Substance Abuse Counselling Techniques
Counselling and therapy for addiction help individuals understand what causes addiction, learn to recognize risk factors for relapse and develop tools for coping with stressful situations. Common techniques include cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing and dialectical behavioural therapy.
The underlying causes of addiction are mostly genetic and environmental. A person’s genetic makeup can make him or her more prone to sensation-seeking behaviour, more compulsive and more vulnerable to addiction. Life events such as trauma, stress and early exposure to substances of abuse can also affect a person’s vulnerability.
Addiction causes physical and mental side effects. Physical side effects include cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and mental side effects include increased stress and feelings of depression, anxiety or loneliness.
Effective treatment focuses on the genetic and environmental causes of addiction. It also treats the physical and mental side effects.
Detox keeps patients physically safe and as comfortable as possible during withdrawal. Therapy treats the mental aspects. Depending on the severity of the disease, detox can remove cravings and withdrawal symptoms in one to three weeks. However, most people require months or years of continuous counselling to recover from the mental side effects.
The main purpose of counselling and therapy for addiction is to address the underlying causes of the disease to prevent them from causing relapse. Although detox is a vital component of treatment because it helps patients handle withdrawal and ease cravings, it does nothing to address the factors that led to drug abuse in the first place.
Research during the last 30 years has led to advances in evidence-based behavioural therapy for alcohol and drug addiction. The therapies have proved effective in treating substance use disorders in addition to co-occurring mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Today, therapy for substance use disorders is available in a variety of settings, including inpatient residential rehab programs, outpatient rehab programs, sober living communities, private practices and a variety of support groups.
The goal of therapy during a 30-, 60- or 90-day rehab program is to prepare individuals in recovery for life after intensive treatment, but many patients require continued therapy for many months or years after rehab.
Therapy often decreases in frequency and duration as a person learns to cope with the causes of his or her addiction and to handle life’s stressors. However, many experts believe a person never fully recovers from addiction. People who experience a traumatic event or increased stress should turn to therapy to decrease the chances of relapse.
Therapy isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. Different approaches are more appropriate and effective for different people, depending on their age, type of addiction and the factors that contributed to their addiction.
Behavioural Therapies
Addiction treatment centres use behavioural therapies more than any other therapeutic technique, according to the 2014 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services. Behavioural therapies help patients understand the causes of high-risk behaviour and develop tools for avoiding or coping with high-risk situations.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy focuses on learning to reduce problematic behaviour associated with substance abuse. A key theme in CBT is anticipating risky situations and applying coping strategies, such as avoidance or self-control, to prevent relapse.
CBT is one of the most popular therapies in addiction medicine, and Counsellors use it to treat a variety of addictions.
Research has proved CBT can effectively treat addiction to:
Alcohol
Marijuana
Cocaine
Methamphetamine
Nicotine
During CBT, patients learn to recognize and modify risky behaviour by using a variety of skills. They learn the underlying causes of problematic behaviour so they can fix the problems at their source. They’re able to recognize cravings or triggers and develop strategies for handling those situations. Research shows that patients who learn skills during CBT are able to apply them during real situations later in life.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
Dialectical behaviour therapy is effective for patients who struggle to regulate emotions and have thoughts of self-harm or suicide. The therapy emphasizes an acceptance of uncomfortable thoughts, feelings or behaviours to allow patients to overcome them.
DBT has been proved to treat several disorders that co-occur with addiction, including:
Mood disorders
Personality disorders
Eating disorders
Self-destructive behaviour
DBT involves relaxation techniques, such as yoga, that help the patient become more aware of thoughts and emotions. They learn skills such as controlled breathing and muscle relaxation to tolerate self-destructive thoughts or urges. The goal is to decrease the frequency and severity of self-harming behaviour and encourage healthy change.
The Matrix Model
The Matrix model gives individuals in recovery from stimulant addiction a framework for maintaining abstinence. It’s primarily used in patients recovering from methamphetamine or cocaine addiction.
Therapy using the Matrix model involves a variety of evidence-based therapies that promote relapse prevention and encourage family therapy, education and support-group participation. Therapy sessions usually include detailed worksheets or manuals for the patient to reference.
The therapist is a teacher and coach, developing a positive relationship with the patient and promoting behavioural change. The therapist promotes dignity and self-worth in the patient who avoids confrontational communication. However, the Matrix model does involve drug testing.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy alleviates distress associated with traumatic memories and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which commonly cause or worsen substance use disorders.
EMDR therapy helps the patient reprocess the memory of a traumatic event so it is less painful. The patient performs external eye movements while thinking of the traumatic event. The process teaches the brain to associate the memory with less upsetting feelings so it can heal.
Studies indicate EMDR can relieve symptoms of PTSD after three 90-minute sessions. Patients with severe PTSD symptoms, such as combat veterans, usually require more sessions than individuals with less severe symptoms.
Motivational Therapies
Motivational therapies are the second-most-common therapies used by drug rehab facilities. The therapies help patients find internal motivation to begin or continue treatment. They often provide incentives for maintaining sobriety and are used in combination with behavioural therapies.
Motivational Enhancement Therapy
Motivational enhancement therapy is a specific type of motivational interviewing for substance abuse. It reduces patients’ doubts or uncertainties about engaging in treatment or stopping drug use. The goal is to encourage change as opposed to teaching patients how to change.
Multiple studies have shown that motivational enhancement therapy is effective in patients addicted to:
Alcohol
Marijuana
Nicotine
MET begins with an assessment and is followed by two to four individual Counselling sessions. The therapist begins by eliciting motivational statements. He or she supports the patient’s self-motivation, and the pair discusses ways to cope with risky situations. The remaining sessions involve monitoring change, reviewing strategies and continuing support of internal motivation.
Other forms for therapy, such as CBT, commonly follow MET. It’s effective at getting people into treatment but should not be the sole therapeutic approach.
Contingency Management and Motivational Incentives
Contingency management and motivational incentive approaches to therapy reinforce positive behaviour with tangible rewards. The therapies augment other forms of therapy to increase abstinence during Counselling.
Studies show contingency management and motivational incentives reduce drug use in patients in recovery from addiction involving:
Alcohol
Cocaine
Methamphetamine
Marijuana
Nicotine
Prescription stimulants
The therapies incorporate vouchers or chances to win prizes to promote abstinence. Voucher-based therapy involves rewarding clean drug screens with vouchers that can be exchanged for food, movies and retail goods.
Prize-based incentives reward drug-free screens with a chance to win a prize by drawing from a bowl. Some experts worry that prize-based incentives might promote gambling behaviour, but studies do not show an association between the therapy and gambling.
Community Reinforcement
The community reinforcement approach plus vouchers is commonly used on an outpatient basis. The therapy involves motivational incentives in the form of familial, social and recreational rewards in addition to vouchers to motivate abstinence from substance abuse.
The goal is to help patients maintain sobriety so they can develop skills for long-term recovery.
Research indicates CRA can effectively treat addiction to:
Alcohol
Cocaine
Opioids
CRA usually lasts 24 weeks, and patients attend individual Counselling once or twice per week. During Counselling sessions, they learn skills to minimize substance abuse, improve relationships, develop hobbies, build social support and receive vocational Counselling. Patients also undergo urine tests two or three times per week and are awarded vouchers for retail goods for drug-free tests.
Family Counselling and Therapies
Counselling and therapy for addiction often involve Counselling for family members in addition to the person in recovery. Therapy teaches families the underlying causes of addiction, how to reduce risk factors for relapse and how to properly support their loved one in recovery.
Family Counselling is beneficial for family members negatively affected by another person’s addiction. It helps each family member learn about the impact his or her actions have on others, and it teaches families how to effectively communicate and function.
Family Behaviour Therapy
Family behaviour therapy addresses problems that affect the entire family. The goal is to reduce risk factors for addiction, such as unemployment, family conflict, abuse and conduct issues. It uses techniques such as contingency management and behavioural contracting, in which a patient agrees to a written contract with a therapist.
Therapy sessions involve multiple family members, such as spouses or parents and their children. Therapists teach strategies and skills for improving communication and the living environment. Each patient sets behavioural goals that are reviewed during each session by other family members.
Multisystemic Family Therapy
Multisystemic family therapy is primarily used to correct severe antisocial behaviour in children and adolescents affected by addiction.
MST has multiple goals:
Correct attitudes toward drug abuse.
Improve family discipline.
Teach conflict resolution skills.
Eliminate parental drug use.
Improve school attendance and performance.
Eradicate environmental prevalence of drugs.
Treatment occurs in natural environments such as the home, school or neighbourhood, and it has been proved to reduce rates of incarceration and substance abuse.
Multidimensional Family Therapy
Multidimensional family therapy is an outpatient treatment for teens who abuse drugs. It focuses on individual, family, peer and community networks to reduce problematic behaviour and encourage healthy behaviour.
MDT occurs in clinics, family court, school or homes. It usually involves individual sessions and family sessions in which the adolescent learns decision-making and problem-solving skills. During family sessions, parents examine their parenting style and learn to positively and effectively influence healthy behaviour.
Brief Strategic Family Therapy
Therapists use brief strategic family therapy to reduce family interactions that support or exacerbate teen drug abuse or problematic behaviour. Such behaviour includes problems at school, delinquency, association with anti-social peers, aggressive tendencies and high-risk sexual behaviour.
BSFT is founded on the concept that each family member’s behaviour affects the entire family. The therapist identifies and corrects family interactions that provoke problematic behaviour. The approach can be used in mental health facilities, rehab clinics, homes and a variety of other settings.
Functional Family Therapy
Functional family therapy is also based on the idea that dysfunctional family interactions create and support problematic behaviour. The goal of FFT is to improve communication, problem-solving skills and parenting skills. Each therapy session involves the adolescent and one or more family members.
FFT engages families in the treatment process to encourage motivation for change. It also incorporates contingency management techniques and other types of behavioural therapy.
Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach
Adolescent community reinforcement approach is similar to the community reinforcement approach used for adults, but it involves standardized procedures for improving communication, solving problems and coping with stress. Role playing and behavioural rehearsal techniques are key aspects of the therapy.
Assertive Continuing Care
Assertive continuing care involves weekly home visits during the three-month period after a teenager is discharged from a drug rehab facility. The therapy teaches teens and their caregivers problem-solving skills, communication techniques and other tools for promoting recovery.
12-Step Facilitation Therapy
Therapists often encourage patients to participate in 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous to support long-term recovery.
Such 12-step programs are founded on a few key principles: Individuals with substance use disorders have no control of the disease, must surrender to a higher power and actively participate in support group meetings. Many therapists refer patients to 12-step groups, and some treatment facilities host support group meetings.
Alternative & Holistic Therapies
Decades of scientific research on addiction treatment have found behavioural, motivational and family-based therapies to effectively treat substance use disorders. Other therapies such as EMDR and 12-step facilitation therapy are also backed by a plethora of research.
There are no other evidence-based replacements for these traditional therapies, but studies do support a variety of complementary treatments for addiction.
Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness
Yoga is an exercise that emphasizes controlled breathing and body postures to promote physical strength, concentration and serenity. Clinical trials involving yoga and mindfulness found the therapies were effective complements to preventing and treating addiction, according to a study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine.
A meta-analysis of studies on meditation published in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly found that the technique can reduce stress, anxiety, tobacco smoking, and alcohol and drug abuse. Additionally, a clinical trial on mindfulness therapy published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found yoga was a feasible and effective treatment for opioid abuse and chronic pain.
Animal Therapy
Several therapies for addiction involve animals. During equine therapy, one of the most popular animal-assisted therapies, patients interact with horses. The horses give feedback through nonverbal cues. The patients learn to understand their own emotions and overcome negative emotions such as frustration and fear.
Other therapies involve people in recovery voluntarily helping animals at shelters or having animals during traditional therapy sessions. Research indicates animal- or pet-assisted therapy can improve a patient’s participation in treatment and willingness to talk about any history of trauma or substance abuse. Animal-assisted therapy can also reduce stress, fear and anxiety.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture therapists insert fine needles into the body to stimulate healing. Acupuncture is a complementary treatment option at several rehab facilities, and people in self-help programs also report benefits from acupuncture.
A study of patients in recovery from cocaine addiction published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found patients assigned to acupuncture therapy were more likely to abstain from cocaine use. Another study published in the American Journal of Public Health found acupuncture significantly improved tobacco smoking cessation rates.
Music Therapy
Music therapy techniques include lyric analysis, songwriting, musical games and ad-libbing music based on emotions. During music therapy, patients engage emotions, motivations and barriers to treatment through lyrics and melody.
Research on music therapy has found songwriting can promote healthy change, drumming can promote relaxation and dancing can reduce stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. A study published in the Drug and Alcohol Review found music therapy was positively associated with a patient’s willingness to participate in treatment.
Art Therapy
Patients express themselves by drawing, painting, sculpting or creating art journals during art therapy. Art therapy techniques also include stress painting, in which patients paint during periods of high stress, and the creation of incident drawings: illustrations of events that transpired during substance abuse.
Some therapists emphasize interpretation and contemplation as therapeutic techniques during art therapy. Studies on art therapy indicate it can decrease denial, treatment avoidance and shame. It can also be used to facilitate group discussions and motivate change.
Horticultural Therapy
Horticultural therapy involves gardening and other plant-based activities led by a trained therapist. Studies indicate horticultural therapy, also referred to as garden therapy and therapeutic gardening, can enhance critical thinking, improve attention span, decrease stress, reduce anxiety and improve social integration.
Effective substance abuse treatment requires patients to address all underlying causes of addiction. Most patients undergo multiple therapies to address all of the causes. Counselling and therapy are essential tools in the recovery process and have been proved to help individuals in recovery.
Originally appeared on www.drugrehab.com
