Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, EMDR therapy is a form of treatment commonly used to treat PTSD and other trauma. An EMDR dual-diagnosis treatment program can help individuals participating in drug and alcohol rehab receive the mental health treatment they need for unprocessed trauma that may be contributing to their current addiction.
Contact our luxury drug and alcohol rehab in Michigan to learn more.
What is EMDR Therapy?
An EMDR treatment program is a form of evidence-based therapy that helps you to process difficult or painful emotions or events from your past.
It is used by the US government to treat PTSD in veterans and is considered one of the best forms of treatment to reverse PTSD symptoms.
How Does an EMDR Treatment Program Work?
With EMDR, a therapist will ask you to recall in detail the trauma or painful memories of your past. While you recall the events, the therapist will guide you through different eye movements.
By changing your eye movements as you recall a traumatic or painful memory, you are able to change the way your brain stores those memories, alleviating any unnecessary reinforcements or triggers. You can start storing new memories that resolve the unresolved trauma of your past.
Why Choose EMDR Dual Diagnosis Treatment
EMDR dual diagnosis treatment is favored by many individuals who might not be comfortable with traditional talk therapy. Some events or traumas from the past might be too difficult to talk about, but with EMDR therapy, you don’t actually have to describe in detail the events that happened; instead, you can just think about them as your eyes follow movements directed by a therapist to help your brain reprocess and store that information differently.
For example:
If you watched your mother struggle with domestic abuse as a child, you might have stored negative memories from your childhood that results in blame, so you might not realize that when you consciously or subconsciously retrieve those memories, all you do is reinforce that blame on yourself.
This type of unprocessed trauma can encourage individuals to self-medicate with things like drugs and alcohol, leading to addiction. But those who start EMDR dual diagnosis treatment can receive care for unprocessed trauma at the same time as care for addiction.
Without treating that trauma, you can struggle with things like:
- Guilt that remains with you and impacts your ability to make decisions in the future, perhaps avoiding a relationship yourself or trying never to get angry for fear of domestic abuse in your home
- Negative and incorrect beliefs about your value
- Beliefs that you are a failure because you couldn’t stop the trauma from happening
This last belief is one example of something particularly nefarious. If you continue to believe that you are not worth anything and that you are a failure because you couldn’t stop trauma from your past, you are more likely to believe that you shouldn’t bother getting clean because you will fail in recovery too.
This is far from the truth. Everyone deserves to live a happy, fulfilling life, and EMDR therapy can help with that.
Getting EMDR Dual Diagnosis Treatment with Liberty House
Liberty House offers comprehensive residential treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. However, many people struggling with addiction also have underlying mental health conditions and need treatment for both: dual diagnosis treatment.
EMDR therapy can be used for:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Eating disorders
- Dissociative identity disorder
- Major depressive disorder
- Social anxiety
- Phobias
- OCD
- PTSD
- Personality disorders
- Panic disorders
- Adjustment disorders
- Substance abuse
You might not realize that there are untreated traumas from your past contributing to your current mental health or substance abuse disorders. If you start a treatment program with Liberty House, you might begin things like individual psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy and realize that there is a need for additional care.
Our team can help you find the right combination of care, using treatments that work and with which you are most comfortable. This type of plan provides therapy and holistic services that help you improve the way your traumatic memories are stored and then fix the improper storage.
With these negative and painful experiences resolved, you can tackle aspects of your addiction recovery with more success.
Liberty House Recovery is a drug treatment center in Michigan. Call us today to learn more about our EMDR dual diagnosis services.