The following is a list of PhDs in music therapy undertaken from 1989 onwards, with links to download theses where available.

1989
Title: Utilizing music therapy as a mode of treatment for the performance stress of professional musicians
Author: Montello, Louise
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1990

Title: A phenomenology of music therapy with the terminally ill
Author: Forinash, Michele
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1991
Title: To meet and match the moment of hope: transpersonal elements of the guided imagery and music experience
Author: Kasayka, Roseann
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: The roots of music therapy: towards an indigenous research paradigm (Vol I & II)
Author: Aigen, Ken
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1992
Title: The analysis of therapeutic improvisatory music with people living with the virus HIV and AIDS
Author:Lee, Colin Andrew
Awarding institution: City University

Title: Awakening and expanding the self: meaningful moments in the music therapy process as experienced and described by music therapists and music therapy clients
Author: Amir, Dorit
Supervisor: Hesser, Barbara
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Mythopoetic music therapy: a phenomenological investigation into its application with adults
Author:Gonzalez, David
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1993
Title: A qualitative study of children in crisis: interventions through music therapy and digital music technology
Author: Nagler, Joseph
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1994
Title: A hermeneutic panel study of music therapy assessment with an emotionally disturbed boy
Author: Loewy, Joanne
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1995
Title: Singing the songs: a qualitative study of music therapy with individuals having psychiatric illnesses as well as histories of childhood sexual abuse
Author: Hammel-Gormley, Amy
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

1998
Title: Music on their minds: a qualitative study of the effects of using familiar music to stimulate preserved memory function in persons with dementia
Author: Tomaino, Concetta
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: The experience of music therapists in an improvisational therapy group
Author: Arnason, Carolyn
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Singing my life, playing my self: investigating the use of familiar pre-composed music and unfamiliar improvised music in clinical music therapy with individuals with chronic neurological illness
Author: Magee, Wendy L.
Supervisor: Davidson, Jane
Awarding institution: University of Sheffield

1999
Title: Music therapy: enhancing communication between family caregivers and their loved ones with dementia
Author: Gardner, Carol
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Music therapy as discourse and discipline: a study of 'music therapist's dilemma'
Author: Ansdell, Gary
Awarding institution: City University

2001
Title: 'The invisible handshake': an investigation of free musical improvisation as a form of conversation
Author: Sutton, Julie Patricia
Awarding institution: University of Ulster

2002
Title: The restoration of communal experiences during the group music therapy process with non-fluent aphasic patients
Author: Ramsey, David W.
Supervisor: Hesser, Barbara
Awarding institution: NYU - The Steinhardt School of Education

2003
Title: Music therapy process with young people who have severe and multiple disabilities
Author: Van Colle, Susan Judith
Awarding institution: University of Reading

Title: Music therapy with children on the autistic spectrum: approaches derived from clinical practice and research
Author: Oldfield, Amelia
Supervisor: Odell-Miller, Helen
Awarding institution: Anglia Ruskin University

2004
Title: When words sing and music speaks: a qualitative study of in depth music psychotherapy with adults
Author: Austin, Diane
Supervisor: Hesser, Barbara
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Mindfulness in music therapy clinical improvisation: when the music flows
Author: Fidelibus, Joseph F.
Supervisor: Hesser, Barbara
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

2005
Title: A qualitative study of intuition as experienced and used by music therapists
Author: Brescia, Tina M.
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Gilbert, John; Aigen, Kenneth
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education
Link to thesis:

Title: Presenting Carly and Elliot: exploring roles and relationships in a mother-son dyad in Nordoff-Robbins music therapy
Author: Nowikas Sorel, Suzanne
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Musumeci, James; Aigen, Kenneth
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education
Link to thesis:

Title: Music therapy with adults with learning difficulties and 'severe challenging behaviour': an action research inquiry into the benefits of group music therapy within a community home
Author: Warner, Cathy
Awarding institution: University of the West of England

2006
Title: Intentionality of autistic individuals expressed while engaged in the creative music making process
Author: Kim, Mi-Jin
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Gilbert, John; Burrows, David
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Musical journeys: music therapy with Latin American mother-infant dyads in a substance abuse rehabilitation program
Author: Ramirez Loveszy, Rebecca
Supervisors:Hesser, Barbara; Ely, Margot; Cunningham, Nicholas
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Performance in music therapy with mentally ill adults
Author: Jampel, Peter
Supervisors: Gilbert, John; Aigen, Kenneth; Taylor, Philip
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

2007
Title: The spiritual meaning of music therapy after the death of a loved one: a qualitative study of surviving caregivers
Author: Magill, Lucanne
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Aigen, Kenneth; Holland, Jimmie
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: The connection between words and music in music therapy improvisation: an examination of a therapist's method
Author: Turry, Alan
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Aigen, Kenneth; Margot, Ely
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Counter transference in music therapy: a phenomenological study on counter transference used as a clinical concept by music therapists working with musical improvisation in adult psychiatry
Author: Pedersen, Inge Nygaard
Awarding institution: Aalborg University, Denmark
Keywords: music therapy; patient adherence; personality disorder; schizophrenia

Title: Music therapy in the management of acute psychosis
Author: Morgan, Kylie A.
Awarding institution: University of Western Sydney; College of Arts; School of Communication Arts
Keywords: music therapy; manic depressive illness; schizophrenia; treatment

Title: The practice of music therapy for adults with mental health problems: the relationship between diagnosis and clinical method
Author: Odell-Miller, Helen
Supervisor: Wigram, Tony
Awarding institution: Aalborg University, Denmark

2009
Title: Music psychotherapy with Korean women who experienced son preference
Author: Kwon, Hea-Kyung
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Gilbert, John V.
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

2011
Title:
 The clinical use of musical components and their impact in improvisational music therapy
Author: Okazaki, Kana
Supervisors: Hesser, Barbara; Gilbert, John V.; Turry, Alan
Awarding institution: NYU – The Steinhardt School of Education

Title: Music therapy’s effects on Mexican migrant farm workers’ levels of depression, anxiety and social isolation: a mixed methods randomized control trial utilizing participatory action research
Author: Swantes, Melody
Supervisors: Wigram, Prof. Tony; McKinney, Prof. Cathy; Niels Hannibal, Assoc. Prof.
Awarding institution: Aalborg University, Denmark

Current
Title: Music therapy as support for an autistic client who experiences the onset of adolescence as a form of trauma
Author: Whelan, Peter
Awarding institution: University of the West of England