“A Comparative Study of Transcriptions Based on Five Selected GIM Programs”

Abstract

In this paper we will present the first results of an ongoing explorative, qualitative study based on a comparison of transcriptions from a total of 58 GIM sessions, all guided by AMI Fellow Svein Fuglestad. The goal of the study is to reach a deeper understanding of the workings of the different kinds of music that are at use within GIM therapy, of the very complex relation between music and imagery, and of the degree of commonality in different listeners’ imagery evoked by the same program. Furthermore, the very positive evaluations delivered by the clients after the final GIM session, have led us to focus also on the great potential of GIM therapy as a method of maintaining and/or restoring psychological well-being. In this study five different GIM programs are presented to 10 different subjects, five of whom have sought GIM for therapeutic purposes (to alleviate light to moderate psychological distress), and five of whom are recruited as a control group. The subjects’ background, degree of musical training, and musical preferences have been mapped in an introductory interview. The music programs have been presented subsequently to each of the listeners in six individual GIM sessions, in mostly the same order, unless the therapist found specific therapeutic indications to deviate from the chosen order of programs. The last session – from which one subject chose to refrain – is a repeated listening of the third program (to which we will return shortly). [...]