How Can Inpatient Therapy Help With My Recovery?

For most people struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol, rehab offers the best chance for a long-term recovery – and inpatient, or residential, rehab is often called the “gold standard” of addiction treatment, with a full range of services designed to support all aspects of recovering from substance abuse. During a stay in residential rehab, inpatient therapy plays a key role in helping people understand their addiction and develop new strategies for drug free living.

How Does Inpatient Therapy Work?

Inpatient rehab generally provides services for every stage of the recovery process, targeted to the individual needs of each client. Medically supervised detox and withdrawal support helps people during the first stages of quitting an addictive substance. Individual therapy sessions with a counselor or therapist allow a recovering addict to talk freely about the addiction and any related issues in a confidential setting. And group therapy sessions give clients an opportunity to learn about addiction and support each other.

Inpatient therapy can take a variety of forms, and therapists and counselors create personalized treatment plans based on the approaches that fit each client’s unique circumstances.

Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies – Relating Thoughts to Behaviors

CBT helps patients develop a drug-free mindset.

Cognitive (related to thinking) and behavioral therapies, or a combination of both, are frequently used in substance abuse rehabs. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps clients understand how their thoughts and feelings affect their behaviors. With a better understanding of the relationship between thoughts and actions, people with addictions can develop new, healthier behaviors that aren’t connected to substance abuse.

Contingency Management: Rewarding the Positive

One reason people become addicted is that a relationship develops between the use of a substance and a sense of reward. To help people associate new behaviors with reward, inpatient therapy can also make use of contingency management, a strategy that gives clients tangible rewards for positive actions, such as winning a prize for attending every counseling session, or earning a voucher for every clean drug test.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing- Easing the Pain of Trauma

Many people struggling with addiction have experienced traumatic events, and these events may have led to substance abuse. Inpatient rehabs, especially those with a focus on holistic or alternative approaches, may offer eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, or EMDR, to help clients process past trauma and other difficult emotional experiences.

Inpatient Therapy: DBT

Nutrition Therapy – Healing With Food

Substance abuse takes a toll on both the mind and body. Drugs like heroin and methamphetamine can cause severe damage to the organs and skin, and during addiction many people neglect to eat healthy foods on a regular schedule. For those reasons, inpatient therapy might also include nutrition therapy – providing regular nutritious meals and educating clients about ways to heal a body damaged by substance abuse.

Art and Movement Therapy – Healing Mind and Body

Art and movement therapies such as dance and yoga can be a part of inpatient therapy, too, especially in private residential rehabs. These kinds of therapies can be used along with individual and group therapies to help to reduce stress and heal the body during rehab and beyond.

No one therapy fits everyone, so counselors and therapists work with each client to find the best combination of therapies to achieve the best outcomes. But in all its forms, inpatient therapy helps rehab clients understand their addictions and learn healthier strategies for dealing with the triggers for addiction – and with the stresses of daily living. Along with other inpatient rehab services, these therapies can lay the foundation for long-term recovery.

Are you wondering if rehab can help you break free of addiction? We have the answers you need. Call us at 800-430-1407Who Answers? for the solution you’re looking for right now.