as a work in progress. The second frame is a psychology field theory frame applied to understand the complex dynamics of the Interpersonal process. The third frame describes how the client's experience of engagement with the therapist in the music establishes a capacity for adaptation within the client. The construct of adaptation Is developed as a synthesizing model for therapeutic outcome. Clearly written and with numerous evocative references from philosophy and science, this chapter sets the stage for a discussion of emotions.Chapter 2 outlines the four basic psychophysiological components of emotions. These are the physiological, the cognitive, the behavioral, and the social components, which are interconnected biological and psychological systems that operate simultaneously. The author defines and describes these concepts and brings much needed clarity to semantic differences between such terms as feelings, emotions, and affect. …