Ghetti, Claire and Chen, Xi-Jing and Brenner, Annette K and Hakvoort, Laurien G and Lien, Lars and Fachner, Jorg and Gold, Christian (2022) Music therapy for people with substance use disorders. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (5), Art. no.: CD012576. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012576.pub3.
External website: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/1...
We aimed to assess if music therapy given in addition to standard care was effective for people with substance use disorders, in terms of impacting substance craving, motivation for treatment, and motivation for staying sober/clean. We were also interested in evidence about effects on depression and anxiety, as these are risk factors for relapse.
Key messages: Music therapy as 'add on' treatment to standard care likely reduces substance craving and increases motivation for treatment for adults in detoxification and rehabilitation settings. Music therapy lasting longer than a single session is associated with greater reductions in substance craving. There is no evidence of an effect on depressive symptoms, anxiety, motivation to stay sober/clean, or retention in treatment. There were no data on adverse events.
What were the main results of the review?
We included 21 studies with 1984 people. All participants were diagnosed with substance use disorder, with 52% reporting alcohol as their substance of choice. In two studies, participants had co‐occurring mental health diagnoses. All studies were completed in either detoxification settings or longer‐term substance use treatment facilities. Studies compared music therapy added to standard care to standard care alone or to other types of intervention that would be a typical part of treatment for substance use, such as verbal therapy. The quality of the performed trials and the reported results varied, which affected our confidence in the results.
Our findings suggest that music therapy added to standard care likely reduces substance craving when compared to standard care alone for people with substance use disorders receiving treatment in detoxification and short‐term rehabilitation settings. Music therapy intervention lasting longer than a single session is associated with greater reduction in craving. Furthermore, music therapy likely improves motivation for treatment/change more than standard care alone, and may improve motivation for treatment/change more than other active treatments. We found no evidence of an effect of music therapy on depressive symptoms, anxiety, and motivation to stay sober/clean.
We have low‐to‐moderate confidence in our findings, and caution that it might be difficult to transfer our findings to other settings, since most included studies were conducted by the same researcher in the same detoxification unit. We know that substance craving is diminished better when there is more than one session of music therapy, but we do not know if the number of music therapy sessions received impacts other outcomes. Additionally, we do not know if one form of music therapy works better than others for these outcomes. Only one study reported a source of funding (National Key R&D Program of China, primary funder).
G Health and disease > Substance use disorder (addiction) > Alcohol use disorder > Alcohol withdrawal / craving
G Health and disease > Substance use disorder (addiction) > Drug use disorder > Drug withdrawal / craving
HJ Treatment or recovery method > Recreation therapy (bibliotherapy, music, dance, drama, play, art, sport, exercise)
HJ Treatment or recovery method > Treatment outcome
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Treatment and maintenance > Treatment factors
VA Geographic area > International
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