Triggers in your ear

Recovering people trying to minimize environmental cues about drinking and drugging should consider staying away from rap music and country music. Rock music, once believed the major gateway to drug abuse, is relatively safe.

Researchers who looked at the bestselling songs in several genres from 2005 found that 37 percent of top country songs featured references to drugs or alcohol, compared to just 14 percent of rock songs. Rap was worst with 77 percent. Source.

A short list of songs about drinking/drugging and NOT drinking/drugging is here, and a long collection of the same is here.

Researchers didn't, but should, look at classical music also. Item No. 1 for my mute-button list is Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde -- an operetta that celebrates being drunk and depressed. Oh, and what about that line in Beethoven's Ninth about being "drunk with fire"? LOL.

Music that reassures about sobriety

From the Tiny Mix website (tinymixtapes.com):

I am a recovering addict and alcoholic, all my favorite music was composed by junkies and lushes, and my friends want me to go the pub for a drink. i need a mix that reassures me it’s good to be clean and sober.

Requested by: elleon713
Compiled by: Hannahrama

Note from Hannahrama: Side A is full of artists/band members that have managed to quit drug or alcohol abuse, legions of fans falling at their feet. Side B has artists/band members who died as a result of drug or alcohol abuse. You can’t really enjoy much, when you’re dead.

SIDE A: If they can do it, you can, too!
01. John Coltrane - "Aisha" (Ole Coltrane [Bonus Track])
02. David Bowie - "Heroes" (Best of Bowie)
03. Elvis Costello - "My Little Blue Window" (When I Was Cruel)
04. Velvet Revolver - "Fall to Pieces" (Contraband)
05. Tom Waits - "Anywhere I Lay My Head" (Rain Dogs)
06. Johnny Cash - "I Still Miss Someone" (Folsom Prison Blues)
07. Eric Clapton - "Tears in Heaven" (Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton)
08. Iggy Pop - "Private Hell" (Skull Ring)
09. The Used - "Yesterday’s Feelings" (In Love and Death)
10. The Cure - "Lost" (The Cure)

SIDE B: Cut down in their prime.
01. Nirvana - "Come As You Are" (Nevermind)
02. The Doors - "Touch Me" (Legacy: The Absolute Best)
03. Jimi Hendrix - "Castles Made of Sand" (Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix)
04. Blind Melon - "No Rain" (Blind Melon)
05. The Ruts - "Staring at the Rude Boys" (Something That I Said: The Best of the Ruts)
06. The Ramones - "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" (The Ramones)
07. Townes Van Zandt - "If I Needed You" (The Late Great Townes Van Zandt)
08. Elliott Smith - "Roman Candle" (Roman Candle)
09. Deep Purple - "Smoke on the Water" (Machine Head)
10. Tim Buckley - "Chase the Blues Away" (Blue Afternoon)

Prayer worthless, but music/imagery/touching may help

Two studies of the role of prayer in medicine are reported in the current issue of the Harvard Men's Health Watch Newsletter.

In the first study, researchers looked at whether prayer on behalf of a patient could assist recovery from bypass surgery. A third of the patients were prayed for after being told that this might or might not be done; a third did not receive prayer; and a third received prayer after being told this would occur. The researchers concluded that prayer had no effect on complication-free recovery from bypass.

In the second study, researchers randomly assigned patients to one of four groups before elective cardiac catheterization and angiography. One group received standard care. The others, in addition to standard care, received either prayer or music, imagery, and touch (MIT) therapy; or both prayer and MIT therapy. MIT therapy included instruction in meditation and deep breathing, and the application of “healing touch” hand positions by trained practitioners. The investigators found that neither prayer nor MIT therapy was beneficial in preventing subsequent heart problems.

However, patients who received MIT therapy experienced a clear decrease in anxiety and distress before the catheterization—and were less likely to die during the subsequent six months. It's clear that the prayer didn't help. But whether it was the music, imagery, or touch that might have helped remains uncertain. Source.