If you’re struggling with addiction, take comfort in knowing that there is hope. Detox is a vital component to getting sober, however, it is fruitless in the long run if you don’t seek out professional counseling as well. Moving past physical addiction through detox is the first step towards achieving sobriety. However, many addicts end up relapsing just a few months after getting sober. This is because addressing the physical components of addiction is only one part of the process. Receiving counseling in combination with detox is critical to your chances of getting, and staying, sober. Following, are a few of the many benefits you will receive when you take the steps towards sobriety and choose to attend counseling as part of your treatment plan.
Address Past Traumas and Life Experiences That Contributed to Your Addiction
Addiction often starts from a place of pain. If you experienced traumatic events or situations throughout your lifetime, there’s a pretty good chance that your addiction was a way for you to cope with what happened to you. You may not have even been consciously aware of how your trauma may have contributed to your addiction in the first place. Counseling will help you “connect the dots” between events that happened in your life and when you began drinking or using drugs.
Counseling can help you on your sober journey by jumpstarting the healing process from your past. By seeking out counseling in addition to detox you will increase your likelihood of staying sober. With counseling, you’ll benefit from addressing these events and finding therapeutic ways to express your feelings, while also working through any unresolved grief or anger you have towards the situation.
Address and Treat Mental Illnesses Which May Lie at the Heart of Your Addiction
In addition to healing from past traumas which may have contributed to your addiction, you may be dealing with other mental illnesses which make it difficult for you to stay sober. Many addicts first started using in order to escape from the pain or anguish their mental illnesses may have caused them. You might have even found yourself using drugs to escape from the binds of your mental illness.
Many people who deal with anxiety or depression will turn to drugs or alcohol in order to numb the way they feel. Counseling will help you address your mental illness in a more effective, therapeutic manner so that you don’t feel the urge to use whenever your mental illness rears its head.
Develop and Practice Using Tools Which Will Help You Stay Sober
One of the most important aspects of counseling is developing the tools you need to get, and stay, sober. Mindfulness, goal setting, and problem solving are all important tools in your sobriety kit which will help you stay strong during those first precarious sober months.
While you may wonder why you need to develop all of these tools in order to stay sober, its important to remember that you may have turned to drugs and alcohol anytime you were feeling emotionally vulnerable. Your old coping mechanisms no longer serve you once you get sober. Therefore, it’s important you have healthier options to choose from when times get tough.
Counselors Provide the Support You Need to Get Through Early Recovery
The goal of detox is fairly straightforward. Detox was designed to clear the client’s body of drugs and alcohol, sometimes through the use of medications designed to ease the process. While detox is excellent for purging a client’s body of physical addiction, there is a fair amount of work that needs to be done mentally in order to stay sober.
Counselors provide the support you need to successfully get through the early stages of recovery. Not only do they provide therapeutic support, but they can be a vital part of your support network in order to help take you from early recovery to long-term sobriety. They can even help you find additional support groups and resources available in your community. Counselors are instrumental in your ability to overcome your addiction and forge a healthier path moving forward.
Getting sober is a challenge that requires hard work and determination, but there is hope. Millions of people choose to get sober every year by attending a detox program and following up with long-term counseling in order to address their addiction. By attending counseling, you will discover the benefits that come from learning how to maintain a sober mindset and enjoy a higher quality of life. Call us at 844-903-2111.
