If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, you might read that the main treatment involves therapy for substance abuse. But how can therapy help with addiction? What types of addiction therapy are common, and why do they matter?
How Can Therapy Help with Addiction?
Therapy comes in many forms. No matter the substance to which you are addicted, your primary program will involve individual and group psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is colloquially called talk therapy because it involves you talking with a therapist.
Individual Addiction Therapy
Individual addiction therapy sets you up to explore your past, look at events that may have contributed to your addiction, review behaviors you might want to change, and find coping mechanisms you can use moving forward.
Individual therapy sessions are vital in long-term recovery because they help redirect your thoughts, emotions, and actions. With an individual session, you can work with a therapist one-on-one and develop a strong bond, which, over time, helps the therapist provide more specialized tools and information.
Group Therapy for Addiction
Group therapy for addiction becomes more and more important as you transition through your residential program. Group therapy serves many purposes, like exposing you to a network of sober individuals who are going through some of the same trials. During group sessions, everyone is able to learn new coping mechanisms, reflections, and tools and, more importantly, share personal success stories or stories of failure.
Sharing this information can help everyone learn new ways to manage stress, new opportunities for sober activities in their area, new insight into personal relationships, or how addiction may have changed the brain. Sharing stories of failure makes everyone understand that they are not alone and that failure is an opportunity to learn and move forward.
Family Therapy for Substance Abuse
Many clients benefit from the incorporation of family therapy into a residential program. It is something that can be added near the second half of treatment after you have finished your initial detox. Clients benefit from incorporating their family members because it gives everyone an opportunity to learn more about how addiction works and how the substances with which clients struggle may have caused changes.
It also provides chances for family members to resolve underlying issues in the relationship that may have been the result of addiction.
Family members learn how to better communicate, express their feelings, recognize signs of a possible relapse, and best help their loved ones during recovery.
How Does Therapy Help with Addiction in Long Term?
Long term, many holistic therapies like yoga or physical activity, wilderness therapy, art therapy, mindfulness, or meditation can be used to deal with stress and avoid a relapse long-term. Where individual, group, and family therapy can help you look into your past and determine what changes you might want to make moving forward, holistic therapy can help you focus on the present.
This focus on the present keeps you grounded in the present moment, helps you identify when emotions might be uncomfortable but fleeting, and enables you to cope with stress without turning to drugs and alcohol.
Starting Therapy for Addiction
Starting addiction therapy doesn’t have to be frightening or stressful. When you come to Liberty House Recovery Center, you will get to work with a fully licensed medical facility that has nurses, doctors, counselors, and therapists on duty to ensure you get top-of-the-line care.
We specialize in residential, inpatient programs. So how can therapy help with addiction? When you reach out to our team and start your initial assessment, we will curate a personalized treatment program that can include the following:
- Detox
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Family therapy
We work hard to give each of our clients the levels of evidence-based, holistic therapy that offers the best chance of success and long-term recovery. Some of our complementary, evidence-based therapy for addiction sets clients up for long-term sobriety by giving them access to a form of therapy they can continue after drug and alcohol rehab without great personal cost. Not many clients can continue with lifelong individual therapy sessions, but many clients can much more easily continue with lifelong meditation, mindfulness training, or yoga. If you are ready to start therapy for substance abuse, reach out to Liberty House.