When it comes to substance use treatment, there are a range of methods treatment specialists may use. Some of these are evidence-based, which means that experts in substance use treatment have studied them extensively. Others are holistic. These treatments are useful in substance use treatment for the entire person: mind, body, and soul. One exceptional holistic treatment option is music therapy. There are many benefits of music therapy for teens and adolescents who struggle with substance use. To learn more, contact Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center today.
Why Use Music Therapy?
Information overload is a prevalent problem in adults as well as adolescents today. The modern age of the internet has provided all of the world’s information at our fingertips. We easily get lost in the hustle and bustle of taking in more and more information without creating the space to express and form information in return. The same predicament applies to treatment.
Treatment for drug and alcohol use in addition to secondary mental health disorders is draining. Every patient processes and heals in a different way. This is why treatment centers like Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center make every effort to provide individualized treatment programs. In doing so, our teens and adolescents endure hours of therapeutic healing, processing, and activity. Between that, academic school work and life skills development, many of them need a break.
Without room for holistic healing, mindfulness, and meditation, or expressive art therapies, the process can get a bit stale. Sometimes, there aren’t words left. Not one journaling or writing assignment can reach the spirit of an adolescent patient. Nor can it bring out the essence of his pain, his dreams, or his being. Music therapy is one of the ways clinical treatment that can. During this treatment, providers are helping their patients avoid burnout, have fun, make memories, and restore a healthy connection to themselves.
What Do Experts Say About Music Therapy?
Fast Company writes about the neuroscience of music and the connection between listening to or creating music and information overload. Author of the bestselling book, This Is Your Brain On Music, Daniel Levitin explains that everyone needs to take a break. With an ever-increasing amount of pressure to be something, do something, and achieve something, adolescents are missing out on their precious time to just “chill”. During treatment, they might regress to old emotional behaviors, act out in anger or defiance, and experience cravings.
Whatever the signal, Levitin emphasizes, “In reality, your brain is telling you that it needs a break.” Taking a break to listen to or create music is like hitting the “reset button in the brain,” Levinson explains, “restoring some neurochemicals that had been depleted through focused activity.” One of the most effective ways to achieve this essential restoration is through music.
Contact Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center
Music therapy is one of the many clinical tools we employ. We create a full continuum of care and loving relationships with patients at Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center. In addition, we offer many types of therapeutic options for our teens and adolescents. Moreover, we provide combinations of holistic and evidence-based treatments for each teen. We customized those combinations based on each teen’s unique needs. Some of our treatment options include:
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Trauma therapy
- Equine therapy
- Adventure therapy
We can give you the options your teen needs to overcome substance use. Our residential treatment programs for adolescents are designed to restore the spirit, build a life, and heal the past. To learn more about the benefits of music therapy, or to enroll your teen in our treatment program, contact Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center today at 662.373.2828.
