Find the Best Group Therapy for Drug Addiction Today

Find the Best Group Therapy for Drug Addiction Today

When you picture what rehab is like in your mind, what do you see?

Maybe an addict lying on a couch with a therapist listening and asking questions? Perhaps a group of people sitting in a small circle of chairs together and talking?

Pretty stereotypical scenes and also not far off.

Individual and group therapy for drug addiction are both hallmarks of the process for a reason. In a moment we’ll get into why group therapy, in particular, is so important.

Signs and Symptoms of Addiction

But first, what does addiction look like?

A substance use disorder isn’t something that manifests and takes hold overnight. There are common signs and symptoms along the way that begin to paint the picture early.

Generally speaking, here’s what you should be looking out for:

  • Using more than prescribed or intended or taking drugs longer
  • Can’t stop or cut back even though an effort is being made
  • Spending considerable time getting, using, and recovering from drugs
  • Intense cravings
  • Work, school, and family obligations aren’t being met
  • Using despite the obvious problems it’s causing to personal relationships
  • Finding yourself in increasingly more dangerous situations
  • Developing a tolerance and needing to take larger doses for the same effect
  • Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when not using
  • Mood swings and irritability
  • Changes in sleep patterns
  • Shift in weight

Of course, different drugs have differing signs of addiction but the above can usually be seen across the board.

How Group Therapy for Drug Addiction Will Help You Recover

Now that you know what addiction can look like, what’s the added benefit of group therapy to your recovery journey.

Knowing you aren’t alone

Drug use and addiction are incredibly isolating. You might use in a group but once you stop, those people disappear and your addiction may have alienated your close family and friends. Loneliness and depression can set in. Group therapy shows you that you’re not alone and that others have gone through the same.

Support system

Because you’re in the company of people who’ve been there, you have a unique support system of people who really can support you from a place of genuine understanding. It’s easy for anyone to say “I get it” but those words mean a lot more when they come from someone who’s walked in your shoes.

Develop skills learned in counseling

In individual therapy, you work on several things en route to a sober life. One of those is coping mechanisms. In group therapy, you can talk those through and sharpen your understanding. Also, addiction isn’t known for working wonders on your communications skills, being in group setting forces you to hone those people skills. 

Build community

Naturally, once you finish your rehab program, you shouldn’t go directly back to the same group of friends you hung out with before who continue to do drugs. You don’t want to let temptation get the best of you or find yourself in a triggering situation that leads to a relapse. In group therapy, you can build a new community of friends and acquaintances that you can stay connected with long after the therapy ends. Having those types of people in your life helps with accountability too.

Inspirational environment

Among the best aspects of group therapy is that you’ll likely find yourself in a group where people are at different points of their recovery. Those that are farther along than you can serve as an inspiration for you to strive towards. Likewise, you can be that for someone else.

There are plenty of other reasons why group therapy is often considered an integral part of the recovery process, we surely think so here at Inneractions. If you’d like to learn more about our group session, give us a shout.

SMART Recovery vs AA: What’s the Difference? | Inneractions

SMART Recovery vs AA: What’s the Difference?

The common denominator for those living in recovery is a need for support. No matter the nature of your addiction, what you were addicted to, for how long, etc. building a support system you can rely on is critical to maintaining the sobriety you worked so hard to achieve.

To be honest, it’s right near the top of the post-rehab checklist.

Support groups help with everything from dealing with triggers to accountability to just being a place where folks truly understand you, where they just get it.

In that sense, it’s less SMART recovery vs. AA in the competitive sense and more about how each is more uniquely suited, or better suited, to the needs of various people.

What Is SMART Recovery?

The first thing you’ll notice is the all caps and that’s because SMART, like AA, is an acronym; it means Self-Management and Recovery Training.

The fast facts are that SMART was founded back in 1994 and is currently headquartered in Ohio. Their approach focuses on science and self-empowerment in the battle to overcome addiction and meetings can be found across the whole of the United States as well as a number of countries around the world.

You can find their handbook in at least 10 languages.

Their reliance on scientifically validated methods to empower change is a key differentiator from the distinctly more spiritual approach of AA, noting in their purpose and methods statement that their “efforts are based on scientific knowledge and evolve as scientific knowledge evolves”.

Rather than a 12 step program, which AA relies on, SMART is defined by their 4 point program which is:

  1. Building and maintaining the motivation to change
  2. Coping with urges to use
  3. Managing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in an effective way without addictive behaviors
  4. Living a balanced, positive and healthy life

What Is AA?

Arguably the most well-known support group on earth is AA or Alcoholics Anonymous.

AA dates back to 1935 and also has an Ohio link, having been started there. You may sometimes see AA meetings referred to as “Friends of Bill W.” in places like cruise ships with the Bill W. in question being the founder of AA.

They define themselves as “an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem”.

AA is where the concept of the 12 step program originated and it’s these very steps that form the core of the program itself.

A clear difference between the two programs is AA’s emphasis on spirituality in the pursuit of sustained sobriety. It’s not expressly required that you believe in God to join an AA meeting but the spiritual basis of AA is something to keep in mind. For some, it’s a wonderful thing. For others, they may prefer a different approach.

NA, or Narcotics Anonymous, was founded in 1953 and operates with the same 12-step program.

As for the meetings themselves, both SMART and AA are non-profits and their meetings are free of charge. Generally, only a small donation is recommended to cover the costs of putting on the meetings.

How to Overcome Drug and Alcohol Addiction Today

Conquering your addiction to drugs and/or alcohol is doable and among the best ways to go about it is through a professional treatment program that’s customized to your needs.

At Inneractions, that’s exactly what we do.

Moreover, once you complete rehab, we can help you transition back to your day-to-day life at our San Fernando sober living facility.

To learn more about support groups or aftercare, reach out to us today.

Addiction and Trauma Treatment in California

Addiction and Trauma Treatment in California

It should come as no surprise that there’s a close relationship between addiction and trauma. Of course, that by no means is to say that one necessitates or causes the other, but it is quite common that trauma and mental health issues accompany substance abuse.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) notes that there are 3 pathways that contribute to the coexistence of these two things:

  1. Common risk factors can contribute to both mental illness and substance use and addiction.
  2. Mental illness may contribute to substance use and addiction.
  3. Substance use and addiction can contribute to the development of mental illness.

Are Addiction and Trauma Related?

The short answer is that yes, they very much are related and it’s notable that north of 25% of adults with serious mental issues also have a substance abuse problem.

In fact, a report by the National Trauma Consortium found that “the prevalence of physical and sexual abuse among women in substance abuse treatment programs is estimated to range from 30 percent to more than 90 percent, depending on the definition of abuse and the specific target population”.

Truly astonishing statistics and it goes without saying this sort of comorbidity is not limited to women. Men, as well, frequently have trauma-related addiction problems.

The spectrum of trauma is vast and each individual is equipped to cope with it differently. What may be nothing for someone could be another person’s worst case scenario. While adults, by nature of having lived longer and experienced more in life, are generally better able to deal with a traumatic event, the trauma that we experience as children can, and often does, have ripple effects that can extend well into adulthood.

Research has consistently shown a link between childhood trauma, substance use and PTSD, with one study explicitly stating that it “confirms previous findings of a strong relationship between adverse childhood experience and subsequent substance use and poor mental health outcomes, particularly PTSD. In all subjects, physical abuse correlated with the use of all substances examined…”

Taking it back to the top and those 3 pathways, you can see how a traumatic experience, either in childhood or as an adult, could lead to substance use as a coping mechanism.

On the flip side, one of the effects of long term substance abuse is the fundamental rewiring and changing of the brain over time which can lead to the development of mental health issues like paranoia, depression, anxiety and more.

The formal term for when both are present, a mental disorder and a drug and/or alcohol problem, is dual diagnosis.

Why You Should Seek Professional Addiction and Trauma Treatment

Given that they so frequently go hand in hand, it would make sense for addiction and trauma treatment to be taken together as well. Fortunately, there are facilities that do just that.

Seeking treatment for both, at the same time, is the most holistic and penetrating method of treatment. Why? Because it tackles both issues and their interplay. How one informs the other.

Fact is, if you detox the body but don’t dig deep enough to uncover the real, root cause of your substance abuse and addiction, the chance of relapse remains high because the actual problem technically hasn’t been solved. The new coping mechanism you develop in rehab for triggers may not work in the long run because there was no internal resolution to the trauma you experienced.

Inneractions Is Here to Treat Your Trauma and Addiction

At Inneractions, that idea of treating the whole person directly informs our philosophy. We understand the interlinkage between trauma and addiction because we’ve seen it firsthand and have successfully helped so many people to the other side of both.

If you or a loved one have co-occurring trauma and addiction or just have questions, get in touch with us.

Up To 70% Of Americans May Suffer From PTSD

Typically when we think of people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (aka PTSD), we think of someone who’s served overseas or endured some type of natural disaster. But that is not always the case. PTSD can emerge among people who were abused, harassed at the workplace or forced to encounter any type of difficult situation. In fact, according to new research from Psychology Today, up to 70 percent of U.S. citizens are dealing with this condition right now.

The data, which came from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), revealed some other interesting facts as well. Apparently, PTSD is more than two times higher among women than men. It also is associated with increased suicide rates. Most surprising of all, the estimated costs resulting from trauma total over $40 billion each year.

So how does this study (and the psychological community at large) define PTSD? Basically if you were exposed to any type of traumatic event, short-lived or long lasting, you are candidate for this disorder. It can rear its head immediately following the incident or years later, after being buried in the subconscious. Psychology Today writer Grant Hilary Brenner M.D. listed the most obvious warning signs.

“What PTSD does, is make the victim relive and re-experience the trauma,” he wrote. “Symptoms can include intrusive thoughts, nightmares, negative changes in emotions and thinking. There are also dissociative symptoms, such as detachment or emotional numbing; avoidance of reminders and thoughts of trauma, which may severely limit one’s choices or keep one from leaving the home. Hyperarousal symptoms can occur as well, which include anxiety, edginess, fear rage and generally being on high alert at all time.”

Dr. Brenner’s article delves into some interesting scientific findings as well; particularly the ways that PTSD impacts the brain. NIMH’s study compared people who have dealt with trauma against those who have not. What they discovered was that certain areas of the brain appeared to behave differently among those suffering with the disorder. Regions like the hippocampus (which deals with memory), the amygdala (the emotional center) and the cingulate cortex (thought processing) were called out within the PTSD group.

Thankfully, this type of research is becoming more common and the conversations are beginning to reach more people (thanks to sites like Psychology Today).  We are firm believers in seeking out professional help for any and all traumas you may have experienced. The most important thing is to not bury away difficult feelings. Address them and work on releasing the pain.

Learning To ‘Rise’ Above Trauma

With so much violence and division in the world today, it is not surprising to hear that traumatic experiences are on the uptick. In fact, the subject has become so top-of-mind that the CNN network Headline News has begun promoting a new empowering trauma docuseries called Rise.

Produced and starring life coach Cheryl Hunter, it profiles one person per episode and delves into traumatic events that have shattered their lives. The good news (as the title insinuates) is that these individuals were able to “rise” above their challenges and are helping others do the same. Hunter, herself, is a trauma survivor, having endured both a kidnapping and a rape at the hands of a stranger.

Hunter was recently interviewed for Forbes, where she delved into the current climate and why trauma counseling is so important in the modern era.

“Unfortunately, the state of the world today routinely includes shootings at schools and places of worship, natural disasters and terrorist threats,” Hunter told the site. “People reach out to me regularly asking how those closely impacted by recent tragedies make it through and how we all can make it through our own deeply trying times, collectively. That’s a good question. What we’re seeing today, I think, is a cumulative awakening to the fact that we are all in this together. It may not look that way at first glance; in fact, many insist that we’re more polarized than we’ve ever been. I don’t see it that way. I’m witnessing a groundswell of people speaking up and giving voice to their pain. I’m witnessing people listening to different points of view than their own because there are too many people speaking up to be ignored any longer.”

Hunter’s website offers all 12 episodes in their entirety. Real people are sharing their stories about overcoming violence, paralysis, kidnaps and much more. You can watch a glimpse below in the official Rise trailer.

We too understand how ravaging a traumatic experience can be and applaud Cheryl for using channels like YouTube and CNN to help offer support to survivors. Let it be known, though, that PTSD is not just an outcome of a violent attack. Abusive relationships and workplace ordeals can just as easily lead to these emotions.

We encourage anyone struggling with a difficult emotional hurdle to reach out. Support is always available.

Acknowledging Trauma Anniversaries

This month marks the 17th anniversary of one of the most traumatic events in American history. For those who were directly impacted by the Twin Towers terrorist attacks, every September 11th can bring a multitude of painful emotions. And often times, the anticipation of such a date can be just as difficult. The website Bustle made a point to acknowledge that this week, with helpful tips on how to prepare for a trauma anniversary.

Mountainside Treatment Center clinician Devon Hawes was interviewed for the article and shared some of the general reasons why calendar dates can create so much stress.

 

“A trauma anniversary, or anniversary reaction, is the recurrence of emotional and or physical distress experienced around the time of a past traumatic event or experience,” he explained on the site. “It can reactivate thoughts and feelings from the actual traumatic event.”

Issues that tend to come up during an anniversary for something like 9/11 can include flashbacks, PTSD shakes, disrupted sleep, intrusive thoughts, anger, loss of appetite and severe depression (just to name a few). So what can be done to prevent these feelings from occurring year after year after year?

Brooks McKenzie, another wellness specialist interviewed for the piece, listed some easy exercises.

“Having a schedule and a discipline on these anniversaries helps us to better manage our emotional and spiritual states,” she emphasized. “It is important to honor the process of healing and mindfulness on an anniversary. Utilizing dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills, breathing techniques, and repeating empowering affirmations can make an anniversary feel a little more manageable.”

Other recommendations include taking the allotted anniversary date off from work or school. If the traumatic event was a shared experience among others who you know, reaching out and discussing it openly can help create a healing effect. If it was deeply personal (perhaps a violent crime or a painful accident), it is recommended to reach out to friends or family members who can “watch out for you” and keep you safe during a vulnerable time.

For many, the passage of time can help ease the pain of a traumatic event. As more years go by, hopefully the deep emotional scars will continue to heal. But if pain is still looming and an upsetting anniversary is approaching this season, don’t be afraid to reach out for professional support. We have trained therapists and counselors standing by.