A small Anglia Ruskin pilot is the first to record EEG during music therapy for substance use, finding lower craving and changes in emotional processing.
Music and drugs share a pathway in the brain. Both activate the reward system, the network of regions that releases dopamine and makes certain experiences feel good enough to repeat. Listening to music can even produce euphoric chills that brain imaging studies have linked to the same circuits engaged by addictive substances.
That overlap prompted a question for researchers at Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research: if music taps into the same system that drugs exploit, could it help people recovering from addiction? A new pilot study, published in Addiction Neuroscience, suggests it might. Participants reported lower cravings right after music therapy sessions and showed changes in brain activity linked to emotional and motivational processing.
A studio inside a treatment centre
The study involved 16 adults receiving treatment for alcohol and drug use, including heroin, cocaine and cannabis, at a community addiction service in London. Some received six weekly music therapy sessions in addition to their standard treatment, while others received standard treatment alone. The sessions took place in both group and one-to-one formats.
Music therapy is distinct from simply listening to music. It is delivered by trained, accredited therapists who use active music-making, improvisation, songwriting and listening within a therapeutic relationship to address specific goals, from emotional expression to motivation.
To make the research possible, the team set up a temporary music studio and brain laboratory inside the treatment centre. Participants played drum pads, guitar, keyboard and percussion and used computer-based music software. The researchers recorded their brain activity with electroencephalography, or EEG, which uses electrodes on the scalp to measure electrical activity, and combined those recordings with questionnaires and interviews. The release describes it as the first study to examine brain activity during music therapy sessions for substance use disorders.
“We know that substance use is often accompanied by cognitive and behavioural challenges, including difficulties with emotional regulation and symptoms such as depression and anxiety,” said Jorg Fachner, Professor of Music, Health and the Brain at Anglia Ruskin and co-director of the institute, who led the work with Clemens Maidhof and Filippo Pasqualitto.
Lower craving, calmer brains
Participants who received music therapy reported less “present moment” craving immediately after sessions, measured on a scale known as the Craving Thermometer. Their EEG recordings also showed lower frontal beta activity than those of participants in the comparison group. Beta waves are a fast brain rhythm associated with alertness and active thinking, and higher beta activity relative to other frequency bands has been associated with craving.
The researchers also measured frontal alpha asymmetry, or FAA, the difference in alpha wave activity between the left and right frontal regions of the brain. FAA has been linked to how people process positive and negative emotions and whether they tend to approach or withdraw. The music therapy group showed differences in these frontal areas, and the FAA findings were statistically significant. Combined with results from a response task, they suggest the therapy may help participants rein in emotions such as anger and frustration.
“The results suggest that music therapy could help people process their negative emotions, which is relevant to managing cravings and supporting motivation to change their behaviour, as well as be better able to inhibit or control their emotional responses, such as anger or frustration,” Fachner said.
EEG has well-known strengths and weaknesses. It is relatively inexpensive and portable, which made it possible to bring a lab into a treatment centre, and it tracks brain activity with millisecond precision. But it cannot pinpoint activity deep within the brain as precisely as functional MRI, so its findings describe broad patterns rather than specific circuits.
Building on earlier evidence
The pilot builds on a Cochrane review by the same group. Cochrane reviews are systematic analyses of the available research and are widely regarded as a benchmark for evidence in health care. “Our Cochrane Review into the use of music therapy for people with substance use disorders highlighted how it can reduce cravings and improve people’s motivation for change,” Fachner said.
What was missing was a window into what was happening in the brain. “What makes our new study particularly important is that, for the first time, we combined participants’ own experiences with recordings of brain activity, allowing us to see how the therapy is influencing those neural processes that are associated with recovery,” he said.
That combination matters. Craving is a subjective experience, and self-reports can be shaped by people’s expectations or their wish to please researchers. Physiological measures such as EEG provide an independent line of evidence, even if they cannot by themselves show what a person is feeling.
A pilot, not a verdict
Fachner is careful about how far the findings go. “Overall, it provides encouraging evidence for the role of music therapy in addiction treatment and supports the value of combining psychometric, qualitative and EEG measures when studying music therapy in substance use disorders,” he said. “However, given the small sample size of this pilot study, the trends we found require confirmation in longer and larger-scale investigations.”
With only 16 participants, split across two groups, the study cannot establish whether music therapy reduces relapse or improves long-term recovery. The craving measurements were taken immediately after sessions, so it is unclear how long the effect lasts. The release does not report how participants were assigned to groups or who funded the work.
Still, the findings add biological detail to a treatment that is inexpensive, engaging and low in risk. Substance use disorders affect tens of millions of people worldwide, and relapse rates remain high. Approaches that help people manage cravings and difficult emotions, the very states that often precede relapse, are worth testing more rigorously. Music may be one of them.
Notes
- “Music therapy in community-based substance misuse treatment: Exploring psychometric, qualitative and EEG measures related to craving, inhibition and affective processing.” Addiction Neuroscience, 30 September 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2026.100281.
- Anglia Ruskin University. “Study shows how music may help tackle addiction.” EurekAlert!, 30 September 2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1145763.
Featured image: Photo by OVAN on Pexels.com
Leave a Reply