Music Therapy in Addictions Treatment: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

Abstract

Substance dependence continues to be a major problem in the United States and a treatment approach that is universally successfully has not been identified. This paper will update an earlier review that encouraged the music therapy community to continuing investigating the efficacy of music therapy. 12 studies, met inclusion for this review. The most common music therapy method to be investigated was lyric analysis, followed by music and imagery methods, and then songwriting. The studies reviewed had a moderate to high risk of bias, and were single session posttest only designs conducted on an inpatient detoxification unit.  Recommendations include suggestions for reducing bias in future studies and continued research on the myriad music therapy methods that are reportedly used in addiction treatment in the clinical literature.

Keywords: music therapy, addictions, substance abuse treatment, systematic

                    review.  

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