If you deal with addiction, you may want to consider an addiction counselor to help you learn to live without your chosen drug. Even after you have gone through the detoxification process, you are at high risk for a relapse because of social and psychological factors. Some of these factors include life stresses, environmental cues such as visiting a certain neighborhood, and your social networks. Any of these factors can make your urges to use drugs nearly irresistible. In addiction counselor can come beside you to help you learn to escape those cravings and better cope with your life without drugs.
There are several types of counseling therapies available for addicts. The addiction counselor will help you find the one that works best for you and your situation based on your addiction and your needs. Below are some of the therapies available. These therapies can be done on an individual or group basis and be either an outpatient or a residential treatment. Coastline Behavioral Health offers many options to patients that is tailored to the individual.
CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, will teach you how to recognize your situations, thoughts, and moods that may stimulate your drug cravings. Your addiction counselor can help you learn to avoid the triggers and replace your thought processes with ones that are healthier and more consistent with sobriety. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a powerful way to fight against addiction since the skills you learn in CBT last your lifetime.
Positive incentives are used with addicts in the contingency management therapy. In a residential program, this often will be vouchers that can be used for goods and services. This method has been proven to be very effective in studies on drug rehab. It can be a high cost method, though, and once the positive incentives stop, many addicts return to their old ways.
Motivational Interviewing is a newer counseling method that has begun replacing confrontation. In confrontation, addicts are put into a position where they must accept their problems with their addiction. In motivational interviewing, the addiction counselor’s goal is to better understand the addict’s natural motivation to change. Whatever their motivation is, whether it’s the love of their family or something else, the therapy is focused around the motivation.
When it comes to addiction, the entire family is affected. The most successful drug abuse programs occur when there are strong relationships. Many addiction counselors will include family members, or just the spouse, of the addicted person. This often helps the addict to stay motivated in therapy and lessens the rates of relapse. It is also a great way to help the family heal together.
Maintenance therapy is often used for addicts with a strong possibility of relapse. For instance, opioid addicts are often given medications that prevent them from getting a high from the drugs. Many of these drugs will be taken for years to prevent a relapse.
Though many people seem to think an addict can be cured after going through a drug rehab program, evidence continues to show that maintenance therapy is important as a lifelong treatment to help addicts overcome their addictions for life.
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