Addiction affects many thousands of people across the United States, though not nearly enough of them have access to addiction treatment. Others don’t understand the benefits of addiction counseling. The stigma associated with addiction includes shame about having a substance use disorder (SUD) and distrust of the rehab process. Most people entrust their physical care to doctors, but many still shy away from entrusting their mental health care to anyone at all.
Promises Behavioral Health offers therapy programs in Houston that offer evidence-based treatment for addiction and co-occurring disorders. The Right Step Houston, a Promises Behavioral Health company, has a long history and a stellar reputation as a compassionate care provider for those with SUDs and co-occurring conditions.
What To Know About Therapy for Addiction Treatment
The process of addiction recovery isn’t a short-term, quick fix. Unlike an appendectomy, which can eliminate appendicitis with a quick procedure, rehab is a process. A comparison in medicine might be physical therapy (PT) after an injury or surgery. You don’t go to PT once and can’t regain full mobility and strength all at once. You return until you’ve reached your goals.
Similarly, addiction recovery involves more than just having no drugs or alcohol in your system. It’s a process that helps you cope with psychological cravings, anxiety about facing life without substances, and the beliefs, fears, or trauma that were contributing factors to your addiction.
Experts widely agree that addiction therapy plays a critical role in recovery. When you enroll in rehab, you’ll be committing to receiving evidence-based treatment.
Benefits of Addiction Counseling
Addiction counseling helps you cope with stress, avoid triggers, and shift old patterns of thinking. The skills you learn and the insights you gain in therapy will benefit you for life as you navigate post-rehab recovery.
Developing Coping Skills
Instead of turning to substances to help you cope, you’ll work on developing healthy strategies for managing stress, complex or upsetting emotions, difficult relationships, and poor self-esteem.
Practicing Honesty
Addiction can lead people to cheat, steal, or lie to maintain and hide their substance misuse. In therapy, you’ll learn to be honest with yourself and others. Your therapist will help you see that when you deny, misrepresent, or refuse to acknowledge the truth, you only harm yourself further.
Accepting Help
Often, addiction begins due to using substances to mask or mute mental health symptoms, avoid painful relationships, silence post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) flashbacks, and many other painful, difficult situations. The more you rely on drugs or alcohol, the less you trust others, and the harder it is to accept help. In addition, your eroded self-image may lead you to feel undeserving of help. In therapy, you’ll learn to accept the help of your therapist and, eventually, that of others in your life.
Building Trust
Do you trust yourself when you’re in the grip of addiction? You don’t. It’s impossible. When you can’t trust yourself or reality, you can’t trust others. This is a lonely place to be. Building up your trust muscles in therapy is made possible by developing that therapeutic relationship over time so that you realize you can trust someone and then extend that outwards into your life.
Addiction therapy is a pillar of any reputable rehab program. At The Right Step Houston, you can find established clinicians with deep experience and superb training.
Understanding Therapy Modalities
Several treatment options are used in rehab programs. Behavioral therapies are considered highly effective. They’re typically time-bound and set specific, measurable, and achievable goals. Two of the most reputable behavioral therapies used in addiction treatment are cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
These modalities are evidence-based and trauma-informed. They help you:
- Recognize and avoid triggers
- Believe that recovery is possible
- Develop healthy communication skills
- Regulate your emotions
- Learn to trust yourself and others
- Achieve lasting recovery outcomes
Recovery is possible. You don’t need to struggle further. Addiction counseling as part of a comprehensive addiction treatment program can help you cast off the shackles of addiction and start living your life free and clear of substances.
Start Your Recovery With Addiction Therapy at The Right Step Houston Today
The journey toward recovery isn’t linear. It involves a constellation of approaches that all work together, including addiction counseling. There’s no need to put off your future for another minute. Let us help you regain balance, health, and sobriety.
To start your recovery, call The Right Step Houston at 1.844.768.0169 or complete our online contact form. We’re standing by to offer you our unconditional support.