Band-Aids. Tylenol. Penicillin. When most of us get sick, we use medicines to cure our aches and injuries. Some ailments, however, can’t be cured with pills or post-op. Nothing that is offered in a doctor’s office or emergency room can fully take away the pain, depression, and anxiety that come from abuse. For women and children who have experienced domestic violence, Utah State professor Elizabeth York is using a different therapy—music—and is examining the role that the creative arts play in treatment.

“Music can be a healing, therapeutic agent,” says York. “This approach can be very effective in helping people develop coping strategies, express feelings of anxiety and helplessness, increase self-esteem, bond, and provide an alternative way to voice traumatic experiences.”

York has been working with a group of women at the Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency (CAPSA), using music to help them recover from the traumatization and pain that they have suffered from abuse. York held music therapy sessions with the women for two-hours each week, for nine months.

Women participated in a variety of musical and creative activities during the sessions. They participated in vocal warm-up exercises to strengthen their voices, created artwork while listening to music, analyzed and wrote song lyrics and poetry, and learned drumming techniques on hand drums they made themselves.

“My initial hope was that participation in the project would help the women to identify themes that are relevant to their healing process, and that it would empower them to make healthy choices outside of the group,” York says.

York, however, could not have predicted the extent of this empowerment and the degree to which the women became involved in the project.

Fifteen weeks into the project, some of the women expressed interest in sharing the songs and poems they had written with others beyond the group. York’s research design, which initially had been focused on simply identifying themes that the women shared in the group, changed.

“It was quite a shift,” says York. “I transformed a grounded theory approach to qualitative research into a creative piece of art.”

The change was worth it.

York used the data she had collected from the research and collapsed it into three major themes. She then wrote the performance piece, called “Finding Voice: The Music of Battered Women,” based on the women’s’ stories, poetry, and songs. The play portrays the women’s experiences from their first contact with CAPSA, to finding common ground with members of the support group, to their own healing processes.

“Finding Voice” consists of material written by a total of forty women participants, whose writings are included in the play. At the same time the work educates the public about issues related to domestic violence and their determination to break free from abuse. As one woman wrote, “One thing that lies can never do is break my inner soul.”

Fifteen of the women performed “Finding Voice” in nine venues throughout the state, including the Utah Shelter Conference, the Victim’s Assistance Training Academy, meetings of the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition, Utah State University, and the University of Utah.

As the women planned their performances, they were given the option of remaining anonymous by staying behind a screen, wearing masks, altering their voices, or not giving their names. The women, however, decided to make their identities known, in order to bring a more lasting impact to the people who watched their performance.

“It was astounding to me,” says York. “’Finding Voice’ became a metaphor for these women to speak out, to voice what had happened to them in a clear and authentic way. It also gave them an opportunity to rediscover musical and creative skills that had been repressed during the abuse.”

As a result of participating in this project, York says the women reported increases in self-esteem, decreased need for anxiety medications, and more positive communication with children and family members. Many of the women are continuing their education, have returned to meaningful employment, and have ended their abusive relationships. Finally, the women recorded a CD of the entire work, the proceeds of which will benefit CAPSA.

York is now working on “Phase II” of her project. By inviting not only women served by the CAPSA shelter but their children as well, she is examining the effects of music on bonding. York and her team of undergraduate researchers are identifying bonding behaviors during two types of mother/child sessions: one involving music and one involving verbal communication.

The music sessions consist of singing, drawing to music, improvised duets, and movement to music. The non-musical sessions eliminate the musical elements, substituting similar activities used in play therapy like drawing, reading a story, and playing games.

York is excited to see the results of the project.

“With research, one has to be patient, to keep an open mind. That is the exciting part of research,” York says. “I feel fortunate that my work has been recognized. It’s unusual research in an unusual field. Research opportunities give me the opportunity to share my work and the benefits of music therapy with a broader community.”

York said she hopes that other performers and professors in the creative arts will explore research opportunities.

“There are endless possibilities for research in the creative arts to explore the effects of arts on human behavior, to comment on social issues through the arts, and to expand accessibility of the arts to persons with disabilities,” says York.

- Erin Didericksen