David L. Abbott MA, MT-BC, PhD Cand.
Lesley
Singing with the Phantom: Music, Somatic and Affective Regulation for Amputation-Related Pain—A Critical Disability Perspective
Abstract
Amputation-related pain is a longitudinal phenomenon, spanning acute trauma, procedural care, repetitive stress, and phantom limb pain. Traditional pain management often compartmentalizes these stages; however, for patients, pain remains an unpredictable incursion on the bodymind. This presentation utilizes a longitudinal personal case study to examine music therapy as a tool for somatic stabilization and agency. By integrating a Critical Disability Studies perspective with lived experience, I interrogate how music fosters resilience across the pain trajectory. Drawing on clinical analogies, I argue that centering 'epistemic authority' via embodied knowledge is essential to bridging the gap between medical protocols and patient realities.
Biography
David L. Abbott, MA, MT-BC, is a PhD Candidate in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University and a Board-Certified Music Therapist. His research investigates the intersection of Critical Disability Studies and the professional identity of disabled clinicians. As a Learning Specialist and thesis mentor at Pratt Institute, David bridges systemic advocacy with clinical education. Drawing on his lived experience as an amputee navigating the music therapy profession, David interrogates the tensions between institutional standards and disability identity. He advocates for a paradigm shift that centers the 'epistemic authority' of the disabled practitioner, treating lived experience as primary clinical evidence.