Types of Treatment Therapies
“In the healing journey, treatment therapies compose the harmonies that transform pain into resilience, discord into understanding, and despair into hope.”
Addiction is when a person constantly needs alcohol or any type of drugs. It makes a person physically, mentally, and emotionally unwell. If addiction is left untreated, it can lead to severe health risks or become life-threatening. That is why, to avoid this, there are several types of treatment therapies that help in addiction treatment.
What is Treatment Therapy?
Treatment therapies include various interventions to enhance mental, emotional, or physical health. These methods include medical interventions, psychotherapy, rehabilitation, and other techniques to target particular issues or conditions. Addiction treatment therapies aim to improve general health and reduce symptoms using focused, therapeutic interventions.
7 Types of Treatment Therapies
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps people in managing destructive thoughts, which can lead to addiction. It is a psychotherapeutic treatment approach that replaces negative thoughts with positive ones. CBT also helps in treating several mental health problems.
Benefits of Cognitive-behavioral therapy in substance abuse treatment:
- CBT therapists help people come up with several coping methods that change their behavior for good.
- It helps the recovery journey become easier by setting smaller and more achievable goals.
- It also helps in addressing the psychological aspects of addiction, which is useful in preventing relapse
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps people learn essential skills in overcoming addiction. It can include mindfulness, build tolerance, and control strong emotions. DBT is an essential drug de-addiction therapy and a part of several addiction treatment facilities offering recovery programs. DBT can teach communication skills, coping mechanisms, self-confidence, and other attributes necessary for overcoming drug addiction.
Benefits of Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Individuals Struggling with Addiction:
- It is a treatment therapy that helps people manage their strong emotions and removes any difficulties in handling them.
- DBT was initially designed to treat borderline personality disorder, but it also helps in treating other mental health problems.
- DBT provides a structured and skill-based treatment that helps people focus on their holistic well-being.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Motivational interviewing is a substance abuse treatment approach that is person-centered. It is used to encourage patients to change their undesirable behavior. MI engages a person, promotes positive changes, and inspires them to make good adjustments. MI is a strategy in which the interviewer or therapist helps the interviewee or individual struggling with addiction change a habit by showing acceptance of the interviewee without passing judgment.
Benefits of Motivational Interviewing:
- MI embraces the idea that each person may be at a different stage of recovery and that treatment approaches should focus on their needs.
- The therapists help people overcome any confusion and hesitancies they might have about recovery.
- It involves listening to patients and expressing empathy through contemplative listening, rather than instructing them on what to do.
Contingency Management
Contingency management (CM) is a three-term drug de-addiction therapy model, which employs stimulus control and consequences to modify behavior. Incentive-based contingency management is well-established as a clinical behavior analysis (CBA) treatment for substance use disorders. In this approach, people earn money, vouchers, or other incentives as a reward to stay away from drugs. Another common CM-based therapy for alcoholism is the community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT) model, which employs self-management and shaping strategies.
Benefits of Contingency Management in Substance Abuse Recovery:
- Individuals trying to overcome addiction earn vouchers for exchangeable retail items in voucher-based contingency management. It is based on their recovery milestones.
- Contingency management approaches include choice and preference evaluations, shaping, and creating contracts between the therapist and the individuals battling addiction.
Family Therapy
Family de-addiction therapy relies heavily on a person’s family when they are in recovery. Family support has been proven helpful in treating addiction. A family therapist leads the session, which includes the person trying to overcome addiction, their family members, and closest friends. It also includes a separate session for family members, which educates them on how to help the struggling person.
Benefits of family therapy for recovering addicts:
- The inclusion of family members, friends, and coworkers in the addiction treatment process contributes to the development of strong support networks.
- It provides a safe and non-judgmental environment that can enhance treatment output, ensure its completion, and obtain positive results for people struggling with addiction.
12-Step Facilitation Therapy
Twelve-step facilitation treatments are a set of semi-structured therapies designed to help people abstain from alcohol and other drugs by systematically linking them to and encouraging their active participation in community-based 12-step mutual-aid organizations.
At 12-step facilitation treatment, people confessed that they had lost control of their lives because of drinking. They come to these meetings to feel that a higher force might restore their sanity. They entrust their will and lives to God as they understand Him.
We conducted a comprehensive and courageous moral assessment of ourselves. 12-step facilitation therapy provides both individual and group counseling as part of substance abuse treatment.
Benefits of 12-step facilitation treatment:
- The 12-step meeting gives struggling individuals the opportunity to be a part of a vast community that helps and aids them on their recovery journey.
- Participating in 12-step group meetings gives a person confidence, allowing them to resume normal social interactions.
- The activities of the 12-step facilitation treatment help the participant develop a sense of belonging. It is essential for building self-esteem.
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
Medication-assisted therapy (MAT) is a treatment approach where a person battling addiction is given medications along with behavioral therapies to treat opioid use disorders (OUD). It can help some people maintain sobriety. The FDA has authorized many drugs to treat alcohol use disorders (AUD) and opioid use disorders (OUD). These drugs alleviate withdrawal symptoms and psychological urges, which induce chemical imbalances in the body. The medications employed are evidence-based therapy alternatives, not simply substituting one medicine for another.
Benefits of MAT in de-addiction therapy:
- One of the most important reasons why MAT treatments work is that they provide relief from withdrawal symptoms.
- Individuals are more likely to stay in a treatment program long enough for it to be effective when there is no pain or agony associated with detox.
- When combined with counseling and therapy, drugs can help people get their lives back on track.
Finding the Right Treatment Option
There are several approaches available for addiction treatment. However, it may not suit or meet a person’s specific demands. Finding the right treatment approach not only meets a recovering individual’s demands but also improves their chances of overall recovery. Remember, combining different therapies by consulting an addiction doctor makes the recovery journey easier and attainable.
