Recovering from an addiction is a major achievement. However, detox is just the first step and is not a cure. Someone on the path to recovery should attend substance abuse treatment programs or addiction treatment therapy programs, including CBT and DBT.
What are CBT and DBT, and how can they help patients in programs meant to help recovering addicts? In general, therapy will help a patient to identify the cause of their addiction and what triggers substance use. It will also teach a patient coping skills to manage their addiction and maintain sobriety throughout their life. Therapy will become a very important part of substance abuse treatment for many patients.
If you or someone you care about are looking for addiction therapy programs to attend in Ohio, contact Midwest Detox Center online or call 833.647.0392 to ask about the behavior therapies we offer to our patients.
What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
CBT teaches patients how to recognize feelings, moods, thoughts, and situations that can bring about drug cravings. A therapist can also teach a patient how to deal with or avoid these triggers. In therapy sessions, a patient can learn how to replace negative thoughts with healthy ones that will keep them sober. These coping skills can last for a lifetime and are a powerful method for avoiding relapse.
It’s common for patients with substance use disorder to have negative thinking. However, they’re not always aware that their thought patterns are destructive. Since cognition affects a person’s well-being, being aware of and changing harmful thought patterns is essential to addiction recovery.
CBT can address harmful thought patterns by:
- Exploring the patient’s patterns of self-destructive beliefs, behavior, and actions
- Actively seeking alternate thinking to replace harmful thought patterns
- Creating helpful strategies that can be incorporated into the patient’s everyday life
- Becoming a way to handle potential stressors following addiction treatment
CBT can be provided in group therapy but can also be the focus of individual therapy sessions. Typical exercises include journal-writing and examining past problems. CBT is present-oriented, problem-focused, and goal-directed, which makes it ideal for addiction treatment programs.
What Is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)?
DBT focuses on helping patients deal with acceptance and change. In the 1970s, DBT was used to treat people who were suicidal or had borderline personality disorder (BPD), but since then, the form of therapy has been adapted for treating other conditions, like addiction.
In treating substance use disorders, DBT places an emphasis on curbing substance use and behaviors that lead to it. Boosting healthy behaviors like maintaining positive social relationships that help patients avoid relapsing is also part of DBT. The core goals of DBT, when used to treat addiction, are to help patients build their confidence and learn coping abilities. This will help patients handle stressful situations effectively and without having a setback. DBT can also help in recovery by encouraging patients to:
- Remove triggers such as drug paraphernalia or unhealthy relationships from their lives
- Seek out environments and peer groups that discourage addiction
- Improve their communication skills
- Learn skills like distress tolerance, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness
In addition to these components, patients with CBT or DBT sessions will also be given homework assignments to complete.
Why Addiction Therapy Is Essential to Recovery
Addiction is more than a physical dependence on alcohol or drugs. Detox can help your body recover from substance abuse, but patients will always be at high risk for relapse. Sometimes it’s a mental health issue that leads to the development of the addiction in the first place. And once addiction happens, drugs or alcohol can change a patient’s brain chemistry.
Therapy is essential to cope with stress, triggers, and possible problems past being part of a substance abuse treatment or addiction therapy program. Behavioral therapies can help a patient deal with a mental dependence on alcohol or drugs. Therapy sessions and what a patient can learn from them, help deal with drug cravings and whatever else life throws at a patient’s path to recovery.
Many counseling therapies can be used to treat substance abuse. Not one method or approach works best for everyone. That’s why many substance abuse treatment or addiction therapy programs are tailored to a patient’s particular needs.
Learn More About Midwest Detox Center’s Addiction Therapy Treatment Programs
If you or someone you care about are looking for addiction therapy programs at a treatment provider in Ohio, reach out to Midwest Detox Center online or call 833.647.0392 to find out more about the behavioral therapies and other treatments we offer.
