Addiction therapies involve a combination of individual and group therapy and recovery support group meetings. They help you find ways to replace drug use with healthy behaviors and coping skills.

You’ll learn to deal with negative emotions without turning to drugs or alcohol. Treatment may also include relationship counseling or family therapy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

During cognitive behavioral therapy, clients learn to recognize their negative thoughts and emotions and change them. They also practice new behaviors that help them to avoid relapse. Some examples of these skills include self-monitoring (diary work), coping with cravings and learning how to set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based).

A therapist may also use tools such as cognitive restructuring and goal setting to address maladaptive core beliefs. Core beliefs are the most difficult level of cognition to change, so they are tackled in later stages of addiction treatment.

It is important to remember that drug addiction is a chronic disease and requires long-term treatment. It is a good idea to seek follow-up care through regular appointments with your counselor or attending a self-help support group. It is also a good idea to get a referral from someone you trust for a therapist who uses cognitive behavior therapy. The therapist should be licensed and state certified, and they should specialize in treating your particular problem.

Motivational Interviewing

Motivational interviewing is a therapeutic technique that helps clients discover their own internal motivations to change. This style of counseling uses open-ended questions, reflective listening and summarizing, and client-centered encouragement to evoke a client’s self-efficacy.

The main goal of motivational interviewing is to reduce a patient’s ambivalence about their substance use, and encourage them to choose change. This is achieved by showing them the disadvantages of their current lifestyle, helping them realize discrepancies between their values and goals, and guiding them through the decision-making process.

Motivational interviewing has strong empirical support and is well-tolerated by patients. It can improve adherence to treatment and is used as a precursor to more specific types of therapy for both alcohol and drug abuse, and other health related behaviors like smoking cessation or diabetes management. However, compared to no intervention at all or other active therapies, it has not been shown to significantly increase treatment attendance or improve addiction outcomes.

Family Therapy

Family therapy helps you and your spouse or significant other work through issues that may have contributed to your addiction. This counseling method also encourages healthier communication and problem-solving in your relationships.

It can help you understand unhealthy relational patterns like codependency and enabling. You can also learn about how chemical dependence affects everyone in the family. Your family members may also benefit from learning how to better support their loved one through abstinence.

You can participate in family therapy sessions as part of outpatient or inpatient treatment for drug addiction. In outpatient treatment, you live at home or in a sober living facility and attend therapy sessions 1 to 2 times per week either in-person or through telemedicine. With inpatient treatment, you stay at a rehab center and maintain a structured daily schedule that includes individual and group therapy sessions, recovery group meetings, recreational activities and meals. You can also receive prescription medications that reduce withdrawal symptoms and prevent relapse.

Relapse Prevention

Relapse Prevention is a vital part of recovery for people who have struggled with addiction. It helps clients learn to recognize warning signs and develop a plan for what they can do if they experience a relapse. It also teaches them how to identify internal and external cues that can trigger the urge to use drugs or alcohol, as well as to challenge their addictive thinking.

A very useful relapse prevention skill is to make a list of healthy family members and friends in recovery that you can call if you feel the urge to use. Having this support system in place can help you stay accountable and reduce feelings of loneliness, which are known to increase relapse risk.

Clients will also have the opportunity to learn about healthy eating habits, exercise, and spirituality through group therapy or other methods like mindfulness and spirituality. This can help establish new, healthier patterns that will be beneficial for the long-term.