ABSTRACT

The inner child is a concept that clinically has roots at least back to Carl G. Jung. In the 80s and early 90s appeared a movement of self-help psychology that stressed the importance and effectiveness of inner child work. Most of these movements were grounded in Jungian psychology. Through the litteraturereview in this master thesis it has been shown that there seems to be two approaches to the concept of the inner child: some authors connect the inner child and the inner wounded child to the terms true self and false self, which are terms derived form object-relations theorist, Donald W. Winnicott. Other authors defines the inner child concept as actual ego-states/subpersonalities. The litterature suggests that inner child work is one of the most effective tools for therapeutic change.

Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to examine how an experience of an inner child appears in vocal improvisation in music therapy with a woman with personality disorder, in the context of a psychodynamic approach.

Method: To answer the above question, a single-case study is investigated inspired by a phenomenological and hermeneutic approach. The concept of the inner child will be examined through a litterature review, along with a shorter reviews of existing litterature on the inner child in music therapy, and voice work in music therapy. The case is defined by a voice improvisation proces in music therapy with an adult woman.

Data: The data in this investigation consists of two vocal improvisations between the client and the therapist within two music therapy sessions during the investigator´s internship. The data material is gathered from audio samples, the client´s drawings, along with the therapist´s notes taken after the sessions. The improvisations are analyzed using Gro Trondalens (2007) phenomenologically inspired approach to microanalysis of improvisation in music therapy.
Results: The results of this investigation has shown that it is possible to analyse and come to an understanding of the experience of the inner child in vocal improvisation, hereby as it being inner child parts/subpersonalities. It can be stressed that the client, through the process of the two vocal improvisations, established an ability in herself to connect to her inner child´s pain and take care of it. It was shown that the vocal improvisations also affected her life outside the therapy setting, where she became less dependent on others and more attentive to her inner childs needs.