Abstract
This theoretical-empirical thesis is concerned with relatives of people with dementia and the use of
music therapy as a therapeutic resource. The methodology of the thesis is hermeneutic in orientation
and includes theoretical elements drawn from music therapy, existential psychology, and dementia
research. It is based on the description, analysis and discussion of a multiple case study and a single
case study of adult children of parents with Alzheimer's Disease who participated in group music
therapy sessions implemented by the author. The music therapy form used was GIM (Guided
Imagery Music) in the specific form of Group Music and Imagery (GrpMI). The data gathered from
these music therapy sessions includes transcriptions of the 5 sessions and the participants drawings
of their guided musical journeys.
The resulting theoretical understanding is that the relatives' challenges constitute elements of grief,
crisis, and suffering through experiences of multiple change and loss, which can be summed up as
anticipatory grief. The author arrives at an understanding of grief as an overall process consisting of
different, but equally significant sub-processes whose internal ambivalence is a natural and a
potential problematic precondition and a means for personal, existential growth.
The results of the empirical research have confirmed the theories of relatives' experiences of
changes and loss and have shown a relationship between participants' life situations and therapeutic
goals and yields. It is concluded that receptive group music therapy in the form of GrpMI can assist
relatives of people with dementia in meeting and coping with the changes, loss and grief that they
inevitably face by facilitating the creation of ressources for living and learning through the
anticipatory grief processes.