Professor of the Bachelor's Degree in Music Therapy at Unespar, specialist in the fundamentals of Brazilian popular music (FAP) and Master in Music (UFG).
The Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science (Manifesto) proposes the incorporation of the spiritual component of the human being in the sciences, without renouncing to the materialistic scientific method. Recent research works seem to indicate the existence of something beyond matter, which may be at the origin of mental disorders. Optimizing spiritual health is one of the goals of music therapy (MT) and the post-materialist paradigm proposed in the Manifesto (paradigm) opens the perspective of investigating so-called spiritual phenomena reported during MT sessions, and even occur in them. This qualitative exploratory study was carried out through an integrative review aiming to identify, in the research works carried out by Brazilian music therapists who address MT, spirituality and mental health, how the paradigm is presented and how it can be related to MT practice and research in this field. One of the five works selected implicitly aligns with the paradigm, and, insofar as it allows music therapists to broaden their understanding of spirituality beyond the limits of the psyche and sociocultural influences, the paradigm relates favourably to MT practice and research in relation to mental health. Nevertheless, most research on MT and mental health returned in searches does not address spirituality.
