Holistic Therapy For Addiction Recovery: Try This Alternative Treatment Plan Right Now
For many years, the same treatments for addiction have remained the most popular with the goal being to simply get and keep the person off the drug. Now, the world of addiction recovery is evolving and holistic therapy is becoming a more popular option.
Holistic addiction recovery focuses on the whole person. Its goal is to not only help the patients get off drugs but to help them improve their overall well-being.
Holistic therapy does this by combining traditional therapy methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy with techniques such as acupuncture, yoga, and meditation.
Why Would Someone Choose Holistic Therapy?
One of the main reasons that someone would choose holistic therapy over a traditional recovery plan is because it focuses not just on the issue, but the root of the issue.
Holistic medicine views addiction as a whole-person issue, one that involves body, mind, and spirit. So to fix the problem, addiction, you must also work with the person to bring all aspects of themselves into healthy alignment.
The majority of individuals use drugs as an escape. Holistic therapy uses traditional medicine practices to help the individual relieve stress and achieve a more peaceful perspective which will help them reduce this desire.
If the person is able to become psychologically healthy in addition to physically healthy over the course of their treatment they are less likely to return to drug usage after treatment is complete.
What Does Holistic Therapy Include?
Depending on where you go for treatment, holistic therapy will involve different things. However, there are some standard therapies that holistic therapy includes.
These therapies are:
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Art Therapy
- Massage Therapy
- Equine Therapy
- Acupuncture
Each of these therapies offers different benefits that can help you to recover from your addiction.
Yoga
Yoga is one of the most common therapies used in addiction recovery. This is because not only is yoga a form of exercise, it’s a form of meditation.
Exercise is known to help with addiction because it reduces stress levels which are a common trigger for substance use. It also causes your body to release endorphins which can help reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
The meditation aspect of yoga is also an important benefit. Meditation can help to reduce stress which will reduce the need to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol.
Meditation
Just like with yoga, meditation can help to reduce stress levels which will reduce the urge to self-medicate using drugs and alcohol. This is especially helpful in early recovery when you’re going through so many changes and are likely experiencing more stress than ever.
Studies have also suggested that meditation can help to speed up the healing of the brain from damage caused by drug addiction.
Art Therapy
Art therapy can also provide benefits to those in recovery from addiction by providing them with an outlet. Addiction is frequently associated with feelings of shame and worthlessness and to recover these feelings must be expressed.
Art therapy is a great way to do this because instead of having to talk about their feelings, as is common in most traditional forms of therapy, the person can use those negative feelings to create something beautiful.
Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is also becoming a popular addition to many addiction recovery programs. It can help to reduce stress and is also known to help release the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. Both of which are associated with improved mood.
Equine Therapy
Equine therapy has risen in popularity in recent years and for good reason. Equine therapy is used for people suffering from various ailments, everything from paralysis to cancer. It is also frequently used in programs for troubled adolescents.
Equine therapy is beneficial in addiction recovery because it helps the patient to put their focus outside of themselves and care for another creature. Learning a new skill, such as caring for and riding horses, can also provide an increase in confidence in the patient’s abilities.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is especially helpful in recovery from opioid addiction. Most people become addicted to opioids after they are prescribed the drugs following an accident or surgery. Then they slowly become addicted to them as a way to deal with their pain.
Acupuncture is able to reduce chronic pain by stimulating the nervous system and increasing blood flow to injured areas. By reducing the overall pain of the individual they will not have as strong of a need or desire to continue taking the drug.
Benefits Of Holistic Therapy For Addiction Recovery
The benefits of holistic therapy over other forms of therapy for addiction recovery are that it focuses on not just the problem, but the root of the problem and everything surrounding it.
In a traditional 12-step program, everything revolves around drug usage. Yes, the program tries to get to the bottom of why the addiction began and what its triggers are, but everything still relates to the addiction.
In contrast, holistic therapy focuses on creating a healthier, happier person overall, and through that, the person will be able to recover from their addiction.
From a holistic perspective, addiction occurs because the person’s mind, body, and spirit are not in alignment and this creates feelings that the person feels the need to escape from by using drugs.
One of the biggest triggers for drug usage is stress. The majority of the therapy techniques aim to reduce the stress that a person is experiencing. By reducing this stress the idea is that the person will no longer feel as strong of a need to self-medicate to escape this stress.
Key Takeaways
If you have been looking into treatment options and the idea of the therapies provided in a traditional treatment center doesn’t appeal to you, it may be time to consider holistic therapy.
Holistic therapy focuses on improving and helping the entire person, mind, body, and soul so that they no longer feel the need to go back to their addiction once their treatment is over.
To learn more about the benefits of holistic therapy visit Achieve Wellness Recovery at https://achievewellnessrecovery.com/.
