Pellitteri, J. (2009). Emotional processes in music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers. ISBN-10: 1891278517. E-book. ISBN-13: 9781891278518. $44.00

Pellitteri, J. (2009). Emotional processes in music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers. ISBN-10: 1891278517. E-book. ISBN-13: 9781891278518. $44.00.John Pellitteri, a licensed creative arts therapist and psychologist, whose research concentration has been in the area of emotional intelligence, makes an ambitious attempt to bring a scientific understanding to the "intuitive 'knowing' of the connection between music and emotion" in his book, Emotional Processes in Music Therapy. Pellitteri reasons that music therapy is both an art and a science, and emotional processes can and should be considered from both lenses.The book is divided into four parts. In the first part, as its title "Frameworks" indicates, Pellitteri presents various frameworks used to think about emotion, music and therapy. The first two chapters serve to introduce the topics and the author's stance, which is strongly rooted in the importance of a comprehensive view of emotional processes in music therapy. The entire second chapter is dedicated to defining the different psychophysiological components of emotion and a model of emotional processes, both referenced later in the book. He fittingly calls this chapter "The architecture of emotions." Pellitteri includes an interesting discussion in the third chapter, where he explores not only how music and emotion evolved historically and how their meanings are imbedded in cultural and social structures, but also how music and emotion are believed to have played an important function in early humans' adaptations to their environments and the development of complex thought and language. This chapter concludes with clinical implications related to these evolutionary and anthropological perspectives.The second part, "Foundations," presents the psychophysiological foundations of both emotions and music, and the role of emotions and music in personality development. In the fourth chapter, Pellitteri explains in more depth the interaction of the psychophysiological components - physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and social - of emotions and the model of emotional processes, which includes emotional elicitors, states, expressions and experiences. Here he includes several theorists' ideas about emotional states and their clinical implications. The fifth chapter explores music in a somewhat similar way, looking at how music can initiate these psychophysiological components and how both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities of music are linked with emotion. In chapter six, Pellitteri presents three dynamically oriented models (ego psychology, objects relations theory and attachment theory), the ways in which music and emotions can be understood according to the models, and how one might operate therapeutically within the models. This chapter emphasizes the importance of the client-therapist relationship and how the therapist's understanding of music and emotional processes can strengthen this relationship.Part 3, "Clinical applications," begins with chapter seven, a description of ways of working with emotional processes in music therapy. Pellitteri presents interventions within the four major psychophysiological systems presented in previous chapters. He stipulates that the interventions presented may not be unique, but that the specific focus on emotions in this way may be different. He believes this way of working has implications for deeper levels of therapeutic change and can better inform therapists' decision making in assessment and intervention. Chapter 8 goes on to further develop the likeness of music and emotion, using the term isopomorphic, and how this likeness is responsible for music's effectiveness in clinical work. This is where the author begins to discuss the "art" of music therapy, as this qualitative comparison of music and emotion, or the experience of music as emotion, cannot be objectively observed. Chapter 9 focuses on the author's area of expertise, emotional intelligence, and clinical implications for music therapy. …