Music Therapy and Healing Childhood Trauma

A recent study in the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy looked at a collection of studies (35 in total) where music therapy was used with kids and young adults (up to age 24) who had been through something called “ACEs” (Adverse Childhood Experiences). These are serious hardships in childhood that can affect someone’s emotional, mental, and physical health long-term.

The goal? To figure out how music therapy is being used, what it's aiming to help with, and whether it actually works.

What Did They Find?

• Lots of Variety: Therapists used music in all kinds of ways—singing, songwriting, drumming, listening, and more. But there wasn’t one clear method or approach that everyone used.

• Different Goals: Music therapy was used to help with things like emotional expression, building trust, improving self-esteem, or just helping kids feel safe.

• Not Much Hard Proof (Yet): Out of all the studies, only a few showed clear, measurable benefits. That doesn’t mean music therapy doesn’t work—it just means more research is needed to prove how and why it works.

• Customized for Each Kid: Therapists seemed to adjust what they did based on each child’s needs, which is great in real life—but hard to compare in studies if everyone’s doing something different.

  
  

the Takeaway

Music therapy might be a powerful tool to help kids and teens who’ve faced trauma. But to really understand its impact, we need more consistent research—where therapists clearly explain what they did, why they did it, and what changed as a result.

Why This Matters

Music reaches parts of us that words sometimes can’t. That’s why it's such a promising way to process painful emotions. This study doesn’t give us all the answers, but it’s a big step toward making music therapy more widely accepted, better understood, and more available to those who need it most.