Why Drug Rehab and Mental Health Therapies Go Together

Nobody questions the wisdom and the determination of doing the first biggest step towards breaking drug addiction — submitting to drug rehabilitation. Deciding to kick the addiction is a major breakthrough, but detox is just the first step to an enduring battle against hankering for drugs and relapse. The integration of counseling is an essential element of any effective drug treatment and mental health program. Such programs usually include family counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other therapy approaches.

The Role of Psychotherapies in Preventing Relapse

Drug addiction is not just a simple disease to cure. Often it can be treated by a simple detox procedure, just like what Bridge Drug and Alcohol Rehab Texas offers. Patients normally struggle with a lifelong battle against relapse, as the very reasons for the addiction do not go away with detox. Unfortunately, those personal, family, and social pressures cannot be as easily expunged as the drugs in a patient’s system.

This is the very reason why drug rehab programs include psychotherapies. These are in order to prepare the patient for reintegration in an environment carrying the same pressures and stresses. Getting the family involved in a family counseling helps make the reintegration a little bit easier. To better adjust in a complex, the patient with his family are taught techniques to make coping possible. These are what a patient tries to learn and acquire during psychotherapy sessions following detox.

What CBT Does

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a kind of therapy that helps a person learn to recognize situations, mood, and thoughts that will trigger his craving for drugs. A therapist teaches the patient to avoid these triggers as well as to change the negative triggers with positive and healthier thoughts and feelings. CBT skills can last a lifetime. These can help a person fight all sorts of addiction for the rest of his/her life. These complex therapies, however, cannot just be taught by anyone. Only the professionally trained psychotherapists can be trusted to deliver the therapies with efficiency, precision, and effectiveness.

The Bridge Drug and Alcohol Rehab Texas offers great service, so you might want to ask them beforehand if they offer CBT. You can view the website to look for information on how to get in touch with them.

Doing It Alone or with Others

Whoever said that ‘Misery loves company’ must be thinking of psychotherapy sessions for people once addicted to a substance. There is no doubt that private counseling is useful as it lets the psychotherapist focus more on the lone patient. This is most especially useful when the patient is suffering from dual diagnosis. This means that the patient has been diagnosed to be also suffering from another mental health condition — bipolar disorder or depression — that requires a separate treatment.

However, sharing experiences and woes in a psychotherapy session are definitely very effective. Emotions can run high when the patients see themselves in the way each of them goes through struggles and healing. These sessions can both challenge and support the patient by his peers. These groups are not hard to find. Ask about Narcotics Anonymous or look for their website. You can also check out forums for erstwhile drug dependents to get support online when attending meetings is something beyond you capability or view this source for additional help.