Compose: Singing as a Depth Modality in the Treatment of Trauma

Abstract

The author situates the human singing voice at the axis of Psyche and Soma, suggesting vocalization as vital in the transformation of any trauma complex. Using Intuitive Inquiry as a methodology, the results of the study are presented as a prerecorded vocal method for survivors of trauma supported by a qualitatively researched rationale. In the Compose method, imagistic representations and sonic manifestations are initially culled through visceral interoception and exteroceptive sensory awareness. These images are then externalized in freely associated dreamlike scenes. Since singing is physical and imagistic, the entirety of the body (as a biological organism and symbolic field) is engaged in transforming the traumatically induced complex. Drawing from heuristic self-exploration, the depth psychological tradition, and contemporary somatic approaches, findings indicate that vocalization may be instrumental in the healing of trauma survivors.