New York, NY – In his first job after earning his BA in sociology and psychology, Aaron Rodwin was a case manager at a psychiatric homeless shelter in the Bronx. He observed that many residents who skipped group sessions on anger management and positive thinking would routinely rap and listen to music in the cafeteria. “They were using music as a coping mechanism, yet few formal services offered recognized this as a valuable therapeutic tool.” A desire to explore that potential motivated Aaron to earn his MSW from NYU Silver in 2018 and go on to pursue his PhD.
Now a PhD candidate, Aaron has received a highly prestigious and competitive two-year, $79,000 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31) from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for his dissertation research and training. His focus is on how music use, as a self-management strategy, may influence mental health and recovery among young adults with serious mental illnesses. Aaron will complete his F31 under the mentorship of Professor Michelle Munson in whose Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Group he is based, along with a team of scientists from across the country. “The goal of the study is to amplify young adults’ voices and to disseminate findings to inform novel services and interventions that align with youth culture and preferences,” said Aaron.
Music As a Potential Therapeutic Tool
Music-based interventions are diverse and can be used in many ways in clinical practice. Aaron noted this often includes a combination of ‘‘receptive” strategies, such as listening and discussing song lyrics, and “active” strategies, such as making beats, drumming and writing songs. The former is a means to help someone process, self-reflect, and express emotions while the latter may be more helpful for regulating and managing emotional states.
Although there is a growing interest and body of research about music’s capacity to support health and wellness as it relates to brain disorders of aging (e.g., Alzheimer's, dementia), less is known about its potential among young adults with serious mental illness. Aaron explained that young adulthood is a period where serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia-spectrum and major mood disorders emerge and peak in intensity. Left untreated these conditions can present a barrier to recovery related outcomes like education, employment and relationships.
“While many clinicians currently use music in their practice with young people,” said Aaron, “less is known empirically about how it may impact recovery among young adults who are living with serious mental illnesses.” His dissertation aims to contribute to that emerging evidence base by exploring and identifying underlying mechanisms of change that may shed light on if and how music may influence recovery among this population.
Using a Mixed Method Approach
Aaron’s dissertation will integrate the strengths of both open-ended interviews and structured surveys with young adults who are receiving outpatient mental health services in New York. Some of the interview questions probe how listening to music may impact participants’ mood along with ways it has been helpful or unhelpful for their mental health. Others explore what recovery means to them and what factors have supported or hindered their recovery.
“Three things I’m really interested in is how music may impact young people’s capacity to regulate their emotions, relate and connect with other people and also engage in self-reflection,” he said. “Then, in turn, how may these potential changes impact their clinical recovery, or the extent to which they experience symptoms like paranoia, depression and anxiety, as well as their personal recovery, or their sense of hope and optimism for the future, connection with other people and meaning in life.”
Music May Help—But Not Always
While making or listening to music can serve healthy functions, like aiding relaxation, coping and social connection, research has shown that it can also have unhealthy ones, like getting stuck in bad memories and entrenching negative emotions. One of Aaron’s hypotheses is that unhealthy uses of music may be associated with more difficulty regulating and managing emotions, and, in turn, more mental health symptoms. “If we find that is the case, it could offer practical information for clinicians,” he said. For example, clinicians could provide psychoeducation about how music can be used in healthy ways while being mindful of potential risks. It may also involve helping clients develop personalized playlists for different emotional states.
Part of recovery involves going to treatment and receiving services, said Aaron, but it’s also about developing self management strategies. “Since young people spend nearly 40 hours a week listening to music, its potential as a self-management and coping strategy that can be used outside of treatment cannot be overlooked.”
Mentorship Support
In conducting his research, Aaron has the support of his dissertation committee composed of Dr. Munson, NYU Silver Professors Ramesh Raghavan and Victoria Stanhope as well as Texas State University Professor Raphael Travis Jr. As part of the training, he will also receive mentorship from NYU Silver Professor Emeritus James Jaccard, University of Chicago Professor Gina Miranda Samuels, University of Minnesota Professor Michael Silverman, and Bruce Perry of The Neurosequential Network and La Trobe University. “I have a great committee and team of mentors on the F31 who have generously contributed their time to support my training and growth,” said Aaron.
He expressed particular appreciation for Dr. Munson. Aaron has worked with her and the Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Group since 2017 when he was in the MSW Program. “Dr. Munson has been an instrumental mentor throughout my whole journey. She has played a massive role in my development.” He added that Dr. Raghavan taught the Grant Writing class where he first drafted his F31 submission. “That class was instrumental. He has been a very influential professor.”
He also thanked Dr. Stanhope, who was PhD Program Director when he started the program, and Associate Professor Rohini Pahwa, who is the current PhD Program Director, for their guidance and mentorship. “I feel very fortunate and supported at Silver.”
Dr. Munson noted, “Aaron is an exceptional student and emerging scholar in youth and young adult mental health. His research offers the field an innovative path forward, an opportunity to follow his clinical observations about the potential power of music as a youth-relevant self-management strategy, while remaining open to what he learns, empirically, about its impact. The clinical insights Aaron brings to his research possess real-world nuance, and he has an uncanny ability to seamlessly weave them together with current theoretical ideas. We are confident that this F31 fellowship will advance his training and research career, while moving forward new impactful ways to think about music as a self-management strategy..”
About NYU Silver School of Social Work
Founded in 1960 and renowned for a strong tradition of excellence in direct social work practice and dedication to social justice, NYU Silver has provided rigorous training to more than 20,000 social work practitioners and leaders in every area of the field, making it the leading destination for students who want to become innovative practitioners at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice. The School has four campuses in the heart of New York City, Rockland County, Westchester County, and Shanghai.