Background: Conditioning- and cue-induced craving theories indicate that music has the potential to induce substance craving. A better understanding of this phenomenon could enhance treatment and prevent misuse, relapse, and overdose. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to locate and examine studies using music to induce substance craving in humans. We sought to discover if music can induce substance craving as well as specific aspects of the music and how it was used. Method: Adhering to the PRISMA Statement and Checklist, we conducted a systematic review of literature on music-induced substance craving in nine databases. We extracted data from studies meeting our inclusion criteria, which related to substance craving induced by music and data based on music intervention reporting guidelines. Results: We reviewed 751 research outputs. A total of 33 articles meeting the inclusion criteria were found, indicating that various types of music can induce alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, and general substance craving. In most of the studies, music was used as a component of a mood induction technique or in a virtual reality setting that led to craving. There tended to be a lack of detail about the music itself and most authors did not adhere to music intervention reporting guidelines. In the majority of studies, the researchers selected the music to induce negative mood states so as to elicit craving. Conclusion: Music has the potential to induce substance craving. While the music used in studies varied considerably and tended to be well controlled from a research design perspective, the music was not based on the music psychology literature, and authors did not adequately report essential aspects of the music. Implications for clinical practice, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.

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Although information is frequently paired with music to enhance recall, there is a lack of basic research investigating how aspects of recorded music, as well as how it is presented, facilitate working memory. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of visual and aural presentation styles, rhythm, and participant major on working memory as measured by sequential monosyllabic digit recall performance. We isolated visual and aural presentation styles and rhythm conditions during six different treatment stimuli presented on a computer screen in the study: (a) Visual Rhythm; (b) Visual No Rhythm; (c) Aural Rhythm; (d) Aural No Rhythm; (e) Visual + Aural Rhythm; (f) Visual + Aural No Rhythm. Participants’ ( N = 60; 30 nonmusic majors and 30 music majors) task was to immediately recall the information paired with music within each condition. Analyses of variance indicated a significant difference between the visual and visual + aural presentation style conditions with the visual + aural condition having more accurate recall. While descriptive data indicated that rhythm tended to facilitate recall, there was no significant difference between rhythm and no rhythm conditions. Nonmusic major participants tended to have slightly more accurate recall than music major participants, although this difference was not significant. Participants tended to have higher recall accuracy during primacy and recency serial positions. As participants had most accurate recall during the visual + aural presentation style conditions, it seems that the multi-sensory presentation modes can be effective for teaching information to be immediately recalled as long as they do not contain too much information and overload the limited storage capacity of working memory. Implications for clinical practice, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.

According to the Stress Vulnerability Model, affect regulation is crucial to manage stressors and promote recovery for adults with mental health conditions. Education regarding music-based affect regulation can be delivered in group formats using a transdiagnostic approach to increase access to services and vicarious learning. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if there were between-diagnosis and between-substance differences in music-based affect regulation via the Brief Music in Mood Regulation Scale (B-MMR) and Healthy-Unhealthy Music Scale (HUMS) subscales in adults with mental health and substance use conditions. Adults with mental health ( n = 147) and substance use ( n = 221) conditions completed the B-MMR and HUMS. Analyses of variance were conducted with participants’ mental health diagnosis or primary substance as independent variables and the B-MMR and HUMS subscales as dependent variables. There were only significant between-substance differences in revival and discharge subscales, with participants addicted to heroin having higher mean scores than participants addicted to alcohol. No other result was significant. Due to an overall lack of between-group differences in diagnoses and substances, transdiagnostic theory has applications for educating adults with mental health and substance use conditions about music-based affect regulation in group formats.

Despite evidence linking social connectedness (SC) and substance use disorders (SUD) treatment outcomes, there remains a gap in the literature about how people with SUD experience SC during music therapy. The purpose of this study was to understand how adults with SUD on an inpatient detoxification unit experienced SC during group-based songwriting. Participants were 12 adults with SUD who attended a single-group recovery-oriented songwriting session. After four sessions, we conducted individual semi-structured interviews with participants and used an inductive approach to thematic analysis to analyze interviews. Five themes emerged. The first two themes addressed how the songwriting session influenced SC: (1) songwriting facilitated participation and recognition of shared experiences with peers and (2) collaboratively creating a musical product was a positive experience that facilitated peer connections. Although not specific to the songwriting intervention, the final three themes described how social relationships, addiction, and recovery interacted and influenced each other more broadly: (3) addiction is associated with damaged relationships and isolation, (4) relationships and social support can aid or hinder recovery, and (5) reluctance to form relationships in treatment. Implications for clinical practice, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.