Though addiction counseling is widespread, every addiction is special. Major addictions include prescription drug addictions, illegal drugs and alcohol. While you may fit under one or more of these generic groups, your addiction counseling has its own characteristics and issues.
The motives for being an abuser often vary. Someone may have severe underlying issues that prevent him or her from coping with everyday life, whilst some may have had a traumatic trauma that leaves him or her with anxiety or depression. Every person’s addiction counseling is special, and each person’s path to healing is unique.
Our world is advancing with evolving technology every coming day. Modern technology helps people in many ways; the internet is one of the best examples. But ease of access to the internet also caused excessive use, resulting in adverse effects of this helpful technology. Research studies on addiction counseling have shown that teenagers ranging from 12 to 17 years spend seventy percent time using the internet. This excessive use of the internet without any positive purpose is causing more tobacco and alcohol use in teenagers. It was reported in the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVI that the chance of substance use increases manifold in internet users, especially teenagers.
Different drugs are used to treat pain and mental health disorders. These help to heal the patients prescribed and supervised by qualified physicians. Most of these, but not all, drugs modify or alter the neural hormone levels. People taking these medicines will also become addicted to these medicines if these medicines are not used with addiction counseling under the strict supervision of a qualified physician and used for more extended periods.
Studies have elaborated that drug addiction counseling chances increase up to 50 percent in persons having some mental health issues. It has also been reported that addicted persons often face mental health disorders in later stages of addiction. So, it can be said that drug addiction and mental health disorders go side by side; one increases the chance of prevalence of the other at some stage. This condition is called dual-disorder.
Addictive drugs also damage our physical health by disturbing our internal organ’s normal functioning. These drugs can damage the liver, and others damage the kidneys. It is just an example; other organs are also at significant risk when taking drugs in higher doses. The losses to our physical or mental health depend upon the number of used drugs and usage period with addiction counseling.
Approaches to Cure Drug Addiction
Different types of therapies have been developed to treat a person suffering from drug addiction counseling. Some of These Are Explained Briefly in The Following Lines:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psychological type of treatment. CBT addresses a wide range of mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. It is also found effective in people having an addiction counseling to alcohol and other drugs. This treatment plan leads to significant physical and mental health improvement by emphasizing the behavioral changes in addictive persons.
- Contingency Management (CM)
Contingency management is a type of psychological therapy that mainly addresses behavioral changes in an addictive person and helps to reinforce positive changes. Contingency management is also effective in treating different drugs addiction counseling. Alcohol, opioids, marijuana, and some brain stimulants are mainly treated under this plan.
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
As the name shows, the motivational counseling approach is used to treat people suffering from drug addiction counseling. The patients are motivated to change their lifestyle and quit the habit. Regular motivational sessions by qualified psychiatrists are found very effective in helping people leave drug addiction counseling. But follow-up for a long time is also recommended to avoid the re-occurrence of drug addiction.
- Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Dr. Marsha M. Linehan developed this psychological treatment plan to help people suffering from severe drug addiction counseling habits and even have suicidal thoughts. This treatment plan is very known to treat severe personality disorders and different borderline personality disorders.
Dialectal Behavioral Therapy addiction counseling helps to improve hunger, sleep, and other such drug-associated symptoms.
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is another plan of treatment based on psychotherapy. This plan aims to make the patient able to recognize himself and get motivated to leave drug addiction counseling through the development of positive thoughts.
- 12-Step Facilitation
Twelve-step treatment therapy facilitates the patients by engaging patients in different activities with 12-step self-help groups, promoting abstinence.
Options for Addiction Counseling
Different options are available for the counseling of addicted persons.
Some of Those Are Enlisted Here:
- Inpatient rehabilitation
Patients are admitted to rehabilitation centers for addiction counseling in this method—all the necessary treatment facilities are provided under one roof. Complete treatment till the cure is provided under the supervision of qualified physicians and psychiatrists. All required medications and lab facilities are also available to properly diagnose and treat people with any type of drug addiction counseling. This option is considered, no doubt indeed, the best option for any person for a proper and complete cure from drug addiction.
- Outpatient rehabilitation
Here is another option for drug-addicted persons for addiction counseling. Affected persons are allowed to keep their routine life running along with treatment. They have to meet physicians periodically and attend psychological sessions as scheduled. A person getting treatment in this way can continue his typical routine workings life office work educational activities. This option is suitable for those who are facing less severe issues and can manage. Some people feel uncomfortable when admitted to a rehabilitation center for addiction counseling; this option is also for them.
Physical and physiological addiction counseling therapies help people change their lives and return to a better, healthy, and sober lifestyle. Along with these therapies, support groups are also effective in helping the affected people understand their problems and change their thought to get rid of drugs. Support groups work on the community model and provide sessions for the rehabilitation of people within a specific area. These support groups also arrange community meetings to share information about the causes of drug addiction counseling and losses these drugs are making. So, helping people to avoid dependence on any medications and also curing the affected ones. They also assist the families of affected persons in understanding the situation of their loved ones better.
Telephone Counseling
Drugs are in every person’s reach, whether in the remote areas of our country and affecting people daily. People are becoming addict to these drugs through different means and ruining their lives. But it is also the reality that addiction counseling rehabilitation centers are not available in every part of the United States of America. Although outpatient rehabilitation and support groups also proved to help, even then, people need more and more accessible options to get treatment. Telephone counseling provides another easy way to help the drug-addicted person.
As the name shows, it is simply to call a rehabilitation center to get advice and treatment. Either you are personally affected or needs help from your family member or friend, make a call to a addiction counseling rehabilitation center. They will connect you to a qualified and experienced physician. This interaction between the counselor and family of an addictive person (or the affected person himself) is similar to an outpatient option meeting. You can discuss all the issues you or your loved one facing, and the addiction counseling counselor will give advice accordingly.
This rehabilitation option provides great flexibility in scheduling the required psychological counseling sessions for addiction counseling. Counselors give paid consultancy and sessions to you through telephonic conversations or video calling.
Benefits of Telephone Counseling
Telephone counseling is a modern way of counseling for people facing drug addiction counseling problems. The following mentioned benefits show that how telephone counseling is helpful to people.
The Benefits Include:
- Often it isn’t easy to get time from counselors in their busy schedule, and we have to wait for hours or even days. Telephone counseling helps us to save time. We can speak with professional counselors more conveniently.
- Traveling is not easy for everyone, especially when someone is facing physical health issues also. It helps such people to stay home and take sessions through just a simple call.
- It also helps us from traveling if we are far from a addiction counseling rehabilitation center. Speak with your counselor, take sessions, and travel only if required.
- People feel much comfortable in their instead in a rehabilitation center, so telephone counseling provides a much better option.
- There is no need to wait for weeks to get time for a checkup and counseling, and you can speak to your counselor right from your bedroom.
- Telephone addiction counseling also has a great benefit of privacy as many people cannot express their issues properly in a doctor’s office in the presence of other people or even staff. They also fear facing people while going into a counselor’s office or getting out. Taking sessions at home via telephone helps to keep your privacy.
- No matter how far is a counselor’s office from your home, call the counselor and take sessions. It will save you from traveling and your precious time.
- You do not have to disturb your routine works. You take sessions whenever you want and wherever you want.
- It saves money because you have to bear zero traveling costs.
- It is time-saving.
- Addiction counseling also give sessions via video calling, so a person can better listen and understand the things.
- Recorded video sessions also help people repeatedly watch, listen and understand the problems and their solutions.
Help Finding Telephone Addiction Counseling
Foundations Recovery Network is not yet offering telephone counseling for addicted people. But, we still have a similar option for you. Foundations Recovery Network provides different options for the treatment of people addicted to several drugs. Our qualified experts evaluate the problems of drug-addicted persons and suggest the best suitable treatment plan. If you have queries regarding drug addiction counseling and similar issues, call us, we are here to serve you all the time. Pleasecall us at 844-675-1021 for addiction counseling.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.