How Can Music Therapy Benefit My Recovery?

Music Therapy recovery

You’ve likely encountered a time when listening to a certain song made you smile, laugh, or cry; if you wanted to be a certain mood, perhaps you would turn on a specific song to help take you there. Music can influence our emotions, because it can trigger thoughts, memories, and idealizations that we have about life. Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of musical interventions to help a person accomplish individual goals in their recovery. Altogether, music therapy may assist a person with physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of a person. If you’re considering participating in music therapy, there are a lot of benefits you may experience.

A study published in the Journal of Addictions Nursing found that both music and art therapy have become more widespread, likely because of their capabilities to help address individual client needs. Music therapy has been proven through Harvard studies to activate a person’s reward system – the same reward system that was once activated with drugs and/or alcohol. Music therapy can not only enhance the reward system but can improve working memory and selective attention. Considered an alternative or complementary form of therapy, music therapy works best alongside psychotherapy, group therapy, and a variety of other daily recovery activities. What constitutes as music therapy?

Music therapy may include lyric analysis, creating music, relaxation training, songwriting, musical genres, improvisation, and movement or meditation to music. For example, previous research has shown that playing certain genres of music – classical, New Age instrumental, smooth jazz and others – can induce a pronounced calming feeling. For addiction recovery, music can also serve as a freedom and release component of expression; a person may wish to listen to or study music that uplifts them and motivates them to continue working towards their success in recovery.

By engaging in music therapy, you could experience more structure and stability, enhanced coordination and communication, improved quality of life, reduced stress and anxiety, reduced distress from chronic pain, more relieved depression, increased self-esteem, reduced burnout and improved mood, and much more, as numerous studies have shown. Begin soaking in the wonderful benefits of music therapy today and speak with someone from a reputable treatment center.
