SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post

03-21-2013, 06:47 AM

# 10 (permalink)

member

Join Date: Feb 2008

Posts: 2,433

Hi DD.

Along with SR, therapy helped me enormously to begin recovery, and in recovery too.

My health insurance co-payed for it, but I'm not in the US. I'm not sure how the health insurance system works there.

Even with the co-payment it turned out to be pricey, but of course well worth it.

I think that, broadly speaking, there are basically two forms of therapy: talk therapy and CBT/DBT/REBT (cognitive, dialectical and rational emotional behavioural therapy - all 3 are similar in their approach). I did talk therapy and CBT.

CBT is a goal oriented short-term form of therapy. The (basic) premise is that we all have certain core beliefs, some of which are distorted, that affect our thoughts, which in turn affect our emotions, which wind up affecting the way we act. Depending on your problem, your therapist will give you exercises to do, both written and others which will help the two of you identify and modify these core beliefs.

I enjoyed this therapy. I only went for 12 sessions spread out over 3 months (once a week). The beauty of this type of therapy is that, once you understand how it works, you can basically do it on your own and apply it to other issues (it's highly effective for stuff such as low self-esteem, phobias and anxiety). You can buy workbooks at bookshops, or get them online. SMART recovery is based on this type of therapy, check out their website, in particular the "resources" section where they have plenty of free literature and material to work with.

Then there's talk therapy, which has other goals (they vary). Basically you sit there and talk, lol past experiences, fantasies, dreams, current issues, fears etc. It's more long-winded than CBT, probably much more expensive as it usually lasts longer, but, at least in my experience, just as effective *and* "softer", as you're not treating your mind as though it were a computer. That's not to say that the sessions are easy, on the contrary, depending on the issues that you're looking at, the sessions can be emotionally-draining and exhausting, if not downright harrowing.

The key to this form of therapy, in my experience, is to openly promise to your therapist (and to yourself of course) that you'll be 100% honest. For instance it's very easy to get caught up on all the chatter and conveniently neglect to admit that you've slipped, so you need to be willing to be 10000% honest and truthful. I've done this type of therapy for several years, just because my insurance covers it, and have found it to be immensely gratifying and helpful. I've gained insights about myself, have taken a look at my views on various key topics etc etc and, more recently, have managed to stop drinking and overcome a lifelong depression that had become particularly nasty and severe.

For the drinking thing I did a form of IOP (intensive outpatient programme) provided by my insurance, which was kind of drastic, not to mention emotionally draining at 3 times per week - but it worked. My therapist recently decided that I was ready to go ( =) ) which is a first for me. Usually, though, therapist and client decide when it's time to stop.

Wheew I've practically written a book, I'll be copy-pasting this from now on, lol. I did want to answer your questions as thoroughly as possible, as I'm a big advocate for therapy during recovery, and it's an option that's often overlooked (I'm pretty sure that certain health insurance cos. in the US cover therapy). I don't see why it couldn't work with AA. In my case, therapy and SR helped me quit over 3-4 years ago.

My advice? Do both, lol. Here's a reasonable way to do it: Check with your insurance first (or whatever system you have, I'm sure someone will have more specific advice).. If possible, choose talk therapy with a therapist that specialises in addiction. If you don't like the one you find/are assigned to, ask for a referral (you need to feel comfortable and trust your therapist).

Then check out the SMART website to get the free literature and worksheets that I mentioned, and give that a go at home (SMART is like CBT applied to addiction). If you don't get the hang of CBT from there or other books (CBT for Dummies is very good, for instance) try to see a CBT therapist at some point, it's really worth it cos, as I mentioned, once you've done one "course" you can reapply that knowledge to other issues.

Okay, good luck, keep us posted!

ETA: lol 5 people posted in the time it took me to write this (slow typer) if you still have any questions feel free to PM me