Cognitive Therapy at a Drug Treatment Center
A common approach that is taken up at the drug treatment center to treat addiction is cognitive behavior therapy. As an overall program of recovery, cognitive behavior therapy is a short term alternative that focuses on therapy for enabling abstinence of people who are dependent on drugs facilitated through learning processes that the person used to start their drug and alcohol dependence. In the case of cognitive therapy, the idea is to address the feelings and behavioral patterns that are induced by a persons flow of thought. The drug treatment center understands that as people cannot alter their circumstances, they will have to change the way they look at them, and their behavior and feelings.
The goal of this approach is to allow the person to identify the situations that could trigger a drug or alcohol craving and develop a behavioral attack system that can counter this stimulation. They are even taught ways through which they can cope with other problems and behaviors that may result in substance abuse. Other approaches at the drug treatment center towards CBT include the following:
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Rational Living Therapy
Rational Behavior Therapy
Dialectic Behavior Therapy
Cognitive Therapy
The components of CBT followed at the drug treatment center include functional analysis and skill training. In functional analysis, the therapist works along with the patient helping the patient to identify the thoughts, circumstances and reactions before and after they took to drugs so as to reduce or minimize chances of a relapse. The method also allows the patient an approach to understand the reason they took to drugs and get over situations that lead to coping deficiencies. In the case of skills training, patients who are in acute need of medical support are offered better coping skills. The therapist helps the addict unlearn their previous habits to promote healthy habits. The drug dependent person is educated about the way they think of substance abuse and learn new ways of coping with the urge for a high.
The duration of cognitive behavior therapy is a short one since it takes into account a well structured and goal driven process of educating the patient about the immediate problems caused by dependence on alcohol or drugs. While other kinds of psychoanalysis and therapeutic measures may take years, CBT may be completed within 12 to 15 sessions spanning over a couple of months.
Regarding the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy, it can be said that the National Institute on Drug Abuse has studied that this is one of the most often evaluated psychosocial approaches adopted to treat disorders pertaining to substance abuse. Studies conducted on cognitive behavior therapy have demonstrated that the process is highly effective, especially when no other forms of treatment are resorted to. Compared to other approaches, cognitive behavior therapy have shown mixed results with showing that the therapy is more effective with a success rate that is similar to other modes of drug addiction treatment.
Cognitive behavior therapy works best when clubbed with other treatment alternatives like pharmaceutical treatments with recovery efforts and patient participation in support groups. However, some patients may not respond to cognitive behavior therapy and will need to be directed towards alternative methods of treatment.