ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the research on receptive music therapy in psychiatry in the EA 4056 and EA 3625 laboratories of the Paris Descartes University. Philippe Pinel and his disciples, the first psychiatrists, developed the first experiments involving receptive and active music therapy in psychiatry. Whereas the artistic and aesthetic dimension places art therapy practices among the multiple modalities of physical care, the question of aesthetic emotion within clinical practice remains relatively unexplored, notably within music therapy. Aesthetic emotion is a complex emotion that cannot be assimilated to basic emotions such as joy or sadness which may be felt while listening to a piece of music. Music is a form of symbolisation given by culture in order to transform the sensory excitement of noise and sound. It offers a suitable space for games and their variations. The effort of symbolisation is necessary to a non-traumatic functioning of the psyche.
