The use of psychoactive substances is a cultural phenomenon and is associated with strong
positive experiences. Regular use of psychoactive substances often leads to substance-related
addiction. Substance addiction is considered very difficult to address therapeutically. Therefore,
an integrative treatment approach is the method of first choice.
In this paper, the broad topic of addiction is highlighted and a self-designed music therapy
treatment draft, as a part of integrative psychiatric-psychotherapeutic addiction treatment, will
be presented. In that treatment draft, the various meanings of creativity in music therapy of
substance-related addiction play a primordial role. In a first step, multi-perspective theoretical
considerations of such a therapeutic approach are discussed. Then, the practical approach is
documented, theoretically supported and illustrated with practical case examples. Furthermore,
possible effectiveness and measurement tools of such a music therapy approach shall be presented.
An empirical study with a larger number of patients would help to evaluate the effectiveness
of such a therapeutic procedure and could strengthen the role and further development
of music therapy in addiction treatment.