Receptive Music Therapy In Palliative Care

We are currently facing very challenging times. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, death and dying came very close to everybody, regardless of age or cultural background. Many people had to face the sudden, often unexpected passing of a dear person. Death breaks into people´s lives, not asking, if they are prepared for it or if it is the right time. Many questions arise with this fact, and one of them often is the concern of how to die with dignity when the end of life is nearing. Dying in dignity is a concern of palliative care, which aims to care and not to cure, focusing on the life quality of a patient who is facing the last days of their life. Sound and music can play an important role in this process. This book is meant to encourage all those working in a palliative care team to consider music as a powerful tool in dealing with the challenges surrounding the end of life. The book will inspire the reader to examine the healing power of sound and music more deeply and serves as a useful support for students in palliative care approaches.

Dr. Cordula Dietrich, a medical doctor, psychiatrist, and psychotherapist has had her own successful private practice for psychotherapy in Berlin, Germany, since 2005. She is trained in receptive music therapy, is a GIM-fellow ( Guided Imagery in Music) and MI therapist ( Music Imagery), and holds a PG-Diploma in Indian Music Therapy. She completed a two-year further training qualification in palliative care. Since 2019, Dr.Dietrich has been teaching music therapy in palliative care at Yenepoya University in Mangalore, South India as a guest professor in music therapy.