Ep 32 David John

After completing a degree in music, specialising in composition,
electronic music and piano performance, David trained firstly as
a Music Therapist and subsequently as a Psychotherapist. He
worked in Mental Health Services in Cambridge as a Music
Therapist and as a Clinical Team Lead for an Arts Therapies
Service from 1985 to 2016.

During the 90s David trained at the British Association of
Psychotherapists and gained membership of the British
Psychoanalytic Council in 2000. He joined The British
Psychoanalytic Association in 2011 and subsequently became a
member of the International Psychoanalytic Association and The
European Psychoanalytic Federation.

In his clinical work he tended to specialise in treating people
with significant and chronic conditions that had not responded to
previous treatments. His long experience in mainstream mental
health contributed importantly to his work in private
Psychoanalysis.

He also works as a Community Musician running a community
project, running a Community Music Project - The Recovered Mkii.
He also works as a church organist and jobbing musician with
various Jazz and covers bands.


This conversation had its genesis in a recent Facebook discussion
on the role of psychoanalytic theory in music therapy. We discuss
theories of Freud, Winnicott and Bion. Along the way, an
important distinction is drawn between Winnicott’s theory of
holding and Bion’s container contained, and David makes an
interesting link between Bion’s beta and alpha elements and
musical expression.


John, D. (1992). Towards music psychotherapy. Journal of
British Music Therapy, 6(1), 10-12.


John, D. (2014). Getting better: Some thoughts on the growth of
the therapist. In Supervision of Music Therapy (pp.
95-112). Routledge.


 


The link to the 'Music As Therapy' donations page is here.