The client’s potential for therapeutic insight assessed through the ability to reflect verbally and musically

This article will focus on the question of how verbal reflection about music, and musical reflection while playing, can be described with the purpose of assessing a person's possibility to achieve insight in music therapy: The insight potential. The concept of the insight potential is related to the question of whether a client can gain a greater insight in his or her psychological structure and relational patterns of behaviour in the course of music therapy: Is there a potential for psychological growth? Gaining insight is in this context related to the reflective ability of the client; reflection about our self, the relationship, and so on. The article presents a model for interpreting different levels of reflection. These levels concern the way the client reflects verbally about how the music «was», and concern the client's reflection while playing in the music. Reflection in the music is seen at two levels: One level of the music is seen from a preverbal perspective, and one level of the music is seen as -musical representations* and explicit knowledge about the relationship. The model is demonstrated with a case example: David (false name). It discusses to what extent such a model can contribute to the process of assessing clients for music therapy. The music therapy methodology is analytically oriented, and clinical improvisation is referred to in this context.