More and more high-quality rehab facilities such as Soledad House now offer mindfulness training. A holistic care model, meditation treatment shows greats promise. However, what is it? More importantly, how can it help you if you’re struggling with addiction today?
What Started Your Addiction?
Everything has a starting point. Nobody wakes up and decides to abuse drugs or alcohol with the goal of addiction. Instead, there’s a good chance that you started using to fulfill a need. Maybe you needed to numb yourself to keep intrusive thoughts at bay.
Perhaps you liked the way that stimulants made you feel at first. They got you out of bed in spite of depression. They helped you to lose weight. Eventually, they hooked you.
What all addictions have in common is the presence of triggers and stressors. These situations or events cause you to reach for a substance. Even after rehab, they can present challenges. This is where mindfulness training offers hope.
What Mindfulness Training Does
The goal of mindfulness training is to reduce stress. This method enables you to think through your actions before engaging in them. In this way, you eliminate the automatic reaction that might send you back into substance abuse.
Initially, mindfulness training was derived from Buddhist teachings. It later served to help patients with chronic illnesses improve their outlook on life. Now, experts find that it also holds a lot of promise for people struggling with substance abuse disorders. The training starts out by acknowledging what’s going on.
You don’t deny that you have an addiction. Moreover, you don’t gloss over the fact that you struggle with getting sober. There’s no judgment. Instead, you accept where you’re at in life.
In the process of meditation therapy, you form an awareness of your physical, mental, and emotional state. You also accept your feelings and thoughts, but you recognize that they are frequently changing. Therefore, they no longer have a stranglehold on your actions. In this way, you live in the moment and avoid stress over the past or future.
How the Treatment Combines with Evidence-Based Modalities
Mindfulness training works for people of all backgrounds. You don’t have to be religious to benefit from its applications. However, it can’t stand alone. High-quality rehab centers like Soledad House combine it with evidence-based treatments such as:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy, which encourages the recognition and removal of dysfunction in thinking and acting
- Dialectical behavior treatment that lets you gain control over strong emotions rather than the other way around
- Group therapy as a means of connecting with peers and applying coping skills you’ve been learning
- One-on-one talk therapy that encourages goal-setting and personal growth
- Experiential treatment, which benefits program participants who’re ready to practice life skills with an eye on independent living
How Experiential Treatment Fits into the Mix
Exercise, outdoor adventures, and sober parties are all part of experiential therapy. To the untrained eye, this looks like a group of people having fun. And, to be honest, you are. However, there’s more to this setting than meets the eye.
For starters, addiction isolates people. You may not remember the last time that you went out for fun. Moreover, you may not have interacted with people while sober in a long time. In this sense, experiential therapy re-teaches you how to go about your life in society. It’s also a good chance to practice skills learned in mindfulness training.
Experiential therapy is just as important as the other treatments that you undergo. This is particularly true for people who’ve been using drugs or alcohol every time they were with others. Learning new social habits now, while you’re still in rehab, offers you powerful relapse prevention tools when you discharge. It takes many triggers for using off the table.
Seeking Help for an Addiction Today
You don’t have to continue with a substance abuse habit that’s ruining your life. With the help of evidence-based treatments and mindfulness training, healing is possible. Find out how Soledad House can provide you with the care you need today. Dial 866-314-3222 now.
