What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Addiction?
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a practical method for changing your thought patterns and attitudes. These thought patterns and attitudes are believed to exist underneath unhealthy or destructive behaviors.
When working through cognitive behavioral therapy for addiction at 12 Keys in Florida, one of our highly trained therapists will help you identify what thoughts and belief systems are influencing your emotions and behaviors. Once you’ve identified the relationship between your attitude and your behavior, your therapist works with you to create a plan to address these issues through concrete action steps and achievable goals.
Then, you’ll use these changes in thought and attitude as you begin to change behaviors and responses to the uniquely challenging circumstances in your life.
Typically, cognitive behavioral addiction therapy for adults occurs over several weeks and helps you develop a problem-solving approach for your life once the therapy is completed. Once your set goal has been attained and you and your therapist agree you are ready, regular sessions can be terminated. Outside of these sessions, you’ll continue to use the strategies you have learned in your everyday life as challenges arise.
How Does CBT for Addiction Work?
Typically, your sessions are 50 minutes to an hour long and occur weekly for as long as it takes to achieve the goals you and your therapist agree upon. These sessions often begin with a review of the previous session, discussing what was accomplished and learned while evaluating the progress made. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation for yourself or a loved one 800-338-5770.
As the client, you work with your therapist to create a micro-goal for that day’s session. This micro-goal aligns with your overall goal for pursuing CBT and your recovery from addiction. The session continues in line with that goal, working to identify the negative thought patterns behind the problem being addressed and to create a new strategy for addressing those attitudes. Ultimately, you learn to change your thoughts, which helps you change your emotional and behavioral responses to stressful or challenging situations.
Unlike many forms of therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy in FL for drug addiction and other mental health problems is largely led by you. In some methods of treatment, you are instructed to give authority to your therapist and rely on them to lead your sessions – this is not the case with cognitive behavioral addiction therapy at 12 Keys in Florida. Instead, you take an active role, providing feedback throughout the session. Your feedback helps to adjust the treatment as needed.
The Key Elements of A Florida Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program
In our cognitive behavioral therapy at our treatment center, two key elements are used:
- Cognitive restructuring: You’ll start by working with your counselor to identify your thought patterns and change them as a means of creating healthier emotional responses and behaviors. Examples of this might include believing you are less important than someone else because you are an addict. Cognitive restructuring aims to help you change that line of thinking, perhaps replacing it with the belief that even though you have made poor choices in the past, you are important and you can be proud of yourself because you are making steps towards a healthier life and sobriety.
- Behavioral activation: Next, you will work with your therapist to utilize the development of your new thought patterns to begin making healthier choices and participating in beneficial and enjoyable activities. Examples of this include responding to feelings of worthlessness with a positive coping skill such as taking a walk or calling a friend.
Common Applications for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
One of the advantages of using cbt for addiction in Florida is its application to a wide range of circumstances surrounding addiction and mental health problems. We currently utilize cognitive behavioral therapy as an element in our multi-track approach to the treatment of:
- Alcohol addiction
- Drug addiction
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Anxiety
- Depression
Will I Benefit From CBT For Addiction?
Our individualized approach to treating our clients means that we might employ several different therapies to help our clients recover. We find that cognitive behavioral therapy for addiction treatment is one of our most successful methods because it gets right to the root of what is causing you to suffer, and it gives you the power to reestablish control of your life. Our clients find that after completing cognitive behavioral addiction therapy, they have a better understanding of their emotional needs and how their thoughts and attitude impact their actions. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation for yourself or a loved one 800-338-5770. When you enter our cognitive behavioral addiction therapy for substance abuse in Florida, you will that even external stresses that are out of your control become manageable because you can control your reaction to them.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Depression and Anxiety
In many cases, our patients are diagnosed with what is known as a dual diagnosis. A dual diagnosis is the term used if you are diagnosed with both a substance abuse disorder and mental health disorder.
It isn’t uncommon for us to work with clients who are suffering from addiction and depression or anxiety. In fact, it is fairly common to discover depression, anxiety, or both as one of the root causes of alcohol or substance abuse disorders. As a result, we choose to offer treatment for these mental health problems through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy.
Anxiety disorders are incredibly prevalent among adults, with an estimated 18 percent of adults experiencing significant anxiety for 12 or more months at a time, according to the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Depression has also become a common mental health problem in adults. In fact, depression is currently the most common mental health disorders experienced by adults living in the United States. Along with addiction and anxiety, depression treatment has been found to be very successful when cognitive behavioral therapy is used.
In the cbt school of thought, the root of depression and anxiety is believed to be dysfunctional patterns of thinking that negatively affect your mood. Typically, you may feel as though you cannot change your mood. As such, your everyday life may suffer from the consequences of your depression. We use CBT to help you tackle those dysfunctional thought patterns with the goal of changing the way you think – improving your mood and outlook on life.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD
At our treatment program, we recognize that there is often a relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder. This is why we have always taken a multi-track approach to treatment, addressing not only the obvious substance abuse problems in your life but also digging deeper to tackle what is really going on in your mind. One way we approach the unique need of clients who have been diagnosed with PTSD is by offering trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation for yourself or a loved one 800-338-5770.
You may develop post-traumatic stress disorder if you have experienced significant trauma. Usually, a person develops PTSD within three months of experiencing the trauma, but sometimes the disorder develops years after the experience. Instances of trauma include:
- Being the victim of sexual assault
- Being involved in combat
- Being exposed to any other situation where you experienced extreme danger or perceived danger
In some cases, you might be suffering from PTSD as a victim of secondary trauma. This means you may have witnessed someone experiencing a traumatic event.
The most commonly experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder include:
- Disturbing dreams or nightmares
- Flashbacks
- Disturbing thoughts
Cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD is used to carefully examine the thoughts and beliefs that influence the symptoms of trauma in a person’s life. If you are suffering from PTSD, our therapists can assist you in addressing the negative and scary thoughts that plague your everyday life. We can help you restructure your thoughts surrounding the trauma so that you can develop a new attitude that acknowledges what happened but allows you to make forward progress in your life.
Family Support and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
If you are the loved one of someone struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction, you can support your friend or family member as they pursue recovery and renewed mental health. In general, we have found cognitive behavioral therapy for addiction to be increasingly successful when close friends or family choose to offer positive support and encouragement during the course of treatment.
As a family member, you can provide support by speaking positively with your loved one about their recovery. Express how proud you are of their willingness to seek out therapy and rehabilitation. If possible, find practical ways to support their recovery, like assisting with their personal responsibilities while they are away for treatment.
You play a very important role in your loved one’s journey to sobriety, so at 12 Keys in Florida, we work hard to incorporate family involvement wherever possible in the recovery process.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Real Recovery
While many rehabilitation facilities focus on detox and follow strict guidelines for addiction recovery, we believe in a more comprehensive approach to recovery. In general, we do not believe a highly supervised approach to recovery results in long-term abstinence.
If you have underlying mental health disorders, those issues will typically not resolve themselves once you have achieved sobriety. When you leave the facility, life will happen and you will experience stressors and challenges in your life. Without proper coping skills and tools, it will be difficult to maintain sobriety when underlying mental health and emotional disorders remain untreated.
Because of this, we choose to approach both addiction and mental health disorders through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy. First, we focus on detox and sobriety, assisting you as you adjust to your new life without drugs and alcohol. Once you and your therapists feel you are ready, you will begin using cognitive behavioral addiction therapy to tackle mental health disorders, which may be the root causes of your addiction. We aim to help each of our clients leave the facility healed and equipped for whatever challenges they may face in their new life of recovery.
Experience the Specialized Approach at 12 Keys in FL
12 Keys is located in beautiful, sunny Florida. Our center is equipped with calming gardens, comfortable rooms, and private bathrooms. Our cognitive behavioral therapy clients have the time and the right environment to rest and reflect on their recovery while sitting by the on-site swimming pool, playing volleyball, kayaking or going deep-sea fishing and horseback riding.
We welcome with open arms anyone who is experiencing drug or alcohol addiction in tandem with post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma, or other mental health disorders.
The diverse treatment options we offer, along with the comfortable amenities and breathtaking location, place our rehab above all other rehabilitation centers in the area. To learn more about enrolling in cognitive behavioral therapy with a professional, contact us. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation for yourself or a loved one 800-338-5770.