Narrative archetypes in the imagery of clients in Guided Imagery and music therapy sessions

Abstract

This study explores imagery evoked by Guided Imagery and Music’s (GIM) ‘Nurturing’ programme (seven classical orchestral compositions) and relates it to Jung’s Eros principle (passive and nurturing). Participants’ statements during 23 GIM sessions were recorded, transcribed and categorised by five coders into seven sub-categories, three of which belonged to Jung’s Eros (Flora, Fauna, Feelings), three to his Logos (Events, Structures, Actions), and one (Characters) that mixed Eros and Logos. The same categorisation was applied to 23 randomly selected fairy-tales from different cultures as a comparison. We predicted that participants’ imagery would be mainly Eros, corresponding to the choice of music. In fact, categories Structures(Logos), Flora(Eros), Fauna(Eros) and Feelings(Eros) occurred significantly more often in participants’ imagery than in the fairy-tale comparisons. These categories are plot-static: they do not generate active relationships between characters. Events(Logos), Actions(Logos) and Characters(Eros/Logos) occurred significantly less often. We conclude that music of the ‘Nurturing’ programme elicits mostly the Eros type imagery. It has the psychological function of creating an emotional-scenic background, but does not drive the narrative plot. In this sense, it may be misleading to describe the music of ‘Nurturing’ as a kind of virtual narrative or as having narrative structure or function.