95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1541528
This article is part of the Research Topic Music-based interventions for mental health and wellbeing View all articles
Music as a collaborating actor: new insights into the nature and role of music in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy
Provisionally accepted- 1 St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne), Melbourne, Australia
- 2 University College Dublin, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
- 3 The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- 4 Department of Social Work, Caritas Christi, St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne), Melbourne, Australia
Music has been identified as a central feature of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) and has hitherto been understood to amplify the psychedelic experience in a predictable way that has been codified into music recommendations and playlists.To re-evaluate the nature and role of music within the participant's world during Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy.Phenomenological analysis of participants' descriptions of music during a randomised control trial of PAP at end-of-life involving two doses and a semi-structured interview following each dose.Music undergoes a profound change during PAP that radically transforms it from everyday recorded music into a series of internally generated multisensory and deeply personal experiences that arrive fully formed and which are instantly known by the participant. Some of these are constituted into actors that collaborate with the participant and the psychotherapist in their ongoing psychotherapy endeavours. This stands in stark contrast with the everyday properties of music described by those in the placebo group.An alternate understanding of music in PAP is suggested that radically departs from the view that music is 'administered' as part of PAP. There are profound implications for the practise of PAP and further research.
Keywords: Music Therapy, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, end-of-life, Palliative Care, psilocybin, Psychotherapy
Received: 07 Dec 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dwyer, Johnston, O'Callaghan, kallianis and Ross. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Justin Dwyer, St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne), Melbourne, Australia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.