Prof. Monika SMETANA, PhD
Phone: +43/1/71155-3950
Email: smetana-m@mdw.ac.at
Main research fields:
- Intersubjectivity and dialogue in improvisation
- interactions betwenn therapeutic relationship and music therapy techniques
- predictors of change in music therapy
- psychodynamic theories and concepts:
- linking theory and music therapy practice
- conception and development of assessments for music therapy research and practice
- operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD-3)
- qualitative research, mixed-methods research, interdisciplinary research
Monika Smetana studied music therapy in Vienna (diploma 2001; Mag. art. 2004). In 2012 she completed her PhD (music pedagogy) at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with distinction. She was awarded the Research Award of the Austrian Society for Child and Youth Psychiatry, the Award of Excellence of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research, and the mdw Best Publication Award of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna for her doctoral thesis “Die Wiederkehr des Ähnlichen. Zur Bedeutung musikalischer Objekte in der Musiktherapie bei Jugendlichen mit strukturellen Störungen” .
Monika Smetana has been teaching at mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2012, was a postdoctoral researcher from 2015 after which she was active as a senior scientist from 2021. She has served as deputy head of the Department of Music Therapy since 2016.
From April 2021 to September 2022 she was acting director of the MA music therapy program at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg as a visiting professor.
On 1 March 2023 she was appointed Professor of Music Therapy at mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
She has conducted clinical music therapy in various fields since 1999 including geriatrics, with people with disabilities and mental health issues, and child and adolescent psychiatry. From 2007, the main focus was on music therapy with adolescents. She has been working in private practice in Bad Vöslau, Lower Austria, since 2021.
She is a board member of the private association "Wiener Institut für Musiktherapie" (WIM) and editorial board member of the journal "Musiktherapeutische Umschau".
Selected publications:
Smetana, M., Fitzthum, E., Schmucki, A. & Stegemann, T. (2024). Wie können Übergänge gestaltet und moderiert werden? Generationenwechsel in der Musiktherapieausbildung. Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 45(1), 97-108. https://doi.org/10.13109/muum.2024.45.1.97
Smetana, M., Bishop, L., & Stepniczka, I. (2023). Interfaces of Dialogue: A Mixed Methods Approach to Investigating Intersubjectivity in Dyadic Improvisations. Music and Science, 6. https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043231203807
Smetana, M., Stepniczka, I., & Bishop, L. (2023). COME_IN: A qualitative framework for content, meanings and intersubjectivity in free dyadic improvisations. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 32(2), 157–178. doi:10.1080/08098131.2022.2084638
Farthofer-Schmid, L. & Smetana, M. (2022). Bodily expression and interaction in music therapy. A literature review on theoretical and practical approaches. GMS Journal of Arts Therapies 4, Doc12. doi:10.3205/jat000027
Frohne-Hagemann, I. & Smetana, M. (2021). Indikation. In H.-H. Decker-Voigt & E. Weymann (Hrsg.), Lexikon Musiktherapie, 3., vollständig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage (S. 266–271). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Smetana, M & Storz, D. (2020). Psychotherapeutische Techniken der Musiktherapie. In H. U. Schmidt, T. Stegemann & C. Spitzer (Hrsg.), Musiktherapie bei psychischen und psychosomatischen Störungen (S. 53–58). München: Elsevier.
Smetana, M. (2016). Recurring Similarity: The meaning of musical objects in music therapy for adolescents with structural disorders. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, doi:10.1080/08098131.2015.1117123
Smetana, M. (2016). Zwischen Innen und Außen: Musiktherapie bei Jugendlichen mit strukturellen Störungen. Musiktherapeutische Umschau 37(1), 5–16.
Smetana, M. & Wiesmüller, E. (2014). Vom Umgang mit dem Brüchigen: Diskontinuitäten in der Musiktherapie. Musiktherapeutische Umschau 35(3), 200–209.
Smetana, M. (2012). Die Wiederkehr des Ähnlichen. Zur Bedeutung musikalischer Objekte in der Musiktherapie bei Jugendlichen mit strukturellen Störungen. Wiener Beiträge zur Musiktherapie Band 10. Wien: Praesens.
Smetana M., Heinze S., & Mössler K. (2005). Stille – Sterben – Erwachen. Musiktherapie im Grenzbereich menschlicher Existenz. Wiener Beiträge zur Musiktherapie Band 7. Wien: Edition Praesens.
Full list of Publications: