Addiction Therapist for Austin Residents

Addiction Counseling for Austin Residents

When you are living with alcohol addiction it often is a lonely and trying place to be. Many suffer through their alcoholism feeling like they are alone with no one who understands the challenges of addiction. Residents of Austin have come to realize the benefits of turning to an addiction therapist to begin to conquer their alcohol addiction. When you find someone that truly understands the nature of addiction, it can lift the weight of your shoulders from feeling like you have to face the battle of addiction alone. Knowing that you have someone to turn to who understands that addiction is a multifaceted concern that requires specific attention to deep-rooted meanings behind your addiction will help put your mind and soul at ease knowing that you are in the right hands to tackle your long battle with alcohol. 

Addiction does not happen to someone overnight and for no reason. Often, addiction is a result of you trying to cope the best way your know-how with the challenges that life presents each day. Austin residents living with addiction, often, have experienced past trauma and emotional pain that has impacted their ability to manage and cope through everyday life. Living with an addiction does not reflect on who you are as a person but, rather, it shows that you have the inner strength and resilience to move through the challenges of addiction and continue to fight the battle of addiction. This demonstrates the courage and willpower that each person has within them that are suffering from an active addiction which will be crucial to tap into as you confront your addiction head-on and move towards a life of sobriety. 

The Importance of Having An Addiction Therapist

Addiction is often perceived with social stigma and creates feelings of shame within its users due to this negative outlook within the societal perception of addiction. When you are experiencing a health concern, there is no shame in accessing a doctor to treat your medical condition. This goes the same way for addiction. Addiction is a disease that affects millions of Americans each day and, each day, millions of Americans are wanting to find help to remove the chains of addiction from their life. There is hope and a way to cure your disease of addiction and that is by accessing the specialized support of an addiction therapist. The role of an addiction therapist is to support patients in gaining a full understanding of their addiction and how it has impacted their ability to maintain a healthy, functioning lifestyle. 

Through your individual work with your addiction therapist, you will have the opportunity to carefully look back upon your addiction and come to understand what has led to your addictive behaviors. The disease of addiction is a chronic, progressive disorder that often starts innocently with recreational uses of substances and, over time, will escalate into a physical, emotional, and spiritual dependency. In order to make a change for the future, you will need to understand how your past with addiction has impacted your ability to move forward. While looking deep within and into your past, addiction therapists can help you identify the underlying reasons for your addiction. Once this has been established, you will have the opportunity to process and heal from those past emotional pains and learn methods of relapse prevention that will keep you on track for your sobriety in the future. 

What Happens During Addiction Counseling

Just as addiction is unique to each individual it encounters, the treatment for addiction will reflect the same. Every patient that enters into addiction counseling puts themselves in that chair for different reasons and motivations. If you were to use the same approach for each individual, there would be gaps in the counseling services provided because each person has their own individual reasons for turning to addictive substances, to begin with. Addiction counseling will provide you with a customized approach that is designed to treat your specific causes for addiction and integrate ways of coping that will best suit your lifestyle and needs. 

Types of Therapy Addiction Counsellors Use

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Our addiction counselors at Resurgence are trained to support patients in a number of therapeutic modalities that are designed to help you reframe your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to support your new life in recovery. This is often done by using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT offers patients an opportunity to understand how their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors are connected and when they are experiencing active addiction, those processes have a significant impact on their recovery. Through CBT, our therapists will help you learn tools to identify problematic emotions or behaviors and reframe your responses to these unpleasant feelings to fit into your new way of life in recovery. Through your CBT, your addiction therapist will focus on three key areas- avoidance, recognition, and growth. Often during your addiction, it is common to avoid situations or feelings that may be unenjoyable or uncomfortable. Learning how to face each day regardless of the challenges ahead will help you in the present moment and in touch with your body and thought processes. Secondly, learning the skill of emotional awareness and recognition will provide you with the knowledge and skills to be able to effectively work through any difficult emotions while remaining true to your sobriety. 

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

DBT is another common method of addiction therapy. DBT works with you to understand how your negative thoughts and emotions impact your ability to remain sober. Through one on one support from your therapist, you will learn effective tools for working through those challenging emotions and accepting what you are feeling at that moment. Even when emotions are not pleasant to go through, all emotions serve a purpose and are meant to be felt without being masked by the influence of substances. DBT will help you strengthen your ability to sit with your emotions, good or bad, and be able to handle them without needing an escape through drugs or alcohol. Another key aspect of DBT is learning effective, healthy communication skills. Learning how to communicate your emotions and what you need from others will help to maintain your sobriety. 

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)

Even when you are sober, there will always be situations that can arise that are triggering and put your sobriety at risk if you don’t know how to effectively manage them. Using Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) will assist you in finding methods of coping through challenging emotions and having healthy responses to them that keep you away from the use of substances. 

Benefits of Addiction Counseling

Austin residents have found that addiction counseling has helped them to understand addiction as a full concept. By learning what led to your addiction, you will have the know-how for when problematic and triggering situations arise. Additionally, patients feel a level of connection and support that may have been lacking in their life prior as they speak with an addiction therapist who fully understands their battle with addiction. 

Addiction counseling provides you with an opportunity to address your addiction as well as any co-occurring disorders such as mental health concerns. Through dual diagnosis treatment, you will understand how your mental health concerns and substance use disorder have been impacting your ability to remain sober. You will learn holistic methods of treating both disorders that will maintain your mental and physical health while keeping you abstinent from substances. 

Addiction Counseling for Austin Residents https://t.co/EWfjech9ms

— Resurgence Behavioral Health (@RBHRecovery) December 30, 2021

Addiction Therapy and Relapse Prevention

Doing the work to remove substances from your life is the first step towards recovery. In order to make a lasting change, it is important to redefine your lifestyle with additional life skills that will help you face difficult situations or emotions while maintaining your sobriety. Through your therapeutic sessions, you will learn the important tools of emotional regulation and mindfulness. It is common for those living with an addiction to become overwhelmed when there are hard emotions and instances to deal with. When you learn proper skills of how to handle these emotions and situations, you will set yourself for success in recovery. 

Part of our focus in addiction therapy is helping patients become connected within the recovery community. This can be done through AA or SMART recovery groups. These support groups can be accessed while you are in treatment but also can be utilized when you return home. Patients have had a significant increase in their success when they connect with other individuals within these groups. With groups running every day, you will always have another person you turn to for support when you are going through a challenging day. 

Professional Addiction Therapists at Resurgence Behavioral Health

At Resurgence Behavioral Health, we only employ therapists who specialize in addiction therapy. This helps patients receive the best levels of care that they need to move towards a life free from addiction. We see each patient for the unique individual that you are and work hard to provide you with the intensive, individual support you need to achieve happiness in sobriety. Resurgence offers patients a culture of care that empowers each patient to see their full potential and reach the goals and dreams they have always had for themselves. 

David Rofofsky
After growing up in New York, David chose to get help with substance abuse in California because of the state's reputation for top-tier treatment. There, he found the treatment he needed to achieve more than nine years of recovery. He's been in the drug and alcohol addiction rehab industry for eight years and now serves as the Director of Admissions for Resurgence Behavioral Health. David remains passionate about the field because he understands how hard it is to pick up the phone and ask for help. However, once the call is made, someone's life can be saved.

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