Group music therapy with adolescents referred for aggression

A music therapy group for adolescents referred for aggression can afford a context where the sense of aggression can be received, explored, and processed, but also where aggression becomes non-sense. This chapter examines the multifaceted nature of aggression and how, through group music therapy, adolescents’ multiplicities can be welcomed, a non-judgemental space for the exploration of anger and self-control can be offered, generative negotiation can be practised, personal pain can be voiced, and the pain of others can be heard and held. Through this process adolescents can grow increasingly aware of how their own behaviour impacts the cycles of aggression they are part of, and how alternative behavioural strategies can elicit more generative responses from others.