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Drug and alcohol addiction are huge problems in the US that are leading to increasing numbers of deaths and injuries. Deaths from overdose increased by five times from 2003 until 2020, but quitting is a long and difficult process.
Recovering from an addiction is a lifelong journey which does not finish when you stop taking drugs or alcohol. There is evidence that music can help in this process. It can reduce stress, energize the body and mind, and improve mental health. Some treatment centers will offer music therapy as part of the recovery process, but even listening to music for your own enjoyment can also help.
What Is Music Therapy?
Music has been used in healing practices for centuries, for example, in ancient Greece and Egypt. In the 1940s, it became a specialized field requiring a degree in order to be practiced in the US, qualifying one to be a music therapist.
Music therapy is an evidence-based therapeutic method. It can help to reduce anxiety and improve heart rate and learning. Depending on your reasons for getting music therapy and on your practitioner, you may do different practices in your sessions including playing, singing, listening, or dancing to music.
We will talk about some of the benefits of music therapy which are relevant to addiction recovery. However, it is worth noting that even without music therapy, you may still experience some of these benefits from playing and listening to music yourself.
Self-Awareness and Self-Expression
In order to recover from addiction, you must learn how to identify triggers for relapse. Being self-aware is key to this. You will need to be able to recognize how you are feeling as there will be particular emotional states in which you are more likely to relapse. Music can help you to recognize and accept difficult emotions. You might have noticed that when you do not understand how you are feeling, you put on music which matches your mood. This can help you to make sense of your emotions.
Expressing how you are feeling can also help with processing emotions. It especially helps if you learn how to express them to your family and friends. Healthy relationships are vital for long-term sobriety, giving you a support network through recovery. You can express yourself in multiple ways with music such as through writing or performing a piece which speaks about what you are going through. Even if the song does not have lyrics, it can express your feelings through the mood or tempo changes.
Stress Relief
Stress is a common relapse trigger. It is normal to experience stress in our lives. However, if you are recovering from an addiction, this can cause you to seek relief in drugs or alcohol. Music can reduce some of the stresses of daily life.
Musicians are thought to have lower blood pressure on average; the repetitiveness of playing and the sounds of the music have a calming effect. This is thought to be through the activation of the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for regulating heart rate, digestion, and respiratory rate among other things.
Routine And Coordination
Routine can help with addiction recovery giving organization and balance. Having a daily and weekly schedule is a useful part of this. Taking up a musical instrument may help to create a routine. You will start to set aside time for practice and rehearsals, making sure that you make it to classes and practices at particular times each week. Filling up your schedule with healthy activities makes you move away from tempting old habits.
If you were abusing alcohol and drugs heavily, it is possible that when you quit, you feel like your body and mind are not working the way they did. This is particularly true in the early stages when you may be experiencing both physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms. Playing an instrument from written music can help to improve your hand-eye coordination and help you feel connected to your body again.
Energy and Improved Cognitive Performance
Some people experience post-acute withdrawal symptoms including depression after they have detoxed. These symptoms can cause helplessness and a lack of faith in the recovery process, resulting in a relapse. It is therefore important to do things which give you energy. There is evidence that listening to fast-paced music motivates people to work harder and can even energize the body. This can be extremely beneficial for your recovery process.
Long-term substance abuse can affect your cognitive performance and memory. Playing background music while you do tasks can help to improve cognitive tests. Upbeat music can lead to improvements in how quickly you process things.
In terms of memory, it is thought that different types of music work for you depending on how musical you are. Musically-trained people will generally need to listen to neutral music to improve their memory whereas those who are not trained learn better when listening to positive music.
Improving Mental Health and Strengthening Social Bonds
It is common that addiction co-occurs with mental health illnesses. This is partly because some people with untreated mental health issues use substances to self-medicate. While this helps in the short-term, substance abuse can actually lead to a worsening of mental health symptoms. In addition, specific types of substance abuse can exacerbate mental illnesses. For example, some substances can lead to psychosis with heavy use. Music has been shown to affect the pleasure centers of the brain, leading to an increased release of dopamine which is known for making you feel more relaxed and happier.
Researchers believe that social connectivity can influence your chances of becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol. Having healthy relationships and psychosocial integration reduces your chances of becoming addicted, whereas factors such as childhood neglect or abuse increase your risk. Music is thought to bring people together through sensory, mental, and bodily experiences. Playing music in a group or going to a concert can have these effects potentially reducing your chance of relapsing.
The Final Word
Music has the potential to help your addiction recovery process in many ways. While being involved in music by yourself can have beneficial effects, you might also want to consider looking into music therapy options, and structured sessions may help you to stick with it so that you see even greater improvements.
