How to deal music? Enhancing coping strategies in music therapy with clients suffering from addiction problems

This article describes some of the music therapeutic techniques that the authors use in their daily treatment as music therapists and observation practice with clients suffering from addiction. The article depicts the comparisons and differences between addiction problems combined with psychiatric and forensic ones. The musical assignments stress the additional value of the action oriented methods of music therapy in comparison with verbal processing. A couple of key-aspects will be addressed such as: addiction, music (therapy), coping strategies, analogy, body-language. The two authors show their specific music therapy methodology, illustrated by examples from their practice in an addiction service respectively forensic psychiatric setting.