Injury and pain in performing musicians: A psychodynamic diagnosis

Bull Menninger Clin. 1998 Winter;62(1):83-95.

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increased attention to the physical complaints of musical performers. Lockwood (1989) reviewed ailments encountered by physicians who treat musicians and maintained that "complaints of purely psychic origin are very unusual" (p. 225). The author disagrees with Lockwood's position. This article explores the multiple meanings of pain and injury in musicians. Clinical material illustrates how dynamic unconscious phenomena influence the musical performer's somatic complaints.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Music*
  • Occupational Diseases / psychology*
  • Pain / psychology
  • Psychoanalytic Interpretation*
  • Psychoanalytic Theory
  • Psychoanalytic Therapy
  • Shame
  • Somatoform Disorders / psychology*
  • Unconscious, Psychology
  • Wounds and Injuries / psychology*