When someone finally lets themselves say it — I'm a musician — something clicks.

Not because anything about their playing changed. Because their relationship to where they are changes. They can enjoy their current level while still recognizing there's endless room to grow. They stop apologizing for their interests. They stop dimming down their accomplishments in rooms where music comes up.

When we stop something, we almost always reach for the same explanation: lack of willpower. Lack of follow-through. Some character flaw dressed up as a lifestyle pattern.

Its an easy answer. But it's also almost never true.

A question I get a lot is, “So, what IS music therapy?”

Here are seven quick facts about the field of music therapy and who can benefit from it: