To this day and age, many still exhibit a great misunderstanding of substance abuse disorder. Many believe that it is something that certain people want to get into, that it is easy to get out of once in it but people just don’t want to get out, and it is a fairly simple issue to resolve.
Breaking the cycle of addiction will require a measure of work, proportional to the length of time the person has been addicted, the kind of substance used, and the determination of the person to kick the habit. Rehabilitation could also vary from person to person, as some take to treatment quite well and quickly, while others do not.
This is why sometimes a direct and personalized approach like individual therapy works better than others. There are many instances where people completed their rehabilitation and therapy and after some time experienced a relapse and went back to their unhealthy habits. This could be because the treatment received at the time was not appropriate, and therefore not effective.
Treatment received during rehabilitation must be one that the person responds well to, or there is always the risk that it will not take. Types of addiction counseling such as individual therapy are very helpful for treating addiction, but there is a need to ensure that the person responds well to it for it to have a successful effect.
At Focused Addiction Recovery (FAR) in Wallace, North Carolina, an individual therapy program for addiction has proven to be successful in helping people break the vicious cycle.
What Does
Individual Therapy Treat?
Perhaps the better question is: what does individual therapy not treat? Individual therapy as a form of psychotherapy, or talk therapy, as it is known in some circles, is an approach generally used for a wide array of applications. It is mostly used to help establish rapport with a patient through calm, careful, and patient conversation. It is a method used to help people deal with issues affecting them profoundly in emotional, psychological, or behavioral ways.
Those who do not know better would assume that most personal issues that lead to bad decisions, such as addiction, could be resolved with a quick and simple talking to, or failing that, giving out tough love. This is quite the opposite of psychotherapy, where a person’s outer protective layers, borne out of trying to deal with problems or trauma, created a shell around the source of the problem that led to addiction.
One of the major goals of individual therapy is to help the therapist and the person being treated get to the bottom of what caused the addiction to develop, understand how best to work around it, and ensure that once it is resolved, it does not come back to urge the person back to old habits.
Relevant to addiction, individual therapy could help with some personal challenges that could either be creating a hindrance to proper therapy, o might even be one of the main reasons why the person developed a substance abuse disorder in the first place:
- Personal/internal conflicts
- Professional challenges
- Overwhelming doubts and fears
- Inability or difficulty in coping with stress
- Deep-seated trauma
- Undiagnosed mental health disorders
What are the Benefits of an
Individual Therapy Program for Addiction?
In the context of addiction treatment, the benefits of an individual therapy program are directly linked to some personal aspects unique to the person. This is important to note because not addressing personal concerns and issues could affect the success of the treatment itself. As such, some benefits of individual therapy include:
Many are surprised at how much they barely know about themselves. This lack of knowledge could have something to do with why they ended up with a substance abuse disorder in the first place. It could also have something to do with why they are unable to handle or manage the stress they encounter, making them candidates for developing a substance dependency.
The understanding of the self in this manner follows the idea of “not being able to see what others see because it is too close to you.” This gives a distanced insight into many aspects of someone’s personality where their innate strengths and weaknesses are shown. Of particular interest are the weaknesses, since these things could have a direct connection with the person’s inability or difficulty in dealing with stress and issues, and why they resorted to using substances it.
What Can Patients Expect During Individual Therapy?
While it is the job of the therapist to make the entire process acceptable, painless, and efficient, it helps if the patient can adopt a mindset that is open, accepting, and determined to do what it takes to recover from addiction.
This is important to know as expectations of what happens during individual therapy program for addiction could set the tone of the entire procedure.
One of the first things the therapist needs to do is gather as much information as possible on the patient and the situation. This will necessarily include divulging certain personal and private information and could feel quite intrusive if not done properly.
Therapists, however, are trained to recognize the signs people exhibit when they do want help but are unable to open up to it. This is where they try to build a rapport with the patient so that they learn to ease off on their defenses or hesitance to communicate. The therapist needs to understand what underlying issues there might be, as these issues might need to be addressed first because once they are out of the way, treatment could proceed with less resistance and difficulty.
Learn More If An Individual Therapy Program for
Addiction is Right For You
We know how to listen to people, even when they don’t want to say anything because this is when they need help the most. We have specialists here who are particularly skilled in reaching out to people who need it because we know they have something to say, and it’s all about waiting for them to find the voice and the courage to do so.
Our individual therapy program for addiction is here to help you with what you are burdened with, so contact us today to get started.
