Music in Rehab

WHY MUSIC IN REHAB?

Simple: think of one of your favorite songs and how it makes you feel. The right lyric, melody, chord progression, key change or drum beat can turn us from the angry person who’s stuck in traffic to the happy commuter who considers themselves lucky to have some time in their car to themselves; it can transform the person who is dreading their workout to the person who wants to log a few more miles on the treadmill because they have the right soundtrack pushing them forward; it can turn the person who is paralyzed with anxiety about their job interview or professional evaluation to the driven and ambitious go-getter who owns the moment. Get the picture? In addition to promoting a general sense of well-being and emotional catharsis, music has been clinically proven to aid in the management and alleviation of a wide range of physical and mental health issues, including but not limited to:

• Depression – Multiple data, including one recent comprehensive collaborative international study conducted by University Clinic Regensburg, illustrated music’s ability to help aid in the treatment of depression among all age groups and genders.
• Anxiety – Data from Brandeis University indicates that listening to music prior to experiencing stress positively affected the autonomic nervous system (in terms of a faster recovery), and to a lesser degree the endocrine and psychological stress response.
• Chronic Pain – More and more data has been compiled illustrating the ability of noises to elicit an autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) that can be physically felt. Another commonly French study indicates music’s ability to aid in the treatment and management of mild chronic pain symptoms. These findings are particularly helpful in an environment in where so many develop opioid addiction from taking narcotics to deal with their chronic pain.
• Schizophrenia – Research from Norway’s University of Bergen indicates that music therapy as an addition to standard care helps people with schizophrenia to improve their global state, mental state (including negative symptoms) and social functioning.
• Trauma – Data from Oxford University sugge

Very often, substance use disorder is linked to a underlying mental health issue like the kind listed above. By helping clients actively and passively integrate music in rehab, Recovery Unplugged fosters trust, positive thinking and emotional release that better enables them to embrace the treatment process. The primary distinction between our musical medicine approach and traditional music therapy is that we use music as a means of helping clients open to evidence-based behavioral rehab models