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Are rhythm-based experiences beneficial for people with traumatic stress? Some have suggested that it is one way to bypass cognitive functioning and support connections via more primitive parts of the brain impacted by trauma (Perry, 2009). In other words, interventions that focus on a sensory-based level could be more effective than purely cognitive strategies. Current thinking tells us that rhythm stimulates patterned and repetitive experiences and influences mind and body in wide-reaching ways. Depending on the beat, rhythmic experiences can energize, bring about sensations of enlivenment, or engage us through entrainment and synchrony. When trauma has dulled the ability to experience joy, playfulness, and pleasure, rhythm can be a way to reintroduce aliveness to body and mind (Malchiodi, 2020).
Technically, by definition rhythm is the length of notes. Tempo is another important term; it actually refers to the pace of a piece of music and how quickly or slowly it goes by. There is also meter—how hard or light you tap your foot or clap your hands, for example, when listening to music. So. when you are tapping or clapping to music, there are some beats that seem stronger than others when grouped together. All three of these components are often implied in the experience of rhythm even though each has a slightly different meaning. For simplicity’s sake, just think of rhythm as the overarching concept when it comes to applying it in expressive arts and trauma treatment. It’s often easiest to think of it as how you or your client perceives the “heartbeat” or pulse of any rhythm, sound, or song.
Everyone reacts differently to music; we respond to cadence, melody, and lyrics depending on our experiences and other factors. In working with individuals of all ages who have traumatic stress there are personal preferences for rhythms (fast, slow, loud, soft) along an extensive continuum. In working with traumatized children over decades, I observed that their engagement with percussion often emerges in extremes. That is, often a child with traumatic stress used instruments very loudly or very softly and very fast or very slow [or not at all after initial attempts]. Another might sing in monotone or in a narrow range of rhythms, often getting stuck in repetition without flexibility. I learned that helping these children and later, adults understand different ways to experience rhythm began to support the flexibility necessary to self-regulate their struggles with hyperactivation. In other cases, rhythm became the starting point to re-sensitize children and adults to experiences of play, energy, and enlivenment that years of traumatic stress and adverse events robbed from them.
There are many ways to introduce rhythm into psychotherapy including combinations of movement, gesture, image-making, and vocalization. But drums and percussion instruments are possibly the most widely used because they are accessible forms of “rhythm communication” for children and adults. Here are four functions of expressive arts in addressing traumatic stress that are particularly relevant when introducing rhythm as a reparative and restorative experience with a focus on music and sound:
1. Self-Regulation. The most basic function of rhythm is found in physiological regulation. In other words, rhythm is a source of stabilization that supports an internalized sense of safety. For many individuals in the beginning stages of trauma treatment, focused music listening and soothing sounds or playing instruments with calming tones such as a tongue or “Panda” drum are part of decreasing hyperactivation. Similarly, when withdrawal or dissociation are prominent reactions, rhythm-based experiences can help the individual safely explore what enlivens or energizes, grounding and anchoring the person in the “here and now.”
2. Co-Regulation. When making sounds, vocalizations, or music together, entrainment and synchrony become core components of rhythmic experiences. In expressive arts therapy sessions, this takes place between the therapist and individual; in a group, this may include drumming together, sharing singing, or structured expressive arts designed to support co-regulation. While physiological regulation is the main goal, positive attachment and cohesive relationships are also reinforced.
3. Exploration. Rhythm-based experiences are the foundation of improvisational activities that lead to eventual expression of emotions and thoughts. For example, drumming sounds to express emotions is a form of implicit, sensory-based communication that stimulates narrative (cognitive) explanations in psychotherapeutic sessions. Exploratory rhythm activities also can be a basis for deepening arts-based expression that lead to songwriting, an integrative experience.
4. Restoration. In expressive arts therapy, my goal as a psychotherapist is to ultimately facilitate restoration of the self. That is, to see the individual, family, or group recover wholeness through a sense of well-being, resilience-building, and social engagement. In her three-part trauma recovery model, Herman (1992) cited the important step of re-entering community—the integrative process for the private and public self. While some of the restorative process is supported in psychotherapy sessions, the “rhythm of restoration” often includes a wider audience through performance of what one creates. In other words, this function is not restricted to psychotherapy, but often includes peers, support groups, community arts programming, and other community contexts where arts-based expressions such as songs and performance are shared.
While rhythm-based experiences may influence brain activity when it comes to trauma, there is actually a continuum of reparation we can look to when working with expressive approaches. Although regulatory properties of rhythm can be physiological pathways to both soothing and enlivening the body, ultimately restoration is found in the “social rhythm” of expressive arts therapy and how those rhythms connect us in healing and health-giving ways.
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References
Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and recovery. New York: Basic Books.
Malchiodi, C. A. (2020). Trauma and expressive arts therapy: Brain, body, and imagination in the healing process. New York: Guilford Publications.
Perry, B. D. (2009). Examining child maltreatment through a neurodevelopmental lens: Clinical applications of the neurosequential model of therapeutics. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 14 240-255.
