Author: vrcaguadulce

According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, almost 50% of all people age 12 or older in the US have tried illicit drugs at least once in their lifetime. Close to 20% had tried them in the past month. While not everyone who experiments with drugs becomes addicted, millions of people do. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that in 2015 alone, more than 21 million people likely could have benefited from addiction treatment. Yet many went without it for various reasons.

If you are struggling with addiction, you don’t have to do so alone. Contact us at Valley Recovery Center in Dulce, California, to find out more about our luxury rehab center and how we can help.

One proven method we employ to help people with addiction is cognitive behavioral therapy. Find out more about CBT techniques for drug abuse treatment below.

What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is one type of talk therapy. It’s an evidence-based method for treating a variety of mental health issues, and it’s a popular choice for many treatment providers because of its effectiveness in assisting those with addiction. Evidence-based simply means that there is a lot of research on this methodology, with scientists and mental health professionals drawing the conclusion that the treatment is effective.

What Is CBT Used to Treat?

CBT has been used to treat a wide variety of mental health and behavioral disorders as well as some physical issues. That includes:

• Mental health disorders, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis
• Behavioral disorders, including but not limited to eating disorders, OCD, phobias and borderline personality disorders
• Some health issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, which can have psychological components or stressors that CBT can assist with
• Addictions to substances such as alcohol or drugs
• Addictions to behaviors or other stimuli, including gambling, video games, porn and sex

How Does CBT Work and What Makes It Different From Other Therapy Approaches?

On the surface, CBT might look a lot like other therapy practices, especially to those who are unfamiliar with the process or not trained in psychotherapy. In practice, CBT is a lot of talking, thinking through what was talked about and attempting to put new skills into practice. But the principles behind CBT are slightly different than with other psychotherapies.

CBT rests on the concept that all behaviors are learned. If you learned a behavior, the thought is that you can unlearn a behavior. Thus, behaviors can be changed. Other core concepts of CBT include:

• The belief that psychological problems, including those relevant to a person’s addiction, are due to both negative thought patterns and inappropriate behavior patterns (which were learned).
• People who are living with these negative thoughts and patterns can discover the root causes for them and work to unlearn and change them.

While each person is unique and therapists approach each situation with that in mind, CBT treatment can take some common paths. For example, before someone can start working toward changing patterns, they must first learn how to recognize and isolate thought patterns that might be causing some of their problems. During individual or group CBT sessions, counselors guide individuals to begin to see these thoughts and understand them for what they are — which might mean realizing some of the thoughts aren’t rooted in reality or that they are based on incorrect or harmful assumptions and beliefs.

Next, the person begins to understand how their emotions and behaviors are triggered by these thoughts. For example, they might see that certain stressors at work cause them to begin to think a certain way. They then have a physical and emotional reaction to those thoughts. That reaction translates into a certain behavior. In the case of someone who is struggling with addiction, the behavior may be using drugs, seeking drugs or otherwise engaging in activity that is destructive to self.

Once a line is drawn connecting the trigger, thought and behavior, individuals in CBT work with their counselor and others to define more appropriate thoughts and behaviors. These are often referred to as healthier coping skills.

It’s not uncommon for a counselor to give “homework” during CBT sessions. Someone might have identified a certain negative thought and a new coping mechanism for dealing with it, for example. The counselor might instruct them to look for opportunities to put that coping mechanism into action between that time and the next CBT session. The individual would then report on how the practice went and troubleshoot issues with the counselor, with the goal of constantly improving confidence and capability with these new skills so that they become the default reactions and behaviors.

How to Use CBT for Addiction Treatment

Cognitive behavioral therapy is often used in addiction treatment. It works well in inpatient residential and outpatient environments — in group settings or in individual therapy sessions.

CBT techniques for addiction treatment aren’t really that different from what was described above. During therapy, individuals in recovery work to identify and reframe potential false beliefs that might have led them to start abusing drugs and alcohol in the first place.

For example, someone might have turned to drugs because they felt they weren’t good enough. They could never keep up with the perceived expectations of others, and the stress of possibly “failing” led them to abuse substances as an escape. Or perhaps they turned to drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines because it’s the only way they thought they would have the energy to keep up with the demands they felt others were making on them. Some other false beliefs someone in such a situation might have could include “No one will love me if I fail” or “I have to do all this to be a good person.”

While someone could go through detox and address physical dependencies, if they don’t address these false beliefs, they’re more likely to relapse with drug abuse shortly after leaving treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps the individual address these false beliefs, creating new thought patterns such as “The people who really love me will keep loving me even if I’m not perfect” and “I don’t have to do everything alone to be successful.”

Starting with these new thought patterns, the person can begin practicing healthier coping mechanisms, such as not hiding the truth from loved ones or saying no to things and setting healthy boundaries. In this case, making these behavioral changes would likely help the individual as they move toward long-term recovery.

Can CBT Treat Addiction on Its Own?

Every person — and every treatment plan — is different. What works for you might not work for others, and vice versa. That’s why we work to develop individual treatment plans for every person getting treatment at Valley Recovery Center. That’s also why the answer to this question is not a simple yes or no.

In some cases, CBT might be able to shoulder much of the burden of addiction treatment. This is especially true if you’re psychologically dependent but not physically dependent on a substance. That means your brain thinks it needs the substance and you rely on it mentally and emotionally. But your body doesn’t necessarily need it to function and you don’t have physical withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it.

However, in other cases — especially those involving serious physical dependency — CBT alone may not be enough to help with an addiction. You might require medically assisted detox to help you get through severe withdrawal symptoms as your body detoxes from drugs or alcohol.

And in many cases, CBT is just one tool that’s used in a comprehensive approach to treating substance abuse disorders. Treating the entire person is important, which means CBT may be used alongside other tools, including:

• Medication and medication management
• Medically assisted detox when appropriate
• Education about the cycle of addiction
• Education and support for overall wellness, including fitness, nutrition and self-care
• Recreational activities designed to improve confidence and provide room for practicing new skills

The Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Addiction

CBT has a number of benefits that are relevant for treating addiction. First, it’s flexible with regard to how you integrate it into treatment. If medication is required for detox, CBT can be used to support and carry on with treatment after those methods have been used. But if someone doesn’t want medication-assisted treatment for any reason, CBT can still be used and has been shown to be effective, even when working with someone who is dealing with withdrawals from a substance like heroin.

Another benefit of CBT is that it can begin to produce results quickly. That’s not to say that CBT addiction treatment is fast and easy. It’s simply that you might begin to see results and progress fairly early, which can motivate you to continue to work hard during recovery.

CBT is a highly structured form of therapy. And while that might not seem like an ideal thing to many people, someone who is struggling with addiction can often find security in the structure. They know what they are working on, what’s coming next and how to get from point A to point B. Many other things about life — including something as personal as mood or ability to focus — might be changing on a daily basis. The fact that CBT is a known quantity can actually make it more attractive.

Finally, through CBT, you learn practical skills you can apply in the real world. The immediate goal is to apply them when dealing with addiction, but many of those skills can be used for other purposes. For example, CBT techniques and the coping skills practiced during the sessions can be applied to create healthier relationships, better performance within a career or simply a more contented state of mind with life in general.

The biggest downside is that a person has to commit to the process and be willing to put in the work. Cognitive behavioral therapy is not something that is done to you. It’s not like a surgical procedure, where a doctor goes in while you’re unconscious and removes a problem. If you’re not actively involved in the CBT process, participating in each session and carrying through with homework between sessions, you’re not going to see results.

Contact Us for Help With Addiction Today

At Valley Recovery Center, we use CBT and other tools to help you map a road to recovery and begin your journey. One of the great things about CBT in a center environment is that you can learn and practice these new skills in a safe, supportive environment while planning for a brighter, drug- and alcohol-free future. Call us today at or use our online contact form. We’re ready to answer your questions about CBT and other recovery topics and help you understand what your options are when it comes to treatment.

In the United States in 2018, around 20.3 million people over the age of 12 were struggling with addiction. Of those, 14.8 million had an alcohol use disorder, while 8.1 million were diagnosed with an illicit drug use disorder. NIDA, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Medical Association and the National Institute on Drug Abuse all consider addiction a chronic disease. Despite the certainty among the majority of the medical community, there is a pervasive stigma attached to addiction, and the misconception of substance abuse as a choice persists.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the arguments for and against the disease model of addiction. Ultimately, addiction treatment should be the primary goal of anyone worried about their relationship with drugs or alcohol. Learning about the condition is an excellent first step on the road to recovery. Call Valley Recovery Center today at 866-986-2486 to find out how to take the next step.

How Is Addiction Diagnosed?

Drug addiction is diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition. This tool is the most up-to-date index of mental health disorders. Medical professionals use it to diagnose conditions such as autism, ADHD, schizophrenia and eating disorders. To get a diagnosis according to the DSM5, you need to meet just three of the following 11 criteria. A severe substance use disorder — or addiction — is considered when someone meets six or more.

• Uncontrollable cravings
• Narrowing of interests
• Psychological or physical problems related to substance use
• Dedicating a majority of time to alcohol or drug use
• Repeated failed attempts to stop or slow down
• Using more for more extended periods
• Tolerance
• Withdrawal
• Social problems as a result of substance use
• Failure to meet responsibilities at work, school or home
• Putting yourself in danger as a result of alcohol or drug use

Addiction’s inclusion within this manual is further evidence of the medical community’s view that condition is beyond the sufferer’s control. There is no stigma attached to type 2 diabetes or heart disease, even though it could be argued that a lack of willpower in the past might be a contributing factor in their development.

Just like substance use disorders, research shows that an unhealthy lifestyle can combine with genetic and environmental markers to trigger heart disease or type 2 diabetes. However, unlike addiction, this doesn’t make them diseases of choice in the eyes of the public. Self-blame often leads to guilt, which makes recovery much harder. Sympathy, understanding and support are the best methods of helping someone overcome addiction — not judgment or punishment.

What Causes Drug Addiction?

There are a multitude of factors that lead up to someone developing a substance use disorder. To make matters even more complicated, there is no single gene or life event that causes addiction. It happens for slightly different reasons for each person. Plus, everyone has a different baseline threshold when it comes to resilience and self-control.

Although you can learn these skills, a deficiency of either can significantly increase your risk of falling victim to addiction. The absence of them is again the result of a complex mixture of the following factors:

Genetic Factors

There is no doubt that genetics plays a vital role in the onset of addiction, but there is no single gene that scientists have isolated that causes it. Instead, there are several genes, some of which might lie dormant for years until a social or environmental trigger activates them.

In some cases, it’s the genetic propensity towards certain personality traits that make falling prey to a substance use disorder more likely. For example, evidence suggests that genetics decides whether someone is impulsive or ultra-sensitive to stimuli. If someone is more inclined towards either trait, they’re more likely to take part in sensation-seeking behavior and seek solace in substances.

Environmental Factors

Environmental risk factors are also highly relevant when it comes to addiction. If someone grows up in a household where substance abuse is normalized, they’re more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol. Education and family values also contribute to an individual’s propensity for addiction. If someone learns self-regulation from their family, their prefrontal cortex will develop faster than someone who doesn’t learn and practice self-control from a young age.

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that’s responsible for logic, resilience and decision-making. It can override the more primal, emotionally driven parts of the brain that encourage sensation-seeking. When these emotional parts of the brain are in charge, you’re inclined towards behaviors that have short-term benefits but cause long-term problems.

The great news is that anyone can practice self-regulation, and the more you get into that habit, the easier it is to break harmful habits. Addiction recovery is about breaking unhelpful patterns and replacing them with desirable ones.

Of course, if you’ve experienced trauma in your life, this is more challenging — but it is still possible. Even if you’ve been diagnosed with a mental illness, you can learn to control your symptoms without turning to substances.

Is Addiction a Disease?

With all the information above, it seems pretty apparent that addiction is a disease. The idea of it as a choice stems from the fact there are an initial series of decisions that lead to a severe, compulsive severe substance use disorder. However, the reasons behind those choices are usually beyond the level of self-control that the individual is able to exercise at the time.

Often, people can’t comprehend the future consequences because their sole focus is on self-soothing in the present. To heal from addiction, you’ll need therapy to learn how to cope with stressful emotions and learn about what motivates you and what triggers you.

Some experts say addiction is a gradual narrowing of interests until only the substance of choice remains. When addiction is at this stage, your brain changes because the dopamine reward system has been hijacked. This essentially means your mind perceives substances as the only means of getting pleasure and feeling good.

While a change in brain chemistry is the defining feature of substance use disorders, in most cases it’s not permanent, and therapy, support and medical intervention can help you make the necessary changes.

Who Invented the Disease Model of Addiction?

NIDA cites McLellan et al.’s paper in 2000 as one of the defining documents that makes the clearest case for the disease model of addiction. It notes the affinities between substance use disorders and other chronic illnesses. The main similarities it points to include:

• There are more genetic contributors to addiction than heart disease.
• Environmental factors, including lifestyle choices, contribute to addiction, just like heart disease.
• Stress is a major contributing factor to addiction and chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease.
• Drug use damages the brain just as heart disease damages the heart.
• Relapse rates are similar in drug addiction, type 2 diabetes, hypotension and asthma.

The bottom line is that no one chooses to become addicted to drugs or alcohol, just as no one chooses to get heart disease. Just because lifestyle plays a role in both, it doesn’t mean the individuals who develop them were necessarily informed or stable enough to prevent the onset.

Gene Heyman’s Choice Model

In 2009, Gene Heyman released a book called Addiction: A Disorder of Choice. He argues that the disease model is inaccurate and misleading. While he doesn’t believe that people who struggle with addiction have chosen to become an addict, he believes that it occurs as a result of disordered decision-making.

This view doesn’t take into account the debilitating impact drugs and alcohol can have on the nervous system. People who fall into addiction often have imbalanced neurotransmitters, which are worsened by substance use. If it was a simple matter of cognitive choices, many more people would surely develop the condition. Furthermore, the idea of addiction as a choice diminishes the impact trauma and stress have on our bodies and minds.

What Are the Most Addictive Drugs?

All psychoactive drugs have the potential to be addictive because they alter a person’s conscious experience of the world. Whether they numb pain, dull the senses or boost confidence and concentration, pretty much every substance user has a reason for taking them. The following drugs have the highest rates of abuse and addiction:

Opioids

The most addictive substances are without a doubt opiates. These medications are used medically to treat extreme, chronic pain. They work by attaching to opioid receptors in the brain and body, which causes a huge rush of dopamine and endorphins. For someone who is struggling with physical or emotional pain, the relief this causes is often unlike anything the user has experienced before.

However, within two or three consecutive days of using these substances, your body starts to adapt. Because they attach to internal receptors so effectively, you physically start to feel a need for them. Your body fights this by adapting more, which is felt as tolerance. When tolerance starts to develop, you need more to get the same hit. When you take higher doses, your body becomes increasingly dependent, which feeds the cycle of addiction.

The strength of these substances makes it a huge challenge to overcome opioid use disorder, but it’s still possible. The horrific effects of heroin and opiate painkillers are so widely known that most people who take that route in their lives are experiencing unimaginable pain. The suggestion that there is an element of choice in such a debilitating illness lacks empathy and understanding.

Alcohol

Even though alcohol is entirely legal and the majority of people can drink it without a problem, it kills 3 million people each year. It takes effect on the central nervous system as a depressant. This means it causes a surge of neurotransmitters that make you feel relaxed, uninhibited and eventually sleepy. Just like opioids, over time, your body starts to rely on the alcohol to trigger these neurotransmitters instead of releasing them naturally.

Sedative Hypnotics

Sedative hypnotics like benzos work almost identically to alcohol. They cause the release of a vital neurotransmitter called GABA, which is responsible for regulating anxiety and inducing sleep. Lots of people take these drugs to relieve the symptoms of anxiety. However, over time, your brain starts to rely on them. The result is feelings of extreme, often worsened anxiety unless you’re taking the medication.

The reasons why not everyone who has a difficult childhood turns to drugs are highly nuanced, just as there are complex factors leading someone who has seemingly never experienced trauma to turn to substance abuse. Some people can experiment with taking drugs recreationally, and others find any kind of inebriation totally unpleasant. We’re still learning exactly how and why people get addicted — but most experts agree that choice is not the cause.

How to Get Help for Drug or Alcohol Addiction

• Speak with family members
• Detoxification
• Residential rehab
• Aftercare

While addiction might appear to be a simple cognitive choice on the surface, it’s clearly more complex when you delve deeper. Most people who experience substance use disorders find it difficult to focus on or plan for the future. As previously mentioned, this is due to a mixture of genetic and environmental factors, but in most cases, it compels them to seek short-term fixes.

Self-control and resilience are skills, and just like any other skill, they can be learned. Anyone who’s struggling with addiction must understand that although it takes a lot of hard work and a genuine desire to gain control over your symptoms, it is possible for everyone.

Recovery Is a Choice

One thing is sure when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction: Recovery is a choice. It’s not an easy one to make, but when you do, it’ll be life-changing and self-esteem-boosting. Call Valley Recovery Center today at 866-986-2486 to book a consultation.

The 12-step philosophy was written almost a century ago, and yet it remains the most effective method of treating addiction. This is true whether the individual accepts the traditional view of God or has their own perception of a higher power. In this post, we’ll explore the question “What are the 12 steps of AA/NA in modern terms?” We’ll use behavioral therapy language to explore how the 12 steps are still 100% relevant.

What Are the 12 Steps of AA/NA From a CBT Perspective?

Alcoholics Anonymous has been helping people battle against alcoholism since 1939, and Narcotics Anonymous has been aiding those going through drug addiction since 1953. Here are each of the 12 steps of AA/NA explained in simple terms so a modern audience can understand what they get out of these groups.

1. Admit You Are Powerless

If you don’t feel comfortable thinking of your entire self as powerless, you might prefer to alter your perception of this first step. Rather than admitting you’re helpless, accept that addiction is compulsive and treat it as an aspect of your life that you need to gain control over.

2. Believe a Power Greater Than You Can Restore Your Health

Step two doesn’t need to refer to God at all. If you don’t believe in God, CBT describes this step differently. At this stage, you need to commit to changing your belief system entirely. The one you had before is what led to substance abuse, so you need to start believing in your ability to create a new, positive belief system.

3. Turn Your Will Over to God

Rather than thinking about turning your will over to God as you would in the traditional AA, with CBT, you can accept that you need to turn your will over to the process. Your will has misguided you, and it’s vital for you to accept that you do not know better than the people helping you along this process.

4. Make a Moral Inventory

It doesn’t need to be a moral inventory, but to heal fully, you need to commit to the most thorough self-exploration you’ve ever been through. Use a journal to map the thoughts, beliefs and feelings that influence your behaviors.

Be fearlessly honest with yourself and make sure you note the ones that bring up guilt and fear. It’s these types of negative emotions that often drive our darkest actions.

5. Admit Our Flaws to God and Ourselves

Once you’ve worked through these yourself, approach a counselor, therapist or support group with them. The cycle of addiction depends on secrecy and shame, so by bringing your deepest innermost thoughts and feelings out into the light, you give them less gravitas.

6. Assess Your Character Flaws

The next step in AA and NA is to list character flaws. This isn’t to make you feel bad; it’s so you can face up to the truth of the past and genuinely work towards not making the same mistakes again. Character flaws aren’t a sign of moral weakness or reasons to be ashamed; they’re simply methods your mind has found to help you live with your disease.

7. Ask for Help From a Higher Power

Rather than asking God for help, a nonbeliever can either ask the universe or just shift their focus from negative self-talk to positive self-talk. There’s no point in feeling bad about the character traits you don’t admire in yourself — the brain is amazing. Don’t underestimate your ability to adapt and change!

8. Write a List of People Your Behavior Harmed

Addiction is a struggle that tends to affect the people around you badly. Create an honest, full list of everyone you’ve hurt with your actions and start thinking about how to make amends.

9. Make Amends

It’s not easy to process the emotions brought up when you face up to hurting people. It might be awhile before you feel confident enough to approach them and make amends, but once you do, it’s the most extraordinary feeling.

10. Address Your Feelings

CBT doesn’t need to translate step 10 of the AA book much. Whenever you experience problematic feelings or thoughts, address them safely and healthily.

11. Connect With Prayer

The similarities between prayer and meditation are striking. In meditation, you focus on your breath and ask the universe for guidance and love instead of asking God.

12. Practice

Now you must live and breathe these principles and try to help other people experience the transformation you’ve been through. You might perceive this experience as a spiritual awakening or as an extraordinary shift in attitude that facilitates the type of behavior that helps you to achieve your goals.

Get the Help You Need to Stay Sober

If you’re ready to look inside and explore what’s caused you to turn to substance abuse, call Valley Recovery Center today at 866-986-2486.

The benefits of trauma therapy for addiction are multiple. During childhood, while your brain is developing, trauma can lead to internalized negative self-beliefs. On an intellectual level, you might have processed these events — but that doesn’t mean the underlying belief isn’t wreaking havoc in your life. Lots of people who abuse drugs and alcohol and get addicted do so to cover up pain that results from skewed perceptions that occurred as a result of traumatic life events.

Trauma therapy is a crucial component of rehab because unresolved trauma is so prevalent in people who struggle with a substance use disorder. Working through these issues lets you focus more on the present and build a healthier attitude towards yourself. It’s ideal as part of a treatment program that includes group therapy, psychoeducation and behavioral therapy.

The Benefits of Trauma Therapy for Addiction

Trauma therapy and addiction go hand in hand because they’re so closely linked. A large percentage of the people who find themselves struggling with addiction have experienced trauma in their life. These major events change the way you respond to stimulus unless the brain processes them correctly.

In many cases, people with traumatic backgrounds aren’t armed with the coping mechanisms necessary to resolve trauma independently. Trauma therapy helps you overcome your past so you can focus on the present.

1. Focus on the Present

During the initial stages of trauma therapy, you’ll learn about what trauma is and how it impacts human beings. Your therapist will get an understanding of your history so they can help you focus on the present and the future.

Often, those unfortunate enough to experience unresolved trauma struggle intensely to move forward with their lives. They tend to focus on the past and the pain they’ve experienced. In trauma therapy, you learn to view yourself from a different, more positive perspective. You’ll set goals for the future and understand the importance of living in the present and leaving the past behind.

2. Learn About Your Triggers

In many cases, a trauma therapist will ask you to start journaling. Once you start writing down your genuine feelings and making quick observations about your day, you’ll begin to notice your triggers. The therapist will help you to unravel why certain situations make you feel anxious or sad and drive you to use substances.

The better you understand yourself, the more able you are to start gradually making the necessary changes. Remember, addiction is a chronic disease, so you’ll need to maintain these changes instead of seeing them as one-off fixes.

3. Speak to a Safe, Reassuring Authority Figure

One of the most important aspects of trauma therapy is your relationship with the counselor. As you build trust and become more comfortable being vulnerable in front of them, you start to rebuild trust. Trauma therapy gives you a safe space to begin rebuilding your relationship with yourself and society.

4. Feel a Difference in Your Physical Reactions

Most people who go through trauma therapy report feeling physically better afterward. Trauma causes tension, headaches, insomnia and a variety of other unpleasant conditions — which might even drive some people to develop substance use disorders.

5. Understand Where Negative Self-Beliefs Come From

In trauma therapy, a certified counselor helps you identify the underlying core beliefs about yourself that hold you back. Trauma leads to feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy and insecurity, and many people who experience severe trauma feel unlovable altogether.

You might intellectually know that no one in the world is any more or less worthy than another, but these core beliefs can persist regardless. In many cases, it takes specialized intervention from a mental health specialist to help you reprogram that negative core belief into a positive one.

6. Learn How to See Your Story From Different Perspectives

One essential benefit of trauma therapy for addiction is helping you to see yourself as a survivor rather than a victim. When we perceive ourselves as victims, we’re more prone to negative self-beliefs, which can lead to damaging behavior like alcoholism or drug abuse.

A trauma therapist will reframe your experiences to highlight how brave, resilient and driven you’ve been to get as far as you have. Trauma is never a good thing, but you still can draw immense strength and self-love from it.

When you see yourself as a strong, independent survivor, you can turn your life around. It might seem like you could never get there, but with professional guidance, a full recovery is possible for everyone.

7. Break Patterns of Thinking and Behavior

Once you’re able to recognize the negative patterns that stem from trauma, you’ll gradually be ready to start breaking them. Bear in mind that recovery isn’t a linear process, and you won’t heal trauma overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication from your side and a skilled practitioner to navigate your individual trauma recovery journey.

Find Out More About Trauma Therapy and Addiction Today

If you’d like to ask one of our addiction experts a question about trauma therapy, call Valley Recovery Center today at 866-986-2486.

People sometimes use the terms inpatient and residential rehab interchangeably — however, the two forms of addiction treatment are quite distinct. Inpatient treatment describes voluntary or involuntary hospitalization for an acute substance use disorder. Residential rehab is a more intimate and specialized environment where you get access to the latest therapy and resources.

The similarity is that you spend days and nights in both types of care, and you’d attend individual and group therapy in both. Read on to find out about the main differences between inpatient and residential rehab.

Customized Care

When you begin a course in a residential rehab center, you’ll go through an assessment process in which medical experts get to know you. This enables them to provide you with highly personalized care that’s been designed with your specific needs in mind. An inpatient program usually adopts more of a one-size-fits-all approach.

Scope of Treatment

As the science around addiction becomes more fine-tuned, the foremost conclusion experts are drawing is that each individual responds to different styles of therapy. In residential rehab, you get to try a broad range of holistic, experiential and psychoeducational treatments. Most people need to sample a mixture of different care approaches to find what works, so it’s best to get access to as many as possible.

Staff-to-Patient Ratio

When it comes to inpatient rehab, you’re likely to be in a hospital with the usual amount of staff they have. Depending on where you live, this could mean being in an understaffed ward with caregivers whose specialization isn’t the field of addiction. In a luxury residential rehab, space is usually limited to six or fewer clients.

This ensures each person gets the time and attention they need to delve into the reasons behind the substance use disorder and develop healthy ways of coping with challenging situations.

Residential rehab centers are usually dedicated to one thing: helping clients overcome addiction. This means you benefit from being part of a community whose sole focus is healing. Operators design their centers to give people the best chance of overcoming addiction. Because it’s their sole focus, they tend to be pretty good at it.

A Resort-Like Environment

One of the most appealing aspects of residential rehab compared to inpatient rehab is the type of place you get to stay in. Hospitals are practical places that need to take into account the needs of a wide range of different patients.

At residential rehab, you have access to homelike luxuries, such as a swimming pool, hot tub, gym and game rooms and beautifully decorated rooms. Plus, you’ll dine on delicious family-style meals three times a day with your close-knit peer support network.

Find Out More About Residential Rehab Today

If residential rehab sounds like the place where you’d like to start your recovery journey, call our luxury rehab today at 866-986-2486.

Drug addiction causes physical effects in the brain as well as psychological effects. Different types of drugs cause different reactions in the brain. The question “How does drug addiction affect the brain?” has been studied by scientists for decades, but some of the deepest effects are only becoming clear in recent years.

Drugs as Neurotransmitter Mimics

Many drugs mimic natural neurotransmitters in the brain. These natural chemicals lead to pleasurable feelings, such as relaxation and euphoria, so drugs that mimic specific neurotransmitters cause similar effects. Heroin, prescription opioids and marijuana all work in ways similar to neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitter Manipulation

Some types of drugs manipulate natural levels of neurotransmitters instead of mimicking those chemicals directly. Cocaine blocks the receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine, which causes that chemical to build up in the brain instead of being processed normally. This accumulation of dopamine causes the euphoric feelings associated with cocaine use.

Stimulants such as methamphetamine operate by causing neurons in the brain to release extra dopamine and norepinephrine. These drugs also prevent the brain from breaking down those chemicals, leading to a buildup that causes an intense high.

Reward Systems in the Brain

Drug use manipulates the brain’s reward system, the chemical processes that cause people to repeat pleasurable activities associated with survival. Most of the neurotransmitters affected by drugs are part of this system. Normally, these neurotransmitters cause you to find pleasure in survival-related things, such as food and sexual activity. Drugs that target these neurotransmitters tie pleasurable sensations to drug use.

Tolerance and Drug Use

Over time, the brain adapts to drug use by changing the levels of natural neurotransmitters produced by neurons. Dopamine receptors become less sensitive and the brain produces less natural dopamine because there is so much already around. This makes it harder to achieve feelings of euphoria and relaxation, so drug users have to start taking more to achieve the same effect.

As drug tolerance develops, it can also reduce the ability to feel pleasure from normal activities, since normal dopamine levels have been skewed by drug use. This sometimes leads to drug users increasing their drug use in an attempt to feel normal again.

Withdrawal and the Brain

Some drugs cause withdrawal symptoms when you stop using them because the brain has become reliant on the drug. The lack of artificial neurotransmitter stimulation causes feelings of anxiety, irritability and discomfort. Some people have trouble quitting drugs because of these withdrawal symptoms. Taking the drug can ease the symptoms, which makes breaking the drug addiction cycle more difficult.

Long-Term Effects of Drugs on the Brain

In addition to the short-term effects, drug use also has long-term effects on the brain. Some drugs affect the parts of the brain that handle decision making, memory, impulse control and learning. Heavy drug use over a long time period can permanently damage the brain.