The Sound of Recovery: Healing Teen Drug and Alcohol Addiction with Music Therapy

An Interview with Music Therapist, Andy Tubman

By Meghan Vivo

Walk around a high school for one afternoon and you'll see evidence of the profound connection teens have with music - cell phones featuring ring tones from the hottest stars, iPods buzzing in every ear, the latest gadgets playing the latest tunes as cars pull away from the school parking lot. Follow those same adolescents home and you'll see more of the same - bedroom door shut, music blaring, drum beats reverberating rhythmically through the floor.

Listening to music can be a mood-altering experience, complete with the endorphin rush and natural euphoria teens are constantly seeking. In addition, music can be therapeutic. Research has shown that the rhythm of a song can stimulate brainwaves, impact breathing and heart rate, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, boost immunity, and improve overall health.

Speaking a New Language
More than just a pleasant pastime or amusing distraction, music can also help adolescents in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. Andy Tubman, a music therapist at Echo Malibu, an innovative adolescent addiction treatment program and drug rehab center in Malibu, California, believes music therapy is about applying the nonverbal musical world metaphorically to help young addicts understand themselves better.

"I think music therapy is useful at any program if it's used the right way by the right people because music connects people in ways other things don't," he says. "Everyone in the world has a deep connection to music - we all operate in frequencies, and we all hear our mother's heartbeat as our first introduction to music."

Adolescents are ready to learn about and express themselves, but they need a non-intimidating outlet that speaks to them, says Tubman. Music can help them understand why they turned to drugs and alcohol and work through the emotions in new and creative ways.

"With teenagers, a lot of their world is built around musical preference, even their core sense of identity," explains Tubman. "By exploring music, you are diving into their world quickly and deeply but in a safe and relatable way."

Music Therapy in Action
Tubman uses improvisational drumming, guided relaxation, and song-writing and recording in his work with recovering teens. The students create mood-altering song lists that encourage a positive state of mind and learn to use music as a healthy coping strategy when they feel the impulse to use.

"Music therapy isn't just about listening to cool music," states Tubman. "We build a discussion around the feelings the music evokes and which moods create the desire to use, so these young people can understand and apply what they're doing."

Improvisation is one of Tubman's favorite therapeutic tools. In one exercise, an individual leads the session by making a dedication or sending a message to someone in his life, which then becomes the title of the song. Each person in the group extrapolates from the title the sounds that echo the leader's emotions, and plays in support of his theme.

"Improv sessions can get very intimate - or very silly - very quickly," explains Tubman. "Either way, they free up expression, reduce tension, and open people up while at the same time offering support to the leader in a unique way. Rather than going around in a circle and listing someone's good qualities, the participants give others positive support and sympathy based on the emotions expressed, in a way that the leader can internalize immediately. This form of musical collaboration empowers people and builds connection and self-esteem in the group."

At the end of the exercise, the group discusses what happened musically, how the parts worked to create the whole, and how each person connected with the leader's emotion. If a participant misinterpreted the emotion or couldn't synchronize with the other group members, they discuss the underlying reasons and take accountability for their sound. If one musician couldn't vary her beats or another could only relate to highly complex, chaotic rhythms, the session may spark a group discussion about the way the music mirrors each member's life experiences.

Incorporating Music Therapy into Addiction Treatment
Tubman's passion for music therapy developed in college when one of his closest friends fell into a coma. At the time, Tubman was learning how to play guitar and would sneak into the intensive care ward to play for his friend, knowing coma patients needed stimulation. One month later, his friend came out of the coma mouthing the words to the song "Wish You Were Here," which Tubman knew to be one of his friend's favorites.

"I enrolled in music therapy the next month," says Tubman.

As music therapy has developed into a recognized therapeutic intervention, it has proven popular and effective in many of the most well-known residential addiction treatment centers. Music has a unique capacity to increase an individual's level of self-awareness as she experiences different emotions and sensations with different types of songs. Like art and drama, individuals sometimes feel safer and less judged when they can project their feelings into a song rather than discussing their own intensely personal experiences.

When used therapeutically, music can also improve an addicted individual's coping mechanisms and distress tolerance skills. Many recovering addicts can learn to write a song or listen to poignant lyrics rather than turning to drugs or alcohol. Through music-assisted relaxation and guided therapy, patients learn healthy ways to cope.

For recovering addicts who crave a sense of community and belonging, music is also a great social tool. Individuals who write song lyrics together, practice improvisational skills, or work in concert to create melodies and harmonies develop a common identity, validating each other's experience of the music and building trusting relationships.

According to Tubman, a drug rehab center or addiction treatment program that is based in creative therapies such as music therapy encourages teens to take an honest look at where they are in the world and what they have to do to control their addictions.

After 13 years of working as a music therapist in psychiatric hospitals, various treatment programs, and in private practice treating individuals for addiction, trauma, multiple personality, and autism, Tubman says the difference at Echo Malibu is good, smart therapists who are doing the work for far more than a paycheck.

"This is the only program I still make time for because it's a good, quality program that is founded on concrete principles and that really makes a difference," he says.

Located in the hills of one of California's most desirable beach towns, Echo Malibu is the manifestation of the belief of four leading addiction specialists that adolescent addiction treatment can and should be grounded in empowerment, affirmation, and hope. The way Echo Malibu infuses this philosophy into treatment is through hiring the top professionals in the field, offering daily therapy and intensive family therapy, and incorporating expressive, creative, and body arts that tap into new areas of a teen's psyche.

Addiction is a complex disease that requires a comprehensive and multifaceted treatment plan. While recovering addicts used to be limited to traditional substance abuse counseling and 12-Step work, modern addiction treatment offers a wide range of alternative holistic therapies and expressive outlets like music therapy. When faced with one of the most difficult battles in life, recovering addicts need every opportunity for a successful and insightful long-term recovery.

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