Implementing a music therapy program at a new 72-hour acute psychiatric admissions unit: A case study of a patient who was malingering

Because of the relatively poor treatment available, the high financial costs of hospitalization, multiple and complex issues of persons with severe mental illnesses, and advancements in pharmacotherapy, psychiatric patients are often only hospitalized for a few days before they are discharged. Thus, brief psychosocial interventions for persons who are mentally ill have become an important treatment methodology. This article presents a brief review of crisis intervention and its literature as it relates to persons with severe mental illnesses and music therapy. Additionally, it provides clinical guidelines for therapists working in this setting along with a description of an innovative 72-hour program and approach to crisis intervention treatment at a public inpatient psychiatric facility. The article concludes with a clinical case example of music therapy treatment on this pioneering unit with a patient who was diagnosed with malingering.