Favouring emotional processing in improvisational music therapy through resonance frequency breathing: a single-case experimental study with a healthy client

Resonance frequency breathing (RFB) is a form of slow breathing at around six breaths/min, whose immediate effects are to substantially increase heart rate variability (HRV) and to reduce stress levels. Since RFB has already been successfully used on its own to treat various emotional disorders, we wanted to evaluate its effect on emotional processing when used as a preparatory intervention in improvisational music therapy. To do so, we performed a single-subject experimental study with a healthy participant. We hypothesised that RFB would serve both as an emotional catalyst and emotional regulator, the actual outcome depending on the client’s current issues and needs. The study consisted of 10 music therapy sessions, with the breathing intervention used at the beginning of every other session, in alternation with a control intervention. The data collection focussed on HRV during talking and music-making, emotion and abstraction levels in verbal content, body language, and a set of music features extracted from the client’s improvisations. Our results show that the sessions starting with RFB were characterised by higher stress levels and the expression of more negative emotions, without it leading to hyperarousal and integration problems.