Anyone who has battled drug or alcohol addiction knows how debilitating it can be. Overcoming an addiction is an incredible feat that can sometimes only be managed with a little help, so you can stay clean, and get your life back.
Counseling is a cornerstone of addiction treatment at any stage of recovery. Addiction is a serious disease that can impact every aspect of a person’s life, from work to relationships, and even changes a person’s brain chemistry. To find out how counseling and therapy can help you recover from addiction, keep reading.
Benefits of Counseling for Addiction Recovery
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Healthy Coping Strategies
Coping skills are a significant part of recovery since it helps you navigate through life events and stressors that can trigger a relapse. Stressful environments, trauma, external pressures, and high emotions are just some of the everyday situations that can lead someone to jump back into the cycle of addiction.
Addiction counselors work with people to understand their triggers and help them practice healthy coping strategies and skills to resist those specific triggers.
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Prevent Relapse
Addiction is a treatable disorder, but the chronic nature of this disease means that relapse is a common occurrence. Addiction is caused by a variety of environmental and genetic factors, and addiction counseling doesn’t just address these factors, but also the physical and mental side effects of addiction.
Exploring the underlying cause behind addiction and setting goals to overcome it can help people prevent relapse, and also encourage them to seek out their addiction counselor if they get the urge to relapse.
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Rebuild Relationships
Addiction is a disease that doesn’t just affect the life of one person—it hurts family, friends, and loved ones. The consequences of addiction can present as reduced social interaction, not upholding responsibilities, mood swings, secrecy, anger towards loved ones, and more.
A big part of addiction therapy is helping people change their patterns of behavior by taking accountability and attaining a fresh perspective. This can help people not only reach out to try to rebuild any broken relationships but also help them create new ones.
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Support Systems
Addiction is isolating, which only furthers alcohol or substance dependence. Addiction is still a taboo topic for many, which can cause people to hide away further, whether from fear, shame, or loneliness.
People suffering from addiction can feel like they have nowhere left to turn to, which causes them to repeatedly go back to drugs or alcohol. Therapy directly combats this by giving them a safe space and helping them create a connection with someone who cares.
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Release Guilt
An important part of recovery is learning to accept responsibility for your actions. Although addiction is a disease, the repercussions of it often ripple beyond the person suffering from it. Counseling and therapy can help people come to terms with their situation, take accountability, and work towards making amends for those they have hurt.
Releasing guilt and shame and finding closure will greatly benefit anyone recovering from addiction, so they can move ahead with their lives.
Addiction therapy isn’t a one-size-fits-all process, which is why Lifeworks Counseling takes a person-centered approach to help you get the treatment you deserve. If you’re ready to get started, get in touch with us today.
