For at least eight categories of outcomes, studies of high level evidence of efficacy, i.e., RCTs, were identified. The descriptive summaries suggest that there is evidence for benefits of MT/ MBI compared to different control groups (CGs), especially for the variable locus of control (67% positive effects compared to CG). Additionally, regarding perceived helpfulness of the intervention, half of the RCTs reported higher values for MT compared to CG.
- Four studies utilized various heart rate variability (HRV) indices as a means to assess stress recovery.
- Contrarily, Koelsch et al. [61] reported that music listening delayed cortisol recovery, as cortisol concentrations were higher for participants who listened to music post-stressor compared to silence.
- However, it is important to acknowledge that asking patients to engage in music making may lead to some anxiety and insecurity as well for some patients, as has been reported in studies outside of the SUD population [89].
- Those are important to examine because many patients with SUD attend detoxification treatments with a low frequency of therapy sessions [3].
As the authors rightly point out on page 6, stress recovery involves a process in which “changes that have occurred in response to a stressor revert to pre-stress baselines”. To quantify stress recovery, it therefore seems crucial to take individual pre-stress baseline levels into account. In discussing the potential moderating effect “Self- vs. experimenter selected” (page 9), the authors mention two presumed explanations for this effect, is it safe to mix antibiotics and alcohol namely increasing perceived control and serving self-regularity goals. For a somewhat more comprehensive picture, it may be worth adding the potential roles of liking and familiarity as further mechanisms behind the suggested higher effectiveness of self-compared to experimenter-selected music in promoting stress recovery. It is commonly believed that instrumental, as opposed to lyrical music, would better promote stress recovery.
Participants were eventually not required to deliver the prepared presentation. One study [54] followed the standard administration protocol of the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) [109, 116]. One study administered the TSST with a shorter mental arithmetic component [118], while two studies omitted the TSST’s speech delivery component [119, 120]. Data extraction, moderator coding, and quality assessment were conducted by KA in coordination with DB and MvH.
1) When reading your response letter I considered it an excellent idea to combine both systematic review and meta-analytic approach. Furthermore, I did not really understand, why the number of included studies varies among these two approaches (14 vs. 17 studies). Three studies selected music that, in prior studies, seemed to have positive effects on heart rate, respiration rate, perceived arousal, and perceived relaxation. One study made reference to pilot studies [82], while the remaining two cited previous published work by the same authors [19, 50].
THIS AIN’T A COUNTRY ALBUM, IT’S A BEYONCÉ ALBUM
Even for those not currently struggling with addiction, music therapy can provide numerous benefits. Music can make recovery easier as it helps people manage their moods and emotions while simultaneously allowing them to feel a general sense of calmness and happiness they may not otherwise feel. The Recovery Village aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based 12 illegal street drugs content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers.
Addiction to substances is characterized by obsessive drug usage despite its negative drawbacks. People addicted to drugs may experience psychological and physical withdrawal symptoms and struggle to manage their drug use. It depends on different factors, such as the listener’s personal preferences and specific needs, and the other elements of the music, such as the melody, tone, harmony, and rhythm.
Furthermore, we summarized effects of exposure to music stimuli, MT and MBIs to describe findings regarding effectiveness. In the following, we discuss these effects, focusing on motivation and on findings regarding the four main themes identified in qualitative analyses. Additionally, only few studies have assessed outcomes related to substance use even though such outcomes are critical for treatment success. Thus, variables such as long-term sobriety need to be examined in future studies.
The healing power of music for stroke survivors
Despite this, based on your comment, we conducted an additional search in the PubMed database using the same search strategy listed in Appendix A. We limited the additional search to studies published until April 2021 to match our original search. This additional search returned 958 studies, but none of these studies met our inclusion criteria. We note that this manuscript is a systematic review or meta-analysis; our author guidelines therefore require that you use PRISMA guidance to help improve reporting quality of this type of study. Please upload copies of the completed PRISMA checklist as Supporting Information with a file name “PRISMA checklist”. 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.
What Are Your Favorite Recovery Songs?
For motivation and enjoyment there were inconsistent results, and more than half of the studies of high level evidence of efficacy did not identify statistically significant improvement for MT/ MBI participants. For the effect of MT/ MBI on variables related to this cluster (motivation, treatment eagerness, change readiness), 10 results were collected, and eight of them (80%) represent high level evidence of efficacy. For Silverman [32,34] who examined different motivational constructs within the same samples only motivation scores were used. All studies except one reported all statistical data and only one included pilot data without a CG [15]. In 37.5% of studies of high level evidence of efficacy (3/8), i.e. 30% of all studies (3/10), beneficial effects of MT/ MBI were found. All RCTs except one [38] were conducted by Silverman [29,31–36], and they differed widely with respect to CG designs and scales, so a meta-analysis was not conducted.
Breaking the Habit was written by band member Mike Shinoda based on a close friend’s drug addiction, but brought lead singer Chester to tears. For the first year following its release, performing the song live was difficult for Chester, due to his own personal troubles with addiction. Not everything in this playlist is specifically about addiction, but recovery? They’re all about encouraging you to put one foot in front of the other and walk till you get past the tough time. Only one RCT assessed follow-up scores regarding depression, enjoyment, perceived effectiveness and being clean [31] and did not identify differences between group verbal therapy and MT groups one month after intervention completion. For an overview of the efficacy of MT/ MBI per outcome (cluster) in consideration of the quality of the studies see Fig 3.
How Music Can Help in the Recovery Process
Overall, the significant heterogeneity in our meta-analytic data set suggests that our moderator analyses should be interpreted with caution. Lack of motivation is a crucial problem in the treatment of SUD [73], and beneficial effects of MT and MBI on motivation were commonly described [74,75]. Music itself is motivating and empowering for many people and it has been suggested that engagement in music making may lead to enhanced internal change motivation [76]. High rates for on-task behavior and engagement reported in qualitative and quantitative studies included in this review support this assumption [55].
Additionally, guided meditations, progressive muscle relaxation techniques, and other relaxation practices help individuals with insomnia relax and reduce their stress levels, making it easier for them to fall (and stay) asleep. Poor sleep quality can lead to physical and mental health problems, like fatigue, irritability, and an increased risk of chronic health conditions. A stressful incident, like a battle in the military, sexual assault, or a natural disaster, can cause PTSD.
With respect to the age of the participants, four studies investigated adolescents only with mean ages/ age ranges between 15 and 17 years [20,42] or as a single case study with a 14-year old boy [40]. For the other studies, mean age varied from 34.4 years [16] up to 52.5 years [48]. Eleven studies [16,19,39,43,47,50,51,55,57,58,60] did not report any measure of central tendency regarding age.