(1985). Psychoanalytic Review, 72:479-490 The Voice as a Curative Factor in Psychotherapy The cry of the newborn baby activates his breathing mechanism and heralds his arrival into the world. It also constitutes his first vocalization-a wordless communication of new life that later evolves into a complexity and a pattern according to the culture which shapes him. This paper discusses the vocalization that occurs in psychotherapy and suggests ways it contributes to the healing process. My ideas are based on clinical experience as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, psychological and medical research on the voice, and my experiences as an amateur singer and voice student. Leo Stone (1961) states that the vocalization which is patterned into speech is the medium, the technical instrument, by which therapists carry out their work. It is a vehicle of object relationship which arises at a time when intimate contact with the mother is coming to an end. In the psychotherapeutic situation, he says, the communication of insight, the neutralizing of instinctual energies, the co [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
