Music Therapy has been shown to have a significant effect on an individual’s relaxation, respiration rate, self-reported pain reduction, and behaviorally observed and self-reported anxiety levels. A coordinated program of music and music therapy interventions in response to crisis or trauma, designed and implemented by a qualified music therapist, provides opportunities for:
•    Non-verbal outlets for emotions associated with traumatic experiences
•    Anxiety and stress reduction
•    Positive changes in mood and emotional states
•    Active and positive participant involvement in treatment
•    Enhanced feelings of control, confidence, and empowerment
•    Positive physiological changes, such as lower blood pressure, reduced heart rate, and relaxed muscle tension
•    Emotional intimacy with peers, families, caregivers
•    Relaxation for family groups or other community and peer groups
•    Meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way
•    Increase in self-esteem
•    Teach coping skills for emotions that can later be generalized in every-day living.

Group music therapy sessions will include:
•    Drumming and Drum Circles to increase non-verbal emotional expression and help the clients work together as a group.
•    Improvisation on various instruments to encourage the creative process, emotional expression, and increase self-esteem.
•    Progressive muscle relaxation to soothing music to decrease anxiety, fear, and stress associated with crisis and trauma.
•    Lyric analysis of client preferred music for emotional expression.
•    Songwriting and composition for an increase in self-confidence and as an outlet for emotional expression.
•    Guided meditation and imagery to teach clients coping skills for anger, anxiety, and fear associated with crisis, trauma and the disease of addiction.

What is Music Therapy?

Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. (American Music Therapy Association definition, 2005).
Music therapists assess emotional well-being, physical health, social functioning, communication abilities, and cognitive skills through musical responses; design music sessions for individuals and groups based on client needs using music improvisation, receptive music listening, song writing, lyric discussion, music and imagery, music performance, and learning through music; participate in interdisciplinary treatment planning, ongoing evaluation, and follow up. Music therapy can serve children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly with mental health needs, developmental and learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease and other aging related conditions, substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical disabilities, and acute and chronic pain, including mothers in labor. Music therapists work in psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitative facilities, medical hospitals, outpatient clinics, day care treatment centers, agencies serving developmentally disabled persons, community mental health centers, drug and alcohol programs, senior centers, nursing homes, hospice programs, correctional facilities, halfway houses, schools, and private practice.

How Does Music Therapy Make A Difference In Response To Crisis Situations?
The directed use of music and music therapy is highly effective in developing coping strategies, including understanding and expressing feelings of anxiety and helplessness, supporting feelings of self-confidence and security, and providing a safe or neutral environment for relaxation. Research results and clinical experiences attest to the viability of music therapy even in situations outside of traditional therapeutic settings. Music is a form of sensory stimulation, which provokes responses due to the familiarity, predictability, and feelings of security associated with it. Feedback from relief workers and caregivers indicates that music therapy sessions helped to develop a stronger sense of readiness to cope with day-to-day stressors and potential future crisis situations.

Beachway Therapy Center is a private affordable drug and alcohol treatment facility. We have15 full time employees to care for and assist our 16 guests in their journey to recovery. This translates into unsurpassed individualized therapy and counseling for our guests and their families. We offer family counseling, education and encourage families to get involved. Beachway Therapy Center is a state licensed treatment facility dedicated to provide intensive, deep therapy to addicts and alcoholics suffering from the disease of addiction. Our policy is to utilize professionally trained therapists who specialize in specific areas of addiction treatment to obtain our goal of intensive, deep-rooted therapy. Two therapies used by our professionals are EMDR and Hypnotherapy, along with other main stream therapeutic processes to achieve our goal of reaching deep within the client and discovering the core issues to be addressed. Our personalized treatment plans are designed to address other issues such a Trauma, Grief and Loss, Borderline, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Anger Issues, Sex addiction, Eating Disorders and more.

Beachway Therapy Center offers both music and art therapies in our 1500 square foot studio to encourage creativity and enhance the recovery process for individuals struggling with substance and alcohol abuse.

Courtesy of Beachway Therapy Center

Methadone Addiction Treatment

For more than 30 years, methadone, a synthetic opioid, has been available for use in addiction treatment for users of heroin and other opiates. When heroin is used, excess dopamine circulates through the body, causing euphoria and lack of inhibitions. When the heroin wears off, the opioid receptor in the brain demands more. Methadone effectively occupies this receptor, blocking the heroin and stabilizing behavior.

Methadone is taken orally once a day, and suppresses the withdrawal symptoms by replacing the heroin in the user’s body with a less harmful drug. It can only be used for withdrawal from opiates such as heroin and morphine, and will have no effect on users of other drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines. Clients using methadone will remain physically dependent on it; maintenance may last for years without medical danger. Though the methadone itself creates dependence, it does not carry with it the uncontrolled behavior or heroin, since it doesn’t provide a “high.” Maintenance should be accompanied by continuing social rehabilitation and counseling.

Find a Methadone Clinic for Addiction Treatment

Methadone has been approved for addiction treatment, especially during the detox phase of recovery. It does an excellent job of staving off withdrawal symptoms when heroin use is discontinued, symptoms that can be extremely unpleasant and even dangerous. However, because methadone patients develop a dependency, its use is strictly regulated by the government. Only about 20 percent of the estimated 810,000 heroin addicts in the United States currently use methadone, but regulations are changing to make it more easily available.

Click on “methadone clinics” under Special Focus Treatments on our home page to find clinics that administer this helpful drug, and get free of the dangerous addiction to heroin and other opiates.

Holistic Addiction Treatment Offers a Different Approach

For many decades, the twelve-step protocol was the primary approach to treating substance abuse of all sorts. It has had a long history of success, but in recent years a new type of treatment has shown strong growth. Holistic addiction treatment, like other types of holistic health practices, is based on the belief that treating only one aspect of a person’s health is incomplete and counterproductive. In holistic addiction treatment, factors such as nutrition, body work and relaxation techniques are added to more mainstream factors in order to treat the person as a whole, rather than just treating the addiction.

Approaches to Holistic Addiction Treatment

Individual therapy, along with group and family therapy, is still the primary focus of the holistic approach to substance abuse. To this base, however, are added other modes of treatment that have been shown to be highly effective.

Fitness activities, such as tai-chi, yoga, weightlifting and even karate help bring the body back to health. Training in meditation techniques helps the addict learn to deal with stress, often a major factor in substance abuse, and can lead to a deeper sense of spirituality, which can be a source of strength. Self-hypnosis is also an effective stress reliever, and can help the client gain a new belief in him- or herself as a person free of addictions. Nutritional therapy aids in rebuilding the body damaged by drugs or alcohol; a healthy body is a stepping stone to sobriety.

More technical approaches such as biofeedback and acupuncture are also found in holistic treatment centers. While these are useful techniques for all addictions, they may be especially appropriate for those who have become addicted to prescription drugs for the relief of pain.

Addiction recovery requires accomplishing a number of tasks, including:

build and maintain motivation
connect with others
identify and develop alternative coping methods
reduce resentment about changing
identify, understand and cope with craving
build a new, balanced life
lead a life that is purposeful, meaningful and reasonably happy
stay alert for problems and follow through all the way

To accomplish these tasks, you will need to make MANY decisions along the way. However, your judgment about your addictive behavior(s) has not been good. How could you trust yourself to make decisions about recovery?

You could put yourself in the hands of others (AA, a therapist, your higher power, etc.). However, many are not willing to do this, yet still want recovery.

Addiction Recovery Methods

For these individuals, For these individuals, recovery is a process of discovery. You will need to think about new ways of being and behaving. You will try them out, first in imagination, and possibly in practice. Like a scientific researcher, you will need to determine which ideas are most promising and need to be tested first. If these early ideas are successful, you may not even need to try more! The whole process, however, will need to be guided by your own judgment.

Your self-doubt may be strong, especially if you think you are “out of control.” However, you still have capabilities and can still make good decisions (even if you also make some bad ones). You are able to identify these words and understand them. You have decided to continue reading, which keeps open the possibility you will learn something new and helpful. You are searching for information, and you realize you need it. Half of solving any problem is recognizing it. You are not completely without judgment, resources or capabilities!

One of the common thinking errors is all-or-none thinking. If you have made some less-than-great decisions (and who hasn’t!) then it may seem sensible to conclude that your judgment is completely gone. However, your judgment in many (if not most) areas of life is fine. Your take this competence for granted, but it is nevertheless real. If your judgment is adequate in these areas, you can develop it in other areas also.

If my judgment is so good, why haven’t I overcome addiction already? Probably because you haven’t focused on it sufficiently. To overcome addiction involves facing up to the conflict of wanting the addiction but not wanting the consequences. Faced with this conflict, we often just hope it will go away. There are always other problems you can pay attention to! Even individuals with superlative judgment have difficulty prioritizing problems. You could wait, because your conflict might go away on its own, just as you wished. Changing jobs or neighborhoods, developing new relationships, or other life changes are often associated with addiction changes.

However, you can decide it’s time to face addiction problems, and stay focused on them until they are solved. You will need to follow that good decision with a few more good decisions. But you make decisions all day long, and must be fairly good at it or you wouldn’t still be here. Stay focused on the recovery decisions you need to make, learn from your mistakes, and make recovery happen!

Submitted by Author: Tom Horvath