Presenter says NEA-funded Creative Forces music therapy helps veterans manage pain and PTSD

A presenter described Creative Forces as "a program funded through the NEA" that places creative arts therapists at military and VA healthcare institutions and said the program gives veterans new ways to manage chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The presenter said chronic pain can be continuous and wear on "your soul and on your spirit," adding that sustained pain often affects mental outlook and can lead to depression. "The pain doesn't necessarily happen at any one point," the presenter said, noting that the cumulative effect can be hard to express in words.

The presenter said music provides a nonverbal outlet for veterans who struggle to talk about traumatic experiences: "Sometimes with PTSD, it's really hard to verbalize what they've been through. But they can play it out, they can drum it out, they can strum it out." According to the presenter, veterans in the study reported that participation "changed the way that they think about music and it provided them another tool for dealing with the symptoms."

Describing how therapy is used in practice, the presenter said clinicians and participants work on "how to be in the pain and then use music to help me mitigate it, lower it." The presenter offered personal endorsement: "I have found it extremely helpful. It's one of my go-to therapies on a day-to-day basis."

No formal vote or decision was recorded in the transcript. The presenter framed the remarks as testimony about therapeutic experience and program function; any claims about broader clinical effectiveness or funding beyond the program description were not supported by additional evidence in the transcript.