Individual Therapy for Addiction

Getting One-on-One Support for Recovery at Catalina

Substance abuse is a serious condition that requires lots of hard work to maintain sobriety. Often, you will find that group therapy, SMART Recovery, and even 12-step meetings might not provide enough support. Many people who struggle with substance use require individual therapy for addiction. This personalized approach is best to give you the exact tools and coping skills needed to thrive.

If you are seeking a more personalized approach to treatment, whether for yourself or a loved one, you have come to the right place.

Catalina Behavioral Health understands the importance of one-on-one help from a team of skilled and highly-trained professionals. We believe in evidence-based practices that help with both substance abuse and mental health disorders. Keep reading and feel free to reach out to us today if you think you could benefit from individual therapy as a part of our complete offering of support programs!

5 Benefits of Individual Therapy in Addiction Treatment

When you first enter into addiction treatment, it can feel like there are so many hurdles you need to clear to maintain your sobriety. Some people can hold tightly to support groups like 12-step meetings for their substance use disorders. However, most people need a more targeted approach, and this is where you can benefit from individual therapy.

What are the benefits of individual therapy?

1) Ability to Share Freely and Without Judgment

The first and perhaps most important reason your addiction recovery should include individual therapy is that you have significantly more freedom here. Unlike group therapy where you may not be comfortable sharing your innermost thoughts with people you just met, meeting one-on-one with your counselor is different.

They are trained to be non-judgmental sounding boards to assist you in overcoming substance abuse. Everything you say within the four walls of their office is strictly confidential. You never have to worry about them sharing your thoughts, feelings, or past with anyone else.

Plus, you get uninterrupted time to share whatever you want during your therapy programs. To a large extent, you get control over what is discussed in each session, giving you a treatment plan that caters specifically to your mental health treatment goals.

2) Create Personalized Treatment Practices

When you are working on your history in individual counseling, it is important to know that a therapist is using all of the tools in their toolbox to help you heal. While you are in addiction treatment, learn how to process your feelings, repair cognitive distortions, and practice coping skills with the help of a treatment provider.

Depending on what areas you are struggling with most upon entrance, your addiction therapist will help you explore additional treatment options that could be of great benefit to you. At Catalina Behavioral Health, we offer high-quality behavioral healthcare for drug and alcohol addiction.

From cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to motivational interviewing, we can create a robust plan for you to work through in individual sessions with us.

3) Move at Your Own Pace

When you take part in mutual support groups, you have to move at the same pace and speed as the other members of your group. For some, this pace might feel just right. Sometimes, you might hit a point in your recovery process where you need to dig in with your treatment provider. One-on-one sessions allow for this more easily.

When you have a drug or alcohol addiction, you should feel free to move past steps that do not apply to you and dive deeper into issues that interrupt your day-to-day functioning. For example, you might have great interpersonal relationships and struggle with naming and identifying your emotions.

Your therapy sessions at a drug and alcohol rehab like Catalina can help you dig into whatever you are struggling with most. You will get behavioral therapies that are best for you to see the positive behavioral changes you wish to see. Meeting on a one-on-one basis means you never have to rush progress.

4) Faster Progress Over Group Therapy Alone

Along with moving at your own pace, you might also find that the recovery process moves faster when you are working in one-on-one therapy. In clinical practice, your healthcare providers can ask the right questions and guide the conversation to get to the heart of the issue.

This is about more than relapse prevention. This is diving deep into your mental health and psyche to establish where you need the most help.

With targeted care, you are likely to find that you can breeze through therapy faster than if you only attended group sessions and had to move at the pace of the group. If you are interested in moving from talk therapy to other therapies more quickly, individual sessions might be the right fit for you.

5) Build Rapport with Your Treatment Provider

Oftentimes, a treatment center will pair you with a specific therapist for the duration of your treatment plan. This prevents you from having to share personal health information anew with each session, and you never have to get your therapist up to speed on what was discussed in an earlier session.

It provides greater continuity of care and allows you to feel safe with a single provider. It can be extremely challenging to open up to anyone, especially a therapist you may have never met before.

By sticking with the same counselor for each session, you can develop more rapport that gives you the comfort and safety to explore deeper issues. Conquering drug addiction or an alcohol use disorder is not just about the physical cravings; you will need to do the heavy lifting emotionally. Having a steady therapist who can help is essential.

Getting Personalized Addiction Treatment with Catalina

Substance abuse treatment planning is not a one-size-fits-all process that looks identical for all. Instead, there are several different treatment modalities that we can employ to help you get the most out of every session with your counselor or therapist.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Substance Abuse

The first type of addiction treatment you might receive in individual therapy sessions is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This has a high rate of efficacy when it comes to addiction treatment. Some therapists may use CBT exclusively while others implement it alongside a selection of other treatments.

Why is CBT so prominent in substance abuse treatment programs?

Cognitive behavioral therapy draws on the interplay between your thoughts, feelings, and actions. When considering all three of these components, you will likely find that your thoughts and feelings influence your actions. CBT aims to disrupt this pattern.

If you can arrest the progression of your thoughts and feelings, you might be able to make a different choice whereas in the past, you would have turned to alcohol or drug abuse.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Substance Abuse Treatment

The next type of individual therapy for addiction is dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). This takes a very different approach than CBT, though the two often complement one another when it comes to addiction treatment. It is especially helpful for those who may have a co-occurring mental health struggle (like borderline personality disorder) they are facing alongside substance use disorders.

DBT equips you with the skills you need to face your substance use at any stage. It focuses on coping skills you can employ to avoid giving in to an addictive substance. For example, you may practice more mindfulness to simply observe how you are feeling in your body and mind when difficult emotions or circumstances arise.

You will learn how to regulate your emotions instead of giving into them which works hand-in-hand with your CBT individual therapy session.

Teaching DBT in Group Therapy

Oftentimes, dialectical behavior therapy is taught in both individual and group therapy in your comprehensive treatment plan. You can learn new skills alongside your peers, improving the overall experience of your challenging emotions that lead to drug or alcohol use.

One aspect of DBT is interpersonal relationships, which can be challenging to teach in individual sessions. Instead, you can learn how to appropriately connect with your peers in group therapy. This helps you with navigating new relationships in a way that translates to other aspects of your life.

Keep in mind that a structured group therapy program is different than support groups. With a skilled group therapist, you will learn skills and tools that help you in your addiction recovery and relationships. This is different than simply offering camaraderie between you and other group members.

Motivational Interviewing while Seeking Addiction Treatment

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), you may want to explore motivational interviewing as a therapy for addiction. This form of therapy is growing in popularity in the behavioral health industry and for good reason.

It helps you tap into your reason for entering into addiction recovery and allows you to focus on the future.

This is a little different than what most people think of when it comes to other therapeutic techniques. The therapist or counselor does not drive the conversation or redirect clients while using motivational interviewing. Instead, the conversation is driven by you as you learn more about yourself and why you desire sobriety.

Motivational interviewing allows you to take action and implement a plan when you encounter urges to use drugs or alcohol cravings. It is an invaluable tool when it comes to seeking help for your mental health issues or substance use disorders.

Individual Therapy for Addiction: Trauma Work and EMDR

Many people who struggle with a substance use disorder will have some degree of trauma in their past. Consider this statistic: among young adults who have substance abuse more than 70 percent had some history of trauma. This is considerable when it comes to thinking about the underlying reasons to be addressed in individual counseling.

Even adults who enter into a treatment plan can benefit from trauma therapy and even more specific forms of therapy like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).

EMDR helps you access the memories of a traumatic experience and reprocess them using bilateral eye movements. The effect is that your brain recodes the memory to give it less importance and prevalence. While it may not eliminate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, it can take away many of the triggers that lead to substance use.

If you have trauma in your background, make sure you find addiction treatment centers such as Catalina that understand and treat this aspect of your mental health along with your alcohol or drug abuse. This can set you up for success long term.

Family Therapy to Work on Communication Skills

In addition to individual counseling sessions, some of your one-on-one time might be best used as a targeted family therapy session. This allows you to discuss the ways that your family has enabled your substance use, how they can support you moving forward with your sobriety, and repair damaged interpersonal relationships.

Most psychiatric clinics will offer some degree of family therapy as a private and convenient solution. Support groups for family members are important, but this is more of an extension of your counseling with conversations among family members that pertain to your unique circumstances and goals.

This also allows your family to become more educated on why you abuse alcohol or drugs, if you feel comfortable sharing this with them in a private session. It is just as educational for them as therapy can be for you, teaching everyone to work toward the greater goal of your overarching sobriety.

Get Exceptional Quality Care Standards at Catalina

Are you ready to take on talk therapy on a one-on-one basis? There are tons of benefits of individual therapy for addiction, and Catalina Behavioral Health can help you tap into all of them. If you have been on the fence about whether you need treatment for a substance use issue, reach out to our dedicated admissions team.

We can help you verify your insurance benefits and ensure confidentiality so that you get the help you need when you need it most. Let us welcome you and connect with you at our specific rehab center where we can dive into some of these different therapy programs for drug and alcohol abuse.

Our warm and welcoming team is ready to invite you to receive the help you need!