Vita

Petra Jürgens, Prof. Dr. sc. mus. | born 1960 in Mecklenburg/Vorpommern |

first studied musicology, German language and literature, education and psychology at the universities of Greifswald & Leipzig. She then worked for several years as a freelance musician and researched the history of Low German song. At the same time, she acquired various additional qualifications in the field of depth psychology-based music therapy.

From 1990 onwards, Petra Jürgens worked as a therapist in areas such as rehabilitation, special education, neuro-psychiatry, psychosomatics & psychotherapy. Looking back, she particularly appreciates her many intensive “apprenticeship years” with Dr. habil. Christoph Schwabe as formative for her – first as a student and then as his colleague. In this context, she also dedicated herself to her first larger research projects, such as music therapy in the long-term penal system.

At the turn of the year 1996/97, Petra Jürgens took over the management of the Institute for Music Therapy Berlin-Zehlendorf, which was founded in 1962. After 25 years in this post, Petra Jürgens is currently in the process of completely transferring the practical experience she gained, the training concepts she developed and the scientific results she obtained at the Berlin Institute to the campus of her second “home”, the Friedensau Adventist University (FAU), as she has also been teaching and researching here since 1998.

A fortunate circumstance led her to Prof. Dr. Hans-Helmut Decker-Voigt in Hamburg in 2001, from whom, as her “doctoral supervisor”, she received decisive support for her academic, sometimes very painful, examination of the history of East German music therapy. In addition to the exquisite professional stimuli, in her own words, she always encountered variables as An-Klang in major and minor, resonance, beat, rhythm, syncopation, dynamics and reliable emotional support with him. The result of her doctoral studies was awarded “summa cum laude” in 2006.

All previous music therapy training programmes at Friedensau Adventist University eventually led to an accredited Master’s programme in music therapy, which Petra Jürgens has led as professor since 2011. She also holds the office of director of the Institute for Music Therapy at the FAU.

In addition to these tasks, Petra Jürgens also practices psychotherapy using, among other things, depth psychology-based, systemic and hypnoanalytic approaches in combination with artistic media.

Her research focuses on the history of science, sociological, methodological-didactic and sociological aspects of music-psychotherapy.

A selection of her various publications include:

„Geschichte der ostdeutschen Musiktherapie, Entwicklung – Selbstverständnis – gesellschaftspolitischer und wissenschaftstheoretischer Kontext“. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften (2007) as well as a wide variety of contributions to music therapy in the following publication series: Charité-Gespräche Berlin, Musiktherapeutische Umschau, Musik und Gesundsein, Crossener Schriften zur Musiktherapie, Friedensauer Schriftenreihe, popular science articles and essays in magazines, daily newspapers, exhibition catalogues, etc.

Petra Jürgens has been a member of the editorial team of the professional journal “Musik und Gesundsein” since 2021. She lives alternately in the noisy, centrally located centre of Berlin and on her secluded, quiet homestead in the Schorfheide.