An exploration of second-stage recovery through song collage: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract

Addiction continues to be a pervasive issue worldwide. Research indicates that music therapy is a promising treatment modality for individuals who struggle with addiction. However, most of the current music therapy and addiction research focuses on short-term interventions in early phases of recovery. Music therapy is uniquely suited to address the emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs that often emerge later in the recovery process. The purpose of this study is to achieve a clearer understanding of one individual’s experience of the phenomena of creating a song collage, a specific music therapy intervention design, that was representative of his process of long-term recovery. This individual was interviewed about his retrospective experience of this process, which was then analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. The results revealed four main themes: Process, Role of the Music, A Musical Artifact, and Relationship. The results indicate that this intervention design facilitated a profundity and depth of experience that is not well represented in the literature and a sustained perceived benefit to the participant. It appears that song collage is well suited to address the needs of later recovery, has potential to address other phases as well. The results are discussed along with implications for music therapy practice and recommendations for future research.