Reported for the Flatiron Hot! News by Tod Shapiro and Eric Shapiro
Those of us in New York City, and particularly in Flatiron and Chelsea, are well aware of the tremendous challenge of substance abuse and drug addiction – our neighborhood, with its unmatched variety of night life, often leaves our late-night streets littered with tales of tragic deaths and other mishaps that are the direct result of these problems. We need look no further than our streets and many parks to see those in need of help and treatment. Our local government and civic organizations struggle to meet the challenge, as do those across the country.
Paul and Supa – “Music is Our Medicine!”
Accordingly, here at Flatiron Hot! News, any information that indicates progress, or original thinking and a new approach to these overwhelming problems, is something that we look to bring to the attention of our community. Particularly daunting as our society deals with the crisis is the over-emphasis on law enforcement, incarceration, and therapeutic drug treatment as primary options for treatment, often at the expense of more holistic, non-pharmacological and socially-based approaches.
As it happens, September of this year across the country is being billed as “Recovery Month,” a national observance sponsored by SAMHSA, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The observance raises awareness of mental and substance use disorders, celebrates individuals in long-term recovery, and acknowledges the work of prevention, treatment, and recovery support services nationwide. So there is no better time for all of us in Flatiron and Chelsea to focus our attention on creative techniques to deal with the critical national problem.
It was with great interest that Flatiron Hot’s team perused a copy of Paul Pellinger’s new book Music is our Medicine: The Story of Recovery Unplugged which recounts the author’s approach to treating substance abuse with music. Paul has had his own personal journey of confronting substance abuse, which has informed his therapeutic approach that uses music as an integral part of treatment.
Paul is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Recovery Unplugged. A veteran of the addiction treatment industry, he has combined his decades of experience with his deep love of music to create the Recovery Unplugged treatment model that has helped so many patients reclaim their lives from addiction. Music Is Our Medicine is an account of his own personal and professional journey in the addiction treatment landscape and the organization’s treatment approach, which appeared on the Amazon Bestseller List shortly after its release. Over his 20-plus years in the industry, Paul has worked as a counselor, manager, court-appointed liaison, and consultant and has helped to open some of the most successful treatment organizations in the country.
Paul’s basic approach is to use the power of music, and its ability to connect an individual to powerful and subliminal associations of good times and healthful, wholesome living, to mitigate the urges and destructive effects of substance abuse. He describes for the reader his approach to dealing with his many patients in the book. His “Recovery UnPlugged” treatment centers, which started out in Florida and branched out across the country, have become showcases where the playing, listening to, and discussion of music are added to traditional methods of treatment leading to impressive results, according to the book. To be clear – 85% of the group’s clients are not singers or musicians but just ordinary people.
Or, as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, a seminal rocker who has seen the wreckage that substance abuse can do to one’s life and career, relates, “Songs are the language of the soul. They keep us company when we’re alone and are like best friends. They are always there when we need them. Recovery Unplugged shows that music can be magic. It can be a healing experience and make us feel more hopeful. Songs are the language of the soul.”
Paul’s Recovery Unplugged organization is headquartered in Florida with multiple locations throughout the country that use music to help patients heal. As Paul states: “We are the world’s first addiction care entity to offer a fully music-based treatment paradigm, combining innovative music-based therapies with traditional treatment resources such as medically supervised detox, individualized counseling and relapse-prevention plans. Recovery Unplugged offers all levels of care, including inpatient, outpatient, intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization and is certified by JCAHO. Our staff consists of world-class doctors and accomplished creative professionals, including award-winning songwriter Richie Suppa, who is our Director of Creative Recovery … Our weekly events emphasize that individuals in recovery and their support systems can be change agents, starting with their own lives and how they connect with fellow patients in the community. Weekly musical gatherings reach the soul and create bonds that continue via customized playlists.” As Paul says, “… Music is not an add-on at Recovery Unplugged. We use it before the client even enters our facility, throughout treatment and as part of the discharge plan!”
Eric Shapiro of Flatiron Hot! News took some time to speak with Paul Pellinger, who had these interesting comments and thoughts on his more than 25 years of working in substance abuse treatment, and who shared his take on this most original approach to substance abuse therapy.
Can you talk about yourself?
… I don’t remember where I was 20 minutes ago, but when I was 4 years old, my parents would put on the jukebox and I would get up on the table and dance and I would notice that all the customers would have smiles on their faces. I realized in hindsight the power of music to influence and change people’s views. It then segued into growing up; when I was 10-12 years old, my parents would put on a certain song on the phonograph and their mood would change, their energy would change and they would start dancing around the house.
… Growing up in the Catskills, 10 or 15 miles away from the original Woodstock site, as I entered into my late teens, I noticed every year in the summer months when the hippies would invade the original site and I would go there myself, I would realize that music is a communal thing that helps people get together; it’s very unconditional.
Can you tell us how your own personal journey in terms of substance abuse has informed your efforts?
… I’ll admit, being in recovery myself for many years, hallucinogens were involved, that music had this power. In 1989, I went to college and entered recovery and started to become a clinician and noticed what I was being taught to do in school was about communicating to the head versus the emotions of the persons or the “soul.” In my opinion, anyone I knew in long-term recovery, recovery tends to happen in their soul, not in their head.
… What I realized back then was one of the issues I had with people in treatment was what I could teach them in 30 days could be unlearned in 30 minutes because I didn’t have a catalyst, a mechanism, a method of communication that had the ability for them to anchor the particular concepts, skill sets, behavior and perception that they needed for long-term recovery… I started incorporating that in all my group and individual sessions and it was the highlight of the treatment stay from the feedback from the clients as well as my supervisors.
… I opened Recovery Unplugged in 2013; Richie Suppa found out and got involved; The Aerosmith songs and sound encouraged addicts to stay in treatment. Tired of touring, he wanted to use the God-given power of music to help addicts … Richie is now creative “Director of Recovery” and a wonderful resource …
What is your process for selecting staff members?
… In addition to helping create and design the mental health and drug courts in Broward County, I helped open up 30-40 treatment centers in the past 20 years. What I found was it wasn’t working; one of the things I noticed was the owners of these facilities were ignoring the importance of the compassion, empathy and overall gut feeling towards the staff they were hiring. They were just hiring staff based on the letters behind their name or their experience – which by the way is important … Addicts are very intuitive, they’re street smart – they’ll pick up on if the staff is there just for a paycheck or there to gossip … which is why we give a high level of attention to the staff’s vibe, motives, compassion … as a result we have over a 95% approval rating from our clients …
Your different philosophical approach with music seems highly original. What kind of questions do you ask about music and approach to treatment?
Most treatment facilities do a pre-assessment of their clients before they get there; they determine their criteria – medical, clinical, legal, financial – we get all that too, but in addition, we ask, “what is your favorite genre of music?” and then narrow it down to a particular band or artists. So now we have that information. So when we pick up a client from their house, or their airport, or the detox, or wherever they’re coming from, as soon as they get in the vehicle, that song is playing… Right off the bat, rapport is established, right off the bat they feel heard instead of yelled at… as a result of that, we don’t deal with the normal 2-week adjustment period for their new environment.
How do differing associations with music in a group setting work in treatment?
… When we have clients who are into music that is not specially positive and is actually sexist, offensive, etc … Instead of telling the clients not to listen to that music I will point out who the current artist they are listening to now, listened to when they were growing up … Then for example if they’re in to hip-hop I will point out KRS 1 or Grandmaster Flsh who had a more positive deeper message …
Trigger warnings?
“Comfortably Numb” was a great song to get high to; what we’ll do now is analyze the lyrics and reframe it. For example, “Comfortably Numb” can be associated with the serenity of being clean and it also could be used as a way to interpret it with negative experiences … Now when they listen to that song, it is associated with not only the serenity of being clean, but also with the consequences or the negativity of being addicted
How do you disentangle the biographies of artists associated with addiction/death from the music?
One group room is called the Forever 27 group room – we have a picture of Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin… and they’re all in the pictures. While clients are in the group, instead of saying “and if you keep using, you’re gonna die,” we subliminally have those pictures … A different group room features artists that are in long-term recovery: Eminem, the Eagles among others …
How can music act as a substitute or replace the role drugs play in the lives of addicts. How do you continue that post-treatment?
There’s actual science behind what I’m doing that shows if you observe the brain on drugs, it lights up the brain in a certain way; it stimulates the pleasure centers in a certain way; you can actually see. It’s the same thing if you observe the brain and give them a certain song or a chord change, or a rhythm, it lights up the brain in the same way. It releases the same serotonin levels and dopamine levels and endorphins in the pleasure centers of the brain.
… We’re teaching the clients how to get high without using drugs, which then becomes more of a payoff for them to stay clean …
What happens when a client leaves one of your facilities?
When a client leaves any treatment facility, I or my staff might need to tell them you need to go to meetings, you need to stay out of bars… but you never need to tell them “don’t forget to play music.
… Staying clean in treatment is easy; it’s when you leave is the hard part. When you’re faced with the daily stresses of life. We know that the majority of our clients are addicted to their iPhones, then why not use that as a tool?
How do you use custom playlists as a prescription for your patients?
We create individualized soundtracks for each client based on their individual treatment plan. When they leave our facility, instead of giving them a coin and a certificate, we give them ear buds and MP3 players which then can be used to change their mood, to remind them of the consequences if they relapse, to give them euphoria of being clean, whatever skill set, perception or behavior they need … we call these musical prescriptions …
You Say traditional therapy has its place also but with caveats?
… We believe in the traditional approaches: cognitive behavioral therapy: changing somebody’s thinking and behaviors; rational emotive therapy: A way of saying: “think about the consequences before you act”; … Also DBT; … Where I believe traditional approaches fail is depending on human beings to implement them. Speaking from my own experience, most people in the profession need to help themselves. Many therapists get their own needs met instead of their clients. If therapist is having a rough day, how will they be motivated and energized to be there for the client? … When we incorporate the music in our group and individual sessions, it improves the mood of our clinicians and makes them more effective … The secret to any good treatment center: It’s not how good or bad the staff is – that may be half of it – but the other half is how the milieu is; incorporating the music brings the community together.
What do you hope to accomplish with the release of your book?
… In writing the book, I wanted to write in lay-men’s terms, so I didn’t get all psychobabble. The audiences are the sick and suffering addict, family members, clinicians and providers of treatment and fourth, and most important almost, is the public at large.
… Say you’re at a stop light in a convertible. To your left is a guy in a pickup truck with a Baltimore Ravens thing in his window with a big x and handwritten on there: “Kneel for the flag, motherfucker.” The person on the right with a Hillary sticker: “Trump, Jesus would smack the shit out of you.” Two people with totally different political views. Both drivers started bobbing their heads to Ray Charles. For that moment, these people were brought together by the power of music.
Does music therapy have the potential to address the opioid epidemic?
Drugs and alcohol are a symptom of the problem. What is the problem: low self-esteem, poor self image, distorted perceptions, negative behaviors etc. … If you don’t address those, it’s going to be very difficult for people not to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. So what music does is it addresses all of those issues and anchors attention … Nova Southeastern University has been gathering empirical data, helping to create an evidence-based model; success rates are 5-7 times better than the national average … Clients that leave against medical advice are about six times lower than the national average … as Steven Tyler says: “We are exposed to music from our mother’s heartbeat. Just that beat is already is ingrained in our brain, in our soul, in our nervous system. It’s something that’s already healthy… This not only has the ability to combat addiction, but break the cycle of addiction.”
What role does family play?
… This is what’s called a family disease and although we might be dealing with addict or what we call the “identified patient”… Even if we’re on the same team and the same page – getting the same messages, setting the same boundaries, knowing the difference between support and enabling – there’s no guarantee that the client is going to stay clean. What is a guarantee: if we’re not all on the same page, there’s almost a guarantee that the client is going to relapse … A client who played baseball and got injured blamed his parents for addiction. We brought the client and family together with a song; in a few minutes, they were crying and hugging. This is another example of how music helped reinforce the alliance needed for long-term recovery …
Dual diagnoses
… We have what most other treatments have: we have medical doctors, board certified psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, nurses, licensed clinicians, we have all that; the secret is, we use music as the catalyst to engage them. Sometimes a client will require medication such as an antidepressant when they’ve been assaulting their nervous system; you’re going to be depressed, you’re going to have anxiety, you’re going to have issues. Sometimes though – and that’s the thing about mental illness: it’s one of the few illnesses that tells you that you don’t have one. Sometimes clients are resistant to taking medications. We don’t prescribe narcotics or things of that nature, we definitely are big believers in medications that will help the client achieve homeostasis, or balance. So by incorporating the music and establishing rapport, they’re much more open to those suggestions.
… There’s a difference between clinical depression and reactive depression. Most medical models don’t differentiate between the two. When my father died I was depressed; I was reacting to a serious trauma. That doesn’t mean I required medication.
In Conclusion …
At Recovery Unplugged we figured out a way how to harness the power of music to communicate to the soul where long lasting change needed for recovery happens. If you or your loved one needs help we are available 24 hours a day seven days a week on the web at recoveryunplugged.com or by phone at 800-55-REHAB or 800-557-3422
NYC Theater News
Music as Remedy for Our Substance Abuse Epidemic: A Talk with Paul Pellinger of “Recovery Unplugged”
Reported for the Flatiron Hot! News by Tod Shapiro and Eric Shapiro
Those of us in New York City, and particularly in Flatiron and Chelsea, are well aware of the tremendous challenge of substance abuse and drug addiction – our neighborhood, with its unmatched variety of night life, often leaves our late-night streets littered with tales of tragic deaths and other mishaps that are the direct result of these problems. We need look no further than our streets and many parks to see those in need of help and treatment. Our local government and civic organizations struggle to meet the challenge, as do those across the country.
Paul and Supa – “Music is Our Medicine!”
Accordingly, here at Flatiron Hot! News, any information that indicates progress, or original thinking and a new approach to these overwhelming problems, is something that we look to bring to the attention of our community. Particularly daunting as our society deals with the crisis is the over-emphasis on law enforcement, incarceration, and therapeutic drug treatment as primary options for treatment, often at the expense of more holistic, non-pharmacological and socially-based approaches.
As it happens, September of this year across the country is being billed as “Recovery Month,” a national observance sponsored by SAMHSA, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The observance raises awareness of mental and substance use disorders, celebrates individuals in long-term recovery, and acknowledges the work of prevention, treatment, and recovery support services nationwide. So there is no better time for all of us in Flatiron and Chelsea to focus our attention on creative techniques to deal with the critical national problem.
It was with great interest that Flatiron Hot’s team perused a copy of Paul Pellinger’s new book Music is our Medicine: The Story of Recovery Unplugged which recounts the author’s approach to treating substance abuse with music. Paul has had his own personal journey of confronting substance abuse, which has informed his therapeutic approach that uses music as an integral part of treatment.
Paul is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Recovery Unplugged. A veteran of the addiction treatment industry, he has combined his decades of experience with his deep love of music to create the Recovery Unplugged treatment model that has helped so many patients reclaim their lives from addiction. Music Is Our Medicine is an account of his own personal and professional journey in the addiction treatment landscape and the organization’s treatment approach, which appeared on the Amazon Bestseller List shortly after its release. Over his 20-plus years in the industry, Paul has worked as a counselor, manager, court-appointed liaison, and consultant and has helped to open some of the most successful treatment organizations in the country.
Paul’s basic approach is to use the power of music, and its ability to connect an individual to powerful and subliminal associations of good times and healthful, wholesome living, to mitigate the urges and destructive effects of substance abuse. He describes for the reader his approach to dealing with his many patients in the book. His “Recovery UnPlugged” treatment centers, which started out in Florida and branched out across the country, have become showcases where the playing, listening to, and discussion of music are added to traditional methods of treatment leading to impressive results, according to the book. To be clear – 85% of the group’s clients are not singers or musicians but just ordinary people.
Or, as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, a seminal rocker who has seen the wreckage that substance abuse can do to one’s life and career, relates, “Songs are the language of the soul. They keep us company when we’re alone and are like best friends. They are always there when we need them. Recovery Unplugged shows that music can be magic. It can be a healing experience and make us feel more hopeful. Songs are the language of the soul.”
Paul’s Recovery Unplugged organization is headquartered in Florida with multiple locations throughout the country that use music to help patients heal. As Paul states: “We are the world’s first addiction care entity to offer a fully music-based treatment paradigm, combining innovative music-based therapies with traditional treatment resources such as medically supervised detox, individualized counseling and relapse-prevention plans. Recovery Unplugged offers all levels of care, including inpatient, outpatient, intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization and is certified by JCAHO. Our staff consists of world-class doctors and accomplished creative professionals, including award-winning songwriter Richie Suppa, who is our Director of Creative Recovery … Our weekly events emphasize that individuals in recovery and their support systems can be change agents, starting with their own lives and how they connect with fellow patients in the community. Weekly musical gatherings reach the soul and create bonds that continue via customized playlists.” As Paul says, “… Music is not an add-on at Recovery Unplugged. We use it before the client even enters our facility, throughout treatment and as part of the discharge plan!”
Eric Shapiro of Flatiron Hot! News took some time to speak with Paul Pellinger, who had these interesting comments and thoughts on his more than 25 years of working in substance abuse treatment, and who shared his take on this most original approach to substance abuse therapy.
Can you talk about yourself?
… I don’t remember where I was 20 minutes ago, but when I was 4 years old, my parents would put on the jukebox and I would get up on the table and dance and I would notice that all the customers would have smiles on their faces. I realized in hindsight the power of music to influence and change people’s views. It then segued into growing up; when I was 10-12 years old, my parents would put on a certain song on the phonograph and their mood would change, their energy would change and they would start dancing around the house.
… Growing up in the Catskills, 10 or 15 miles away from the original Woodstock site, as I entered into my late teens, I noticed every year in the summer months when the hippies would invade the original site and I would go there myself, I would realize that music is a communal thing that helps people get together; it’s very unconditional.
Can you tell us how your own personal journey in terms of substance abuse has informed your efforts?
… I’ll admit, being in recovery myself for many years, hallucinogens were involved, that music had this power. In 1989, I went to college and entered recovery and started to become a clinician and noticed what I was being taught to do in school was about communicating to the head versus the emotions of the persons or the “soul.” In my opinion, anyone I knew in long-term recovery, recovery tends to happen in their soul, not in their head.
… What I realized back then was one of the issues I had with people in treatment was what I could teach them in 30 days could be unlearned in 30 minutes because I didn’t have a catalyst, a mechanism, a method of communication that had the ability for them to anchor the particular concepts, skill sets, behavior and perception that they needed for long-term recovery… I started incorporating that in all my group and individual sessions and it was the highlight of the treatment stay from the feedback from the clients as well as my supervisors.
… I opened Recovery Unplugged in 2013; Richie Suppa found out and got involved; The Aerosmith songs and sound encouraged addicts to stay in treatment. Tired of touring, he wanted to use the God-given power of music to help addicts … Richie is now creative “Director of Recovery” and a wonderful resource …
What is your process for selecting staff members?
… In addition to helping create and design the mental health and drug courts in Broward County, I helped open up 30-40 treatment centers in the past 20 years. What I found was it wasn’t working; one of the things I noticed was the owners of these facilities were ignoring the importance of the compassion, empathy and overall gut feeling towards the staff they were hiring. They were just hiring staff based on the letters behind their name or their experience – which by the way is important … Addicts are very intuitive, they’re street smart – they’ll pick up on if the staff is there just for a paycheck or there to gossip … which is why we give a high level of attention to the staff’s vibe, motives, compassion … as a result we have over a 95% approval rating from our clients …
Your different philosophical approach with music seems highly original. What kind of questions do you ask about music and approach to treatment?
Most treatment facilities do a pre-assessment of their clients before they get there; they determine their criteria – medical, clinical, legal, financial – we get all that too, but in addition, we ask, “what is your favorite genre of music?” and then narrow it down to a particular band or artists. So now we have that information. So when we pick up a client from their house, or their airport, or the detox, or wherever they’re coming from, as soon as they get in the vehicle, that song is playing… Right off the bat, rapport is established, right off the bat they feel heard instead of yelled at… as a result of that, we don’t deal with the normal 2-week adjustment period for their new environment.
How do differing associations with music in a group setting work in treatment?
… When we have clients who are into music that is not specially positive and is actually sexist, offensive, etc … Instead of telling the clients not to listen to that music I will point out who the current artist they are listening to now, listened to when they were growing up … Then for example if they’re in to hip-hop I will point out KRS 1 or Grandmaster Flsh who had a more positive deeper message …
Trigger warnings?
“Comfortably Numb” was a great song to get high to; what we’ll do now is analyze the lyrics and reframe it. For example, “Comfortably Numb” can be associated with the serenity of being clean and it also could be used as a way to interpret it with negative experiences … Now when they listen to that song, it is associated with not only the serenity of being clean, but also with the consequences or the negativity of being addicted
How do you disentangle the biographies of artists associated with addiction/death from the music?
One group room is called the Forever 27 group room – we have a picture of Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin… and they’re all in the pictures. While clients are in the group, instead of saying “and if you keep using, you’re gonna die,” we subliminally have those pictures … A different group room features artists that are in long-term recovery: Eminem, the Eagles among others …
How can music act as a substitute or replace the role drugs play in the lives of addicts. How do you continue that post-treatment?
There’s actual science behind what I’m doing that shows if you observe the brain on drugs, it lights up the brain in a certain way; it stimulates the pleasure centers in a certain way; you can actually see. It’s the same thing if you observe the brain and give them a certain song or a chord change, or a rhythm, it lights up the brain in the same way. It releases the same serotonin levels and dopamine levels and endorphins in the pleasure centers of the brain.
… We’re teaching the clients how to get high without using drugs, which then becomes more of a payoff for them to stay clean …
What happens when a client leaves one of your facilities?
When a client leaves any treatment facility, I or my staff might need to tell them you need to go to meetings, you need to stay out of bars… but you never need to tell them “don’t forget to play music.
… Staying clean in treatment is easy; it’s when you leave is the hard part. When you’re faced with the daily stresses of life. We know that the majority of our clients are addicted to their iPhones, then why not use that as a tool?
How do you use custom playlists as a prescription for your patients?
We create individualized soundtracks for each client based on their individual treatment plan. When they leave our facility, instead of giving them a coin and a certificate, we give them ear buds and MP3 players which then can be used to change their mood, to remind them of the consequences if they relapse, to give them euphoria of being clean, whatever skill set, perception or behavior they need … we call these musical prescriptions …
You Say traditional therapy has its place also but with caveats?
… We believe in the traditional approaches: cognitive behavioral therapy: changing somebody’s thinking and behaviors; rational emotive therapy: A way of saying: “think about the consequences before you act”; … Also DBT; … Where I believe traditional approaches fail is depending on human beings to implement them. Speaking from my own experience, most people in the profession need to help themselves. Many therapists get their own needs met instead of their clients. If therapist is having a rough day, how will they be motivated and energized to be there for the client? … When we incorporate the music in our group and individual sessions, it improves the mood of our clinicians and makes them more effective … The secret to any good treatment center: It’s not how good or bad the staff is – that may be half of it – but the other half is how the milieu is; incorporating the music brings the community together.
What do you hope to accomplish with the release of your book?
… In writing the book, I wanted to write in lay-men’s terms, so I didn’t get all psychobabble. The audiences are the sick and suffering addict, family members, clinicians and providers of treatment and fourth, and most important almost, is the public at large.
… Say you’re at a stop light in a convertible. To your left is a guy in a pickup truck with a Baltimore Ravens thing in his window with a big x and handwritten on there: “Kneel for the flag, motherfucker.” The person on the right with a Hillary sticker: “Trump, Jesus would smack the shit out of you.” Two people with totally different political views. Both drivers started bobbing their heads to Ray Charles. For that moment, these people were brought together by the power of music.
Does music therapy have the potential to address the opioid epidemic?
Drugs and alcohol are a symptom of the problem. What is the problem: low self-esteem, poor self image, distorted perceptions, negative behaviors etc. … If you don’t address those, it’s going to be very difficult for people not to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. So what music does is it addresses all of those issues and anchors attention … Nova Southeastern University has been gathering empirical data, helping to create an evidence-based model; success rates are 5-7 times better than the national average … Clients that leave against medical advice are about six times lower than the national average … as Steven Tyler says: “We are exposed to music from our mother’s heartbeat. Just that beat is already is ingrained in our brain, in our soul, in our nervous system. It’s something that’s already healthy… This not only has the ability to combat addiction, but break the cycle of addiction.”
What role does family play?
… This is what’s called a family disease and although we might be dealing with addict or what we call the “identified patient”… Even if we’re on the same team and the same page – getting the same messages, setting the same boundaries, knowing the difference between support and enabling – there’s no guarantee that the client is going to stay clean. What is a guarantee: if we’re not all on the same page, there’s almost a guarantee that the client is going to relapse … A client who played baseball and got injured blamed his parents for addiction. We brought the client and family together with a song; in a few minutes, they were crying and hugging. This is another example of how music helped reinforce the alliance needed for long-term recovery …
Dual diagnoses
… We have what most other treatments have: we have medical doctors, board certified psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, nurses, licensed clinicians, we have all that; the secret is, we use music as the catalyst to engage them. Sometimes a client will require medication such as an antidepressant when they’ve been assaulting their nervous system; you’re going to be depressed, you’re going to have anxiety, you’re going to have issues. Sometimes though – and that’s the thing about mental illness: it’s one of the few illnesses that tells you that you don’t have one. Sometimes clients are resistant to taking medications. We don’t prescribe narcotics or things of that nature, we definitely are big believers in medications that will help the client achieve homeostasis, or balance. So by incorporating the music and establishing rapport, they’re much more open to those suggestions.
… There’s a difference between clinical depression and reactive depression. Most medical models don’t differentiate between the two. When my father died I was depressed; I was reacting to a serious trauma. That doesn’t mean I required medication.
In Conclusion …
At Recovery Unplugged we figured out a way how to harness the power of music to communicate to the soul where long lasting change needed for recovery happens. If you or your loved one needs help we are available 24 hours a day seven days a week on the web at recoveryunplugged.com or by phone at 800-55-REHAB or 800-557-3422