Music Psychology Center (MPC) and Sobriety Foundation, Inc. (SFI) are innovators in conducting Music-Enhanced Therapy for anxiety, depression and addiction. This form of psychotherapy focuses on neural changes that are elicited by specific types of music. Although music therapy is often utilized for treatment programs, Music-Enhanced Therapy is a new intervention approach that has 3 main objectives: a. neurocircuitry, b. neuroplasticity and c. neurosynthesis. All of which aim to stimulate neural changes in the brain.
Music-Enhanced Therapy has 3 components: music meditation, music motion, and spiritual music. At SFI, all of these components are conducted by MPC, and the impact on clients manifest in several ways. It is a dynamic and efficient form of psychotherapy.
“A combination of solfeggio and chakra frequencies, isochronic tones, binaural beats and classical music are mostly the main ingredients in the composition of psychotherapy. Integration of these variables with psychological approaches have been discovered to enhance positive effects to numerous individuals.” – MPC Research Director
Researchers have also recently discovered that music improves the body’s immune system function, increases the amount of dopamine that is produced in the brain and reduces stress by decreasing the amount of cortisol your body produces. It has even been shown to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety before surgery.
Additionally, musical interventions such as playing an instrument, listening to music, or discussing the lyrics of a song can provide healing for patients suffering from all sorts of medical conditions, anxiety, depression, addiction, or trauma.
Music therapy itself is a therapeutic tool that can help facilitate physical, emotional, cognitive, and social change and growth. When used to treat clients in anxiety, depression and addiction recovery, it provides a wealth of benefits, including:
- Recognizing and accepting difficult emotions
- Reducing stress and providing an outlet for relaxation
- Promoting self-awareness
- Improving self-esteem
- Providing an outlet for self-expression
Moreover, one study even found that music therapy is positively related to a willingness to participate in addiction treatment and is more motivating for clients to fully engage in their treatment.
In addition to the physical benefits, music also provides a connection to one’s inner spirituality, which is another important aspect of addiction recovery. It has the same qualities of life: rhythm, tension, and release, and when people fully experience music, they also experience these qualities, which allows them to connect to their innermost feelings and heal from emotional scars, shame, and trauma.
Music also offers some psychological benefits that can be helpful to individuals who are enrolled in drug rehab or sober living programs. Scientific research surrounding the effects of music on human behavior, health, and wellness has shown that music provides the following psychological benefits.
- It improves memory and cognitive performance.
- It helps people manage pain.
- It improves sleep quality.
- It can improve motivation.
- It reduces symptoms of depression and improves mood.
- It boosts workout performance.
There are many different ways you can incorporate music into your own sober living experience as a recovery tool, such as taking a group music class, creating playlists to keep yourself motivated, or writing and/or performing your own original music. Even after you move out of your sober living home, music can still continue to be an important part of your recovery process.
Music is something that many people tend to take for granted, but in many ways music has a deep and significant impact on their lives. Music has a powerful effect on one’s soul and can exert great influence on one’s mood and emotions. When someone listens to a happy song it can lift one’s spirit while other songs can cause someone to deeply reflect on oneself and other songs can cause despair. Music has the ability to reawaken the soul and bring once dormant and healthy emotions to the surface.
The use of music in the treatment of addiction can be of great value to people, especially in the earliest stages of recovery. Music therapy in of itself isn’t enough to help an individual recover from substance abuse on its own but it can be a useful supplement to other types of addiction treatment. The benefits of music therapy for people recovering from an addiction can include the following:
- The utilization of music based therapy can help those early in recovery rid themselves of destructive emotions and can help mellow out the peaks and valleys.
- Music is an excellent stress reliever
- Music can help relieve the boredom that can be associated with recovery. Boredom can be seen as a relapse trigger.
- Music is excellent for helping people feel less loneliness.
- Music therapy can be all about enjoyment and do is recovery from an addiction.
- Meditation can be a highly beneficial tool for people in recovery. Music can be a good introduction into meditating for those who do not yet have the patience for a more formal practice.
- Music can help renew concentration and focus.
- Music can help relieve depression and anxiety.
A unique and research-based process in composing the appropriate music is the key to Music-Enhanced Therapy. Furthermore, it is conducted with other forms of therapy that are considered successful for anxiety, depression and addiction.