Music is used as a catalyst to engage existing evidence-based treatment models. It is used to establish rapport, help change mood, motivate, help participants emote and share, and for retention purposes. There is ample scientific evidence that music appeals to the same pleasure centers of the brain that drugs and alcohol do so, in essence, we are teaching clients how to get high without using drugs which then makes recovery more of a payoff than getting high.

I realized that music could help people heal from addiction over 25 years ago when I started incorporating lyrics and music in my group and individual therapy and noticed that the clients actually wanted to be in the groups and it was one of their highlights, which is half the battle of getting them to engage. Next, I noticed that music had the ability to anchor clients to particular solutions to issues that needed to be addressed. And above all, music is the only form of communication that speaks to the soul, facilitating lasting change.

The main difference is that music is not an add-on at Recovery Unplugged versus a normal music therapy track. Another difference is that music therapy has not been harnessed and developed as a treatment modality for addiction like we have at Recovery Unplugged despite their other uses with Alzheimer, cancer patients, etc.

90% of the clients at Recovery Unplugged are not musicians and have no musical background. I’m also not a musician, and I created the treatment modality.

This is, by far, the hardest question. I could identify my top favorite songs from every genre and every decade. I could literally identify dozens of groups/artists and just identify the top five songs they have. If I absolutely had to:

• “Desperado” – The Eagles
• “Here Comes the Sun” – The Beatles
• “Three Little Birds” – Bob Marley
• “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” – McFadden and Whitehead
• “Amazing” – Aerosmith

Click Here to view Paul’s recovery soundtrack.