music and addiction cessation
Music and Addiction Cessation – Freedom from Unwanted Habits
Not all habits are bad. Some are very good and even necessary. It’s a good thing, for example, that we can find our way home on “autopilot” or wash our hands without having to ponder every step. But inability to switch from acting habitually to acting in a deliberate way can underlie addiction and obsessive compulsive disorders.
Vitamusic, together with Weiss Institut (Weiss Method), are researching the use of music specifically created to assist people with addiction cessation and becoming free from unwanted habits and stress induced compulsive behaviours.
Here is a short surprising list of
12 positive effects that our music can have in assisting with addiction cessation
- Improve the function of the body’s immune system
- Reduce levels of stress along with reducing pain
- Decrease a person’s level of anxiety and depression
- Improve moods, mental & emotional states
- Help to keep an aging brain healthy
- Raise states of consciousness & help to reduce cravings
- Assist in a detoxification process & help you to eat less
- Make you happier & provide comfort
- Help to balance proper breathing, heart rate & blood pressure
- Improve sleep quality
- Relax a person before and after an addiction treatment assisting its overall efficacy
- Assist in self-control and can strengthen the will
It is clearly known that the human translates sounds into electrical signals. Music that provokes peak experiences stimulates neural reward and emotion systems similar to those that are activated by drugs of abuse and certain food choices. Due to these similar patterns of neural activity, music has the potential to promote positive mood states, and to enable emotional regulation. The positive mood state may consequently buffer against the risk of relapse that is associated with negative mood states. Furthermore, pleasurable music can promote the release of dopamine to positively affect the reward system.
Stress can be a person making a healthy change or a recovering addict’s worst enemy. Lack of stress management and coping skills is one reason people turn to drugs, alcohol, and other unwanted habits in the first place, and why many people relapse. When people listen to the right type of music, it can help calm their nerves and de-stress.
It is important to note that not all music will be helpful for a person’s recovery. Because music can stir up powerful feelings, songs that remind a person of drinking, using nicotine, over eating, or using other drugs can be triggering and should be avoided, especially in early recovery.
The use of the right type of music is known as an effective method to help increase people’s motivation and engagement in treatment, provide emotional support and positive mood states, physically assist the body’s ability to bring things into a healthly balance, calming nerves, and strengthening the will. These benefits, along with many others, are what makes the use of functional music an effective tool to help people recover from addictions and make a fresh new start in a life of healthy living.
With that being said, here is a sample clip of music provided by Vitamusic designed to calm the nerves and create an inner ecology for the body’s natural healing to occur. Visit our Sonic Pharmacy for the full Weiss Method
support music library available for download.
‘Circle of Ease’ sample clip
references
Blood AJ, Zatorre RJ. Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in the brain regions implicated in reward and emotion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2001; Vol. 98:11818-23.
Koelsch S. Music-evoked emotions: Principles, brain correlates, and implications for therapy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2015;1337:193-201.
Koelsch S. Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions. Nature reviews. Neuroscience 2014;15(3):170-80.
Sena Moore K. A systematic review on the neural effects of music on emotion regulation: Implications for music therapy practice. Journal of Music Therapy 2013;50(3):198-242.
Blum K, Chen TJ, Chen AL, Madigan M, Downs BW, Waite RL, et al. Do dopaminergic gene polymorphisms affect mesolimbic reward activation of music listening response? Therapeutic impact on Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS). Medical Hypotheses 2010;74(3):513-20.
Koob GF. Addiction is a reward deficit and stress surfeit disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2013;4(72):1-18.
Neugebauer V, Li W, Bird GC, Han JS. The amygdala and persistent pain. Neuroscientist 2004;10(3):221-34.
Vitamusic is based in Tennessee, United States and the Weiss Method is now available in Tennessee. For more information, visit Weiss Method Tennessee.
Disclaimer: By using the Vitamusic service and its products (music or written content), you agree and understand that any assistance that may be provided by Vitamusic to improve well being and health is not a substitute for conventional medical treatment. There can be positive benefits to Vitamusic products but it does not claim to ‘cure’ and no claim is being made for its efficacy or its result until such time as it may be proven as fact. Vitamusic is not a medical establishment and instructions or prescriptions given by a physician must not be countermanded. Vitamusic does not under any circumstances attempt to give a diagnosis, but encourages you to be responsible for your own health thereby being self diagnostic and becoming better aware of your life choices. Vitamusic makes no claim to medical or any other kind of health care certification or qualification. Vitamusic products and written content is sold and presented on the condition that you understand that it is entirely philosophical until such time as it may be proven as fact.