Each individual dealing with addiction will require different strategies to overcome the problem. Hence, here is everything to know about implementing skills after seeking safety and support from addiction therapy.
Seeking treatment for drug addiction is essential so that an individual can attain detoxification to improve their physical and mental health. Learning new skills and how to implement them will enable drug users to overcome their problems and improve their lives.
To learn more about seeking safety, implementing new skills to overcome addiction, and trauma-focused addiction therapy here’s more.
What Is Trauma-Focused Therapy?
Trauma-focused therapy is a modality to help someone deal with traumatic experiences. Whether someone has had issues with personal circumstances or concerns with their health, some people turn to substance abuse to find a sense of relief. People use drugs to feel numb and remove the pain temporarily. However, when the substance wears off and the individual feels the same sense of negative emotions, they turn back to substance abuse. Thereafter, this can result in addiction.
When a person deals with addiction, it can be a vicious cycle. To reverse the negative emotions and improve self-control, it is useful for individuals to use trauma-focused therapies.
More than 70% of addiction patients have a history of trauma exposure. Hence, using trauma-focused therapy to overcome addiction is likely to be most effective.
The Benefits Of Seeking Help And Therapy
There are many great benefits of seeking help and therapy. These benefits include:
Individual support
A key benefit of seeking help through trauma-focused therapy is that patients can seek individual support. Each individual’s issues and needs will be assessed, which will result in a conclusive strategy to help them recover.
At admission, clinicians will formulate a specific plan for each individual. Therefore, each patient will have their needs and requirements attended to. The client can work on their strengths and weaknesses in order to regain self-control and improve their physical and mental health.
Improves behavior
Seeking help and getting therapy is an effective way to improve behavior. It can be common for individuals dealing with drug addiction to have poor behavior. So much so, that they might even lack personal care.
Seeing as drugs can affect the basal ganglia area of the brain, they can impact the motivation a person has to eat, sleep, and perform other daily activities that are essential for good health. With the overuse of drugs and substances after experiencing trauma, it can be common for individuals to get less and less pleasure from healthy activities. Hence, their physical and mental health can deteriorate.
Helps overcome past traumas
Furthermore, another benefit of seeking help for drug addiction and using trauma-focused therapy is to help individuals overcome or deal with past traumas. If an individual turns to drugs to feel numb from the pain and gain a sense of relief, they will become reliant on the drug. Hence, a vicious cycle of drug abuse can occur.
Through therapy that focuses on the trauma, patients can start to deal with the emotions that they are experiencing without the need for drug relief. Instead, they can find new coping mechanisms that will enable them to manage or overcome negative thoughts and feelings.
Preventing relapse
It is common for substance abusers to relapse. This involves a patient becoming reliant on the substance after a period of being ‘clean’. With therapy and the right help, a patient can prevent relapse. They can find new ways of thinking and reacting when negative emotions occur.
Where To Seek Help And Therapy
It is ideal for anyone dealing with trauma and/or drug addiction to seek help and utilize therapy so that they can avoid substance abuse. It is available across the world to anyone who requires support.
At the Robert Alexander Center, anyone with addiction problems can seek safety and discover new skills for how to be on the road to a sustainable recovery.
Becoming an intensive outpatient means that you can still stay at home but seek help and therapy to overcome addiction. Staying in the comfort of one’s own home can help a patient feel more comfortable. An outpatient can seek regular support and be checked up so that they remain heading in the right direction.
Ensuring to seek help and therapy after experiencing trauma, even if addiction hasn’t occurred, will help maintain good physical and mental health. Seeking help early will also help an individual avoid drug use or lacking self-care.
