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Therapy?

Old 03-21-2013, 05:35 AM
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Therapy?

Hey everyone,

I just had a general question for those of you who have used therapy to help quit drinking. I have tried to quit by myself in the past, and have made it a month or two each time, but have eventually resorted to drinking again. I'm about 5 days in this time, and I want to stay stopped.

I tried AA a few times, and quickly found it's not what I'm into. I love the SR forums, and I've only recently began posting, and I feel I will be a permanent, long-time poster/reader because I find it helps me greatly.

I am considering therapy. I am wondering how many of you use this method. Do you use this with other methods, ie AA? Do you find it helps? How often do you go? Is it generally expensive? If I may ask, what kind of things are covered in a typical therapy session? I'm very curious about this. What kind of questions does the therapist ask you? Why do you feel it helps you? Is there a point where you believe you don't need it any longer?

Any answers on these questions would be fantastic. I'm very curious and may look into it.

Have a great day.
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Old 03-21-2013, 05:41 AM
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There are many different types of therapy. I went to a clinical psychologist (himself a recovering heroin addict).

My therapy focused mainly on how I am functioning now. Drug cravings, job stress, getting woken up by pets....anything can come into the discussion.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:04 AM
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I realize I did not answer all of your questions.

I left 12-step recovery, though at first my therapist would have preferred me to stay. Later though, he realized that I was doing better without it. For me, I needed more one-on-one and less tough love than you get in the fellowships.

It helped me a great deal. My therapist moved to another city, so I am currently looking for someone else.

Most therapists work on a sliding scale, so the price of sessions can vary greatly.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:05 AM
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I tried going to a therapist...it was a complete waste of time...your experience may be different though. It is probably worth a try, but IT won't keep you sober, only a well established COMMITMENT will get you through the tuff times, at least for me. AVRT calls it a 'Big Plan'. It helped me a lot. Do a web search for AVRT or Rational Recovery and read everything on the website. The book Rational Recovery is a great resource also. The guy is a whack-job in my opinion, but the concepts are incredibly on-point and insightful. AVRT and AA are supposedly diametrically opposed, but I have got a lot of good from both. Of course there are a lot of different people in AA, and there are undoubtedly some, or many, that will rub you the wrong way, but what else is to be expected from a bunch of Addicts? The main thing, at least it has been for me, is to have a strong personal COMMITMENT to get you through the inevitable rough going.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:07 AM
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I saw an addictions therapist the first year of my recovery, and then moved on and have been using SR ever since. Therapy is different for everyone, and may not be for everyone....but it helped me enormously. I made a promise to myself and my therapist that I would be 100% honest in my therapy. No topics were off limits. It was the only way it would work for me. I had more issues than just alcoholism that I was dealing with. I can't tell you what a therapist would charge you, because again, that's different from therapist to therapist . Thankfully, My insurance covered mine. Maybe yours would as well?
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:17 AM
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I tried therapy twice but it was before I was motivated to stop drinking. I did it under pressure from my family, so it didn't work for me.

I think you should try whatever you think will work and the main thing is to have the motivation to live a sober life.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:31 AM
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Honestly, by the time I was seeing a therapist I was committed to never drinking again. Like one of the other posters said, there are all types of techniques out there. I met with my therapist 2x a week for 6 months. Other than a copay it was covered by my insurance. We spent very little time talking about drinking. He did ask me to describe significant events in my childhood, he guided me by year or age and asked me to identify anything that I might still be 'stuck' about or holding on to. That took about 2 sessions. After that we spent our time together talking about how to live life, sober. He taught me how to respond to situations that I'd normally turn to alcohol in like sadness, stress, happiness, boredom, etc. He taught me some guided relaxation and meditation exercises. We read several books together and talked about the chapters as we progressed. He is a psychologist who specializes in addiction and had run several rehabs. I did not use a 12 step program and that was not part of my counseling.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:37 AM
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I've stayed sober for over three years now with the help of my counselor and this site. I used to see my counselor once a week, then every two weeks, and now once a month as I'm solid in my sobriety and doing better in my life. It was and still is very helpful to me. I didn't have to pay anything for it cause I'm income eligible for free counseling at our local substance abuse place.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:44 AM
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This time I am totally committed. I am almost at six months. I do go to AA, I am on step 7.

This will be my third time seeing the therapist. We are doing a workbook called Relapse Prevention Therapy Workbook by Gorski and Grinstead.

We are just getting down to the cues that lead me to relapse and what tools I can use to keep from relapsing.

The last time I went he "hypnotized" me. He used all of this imagery about alcohol being really disgusting and then he switched to a calm and beautiful place. It was weird.

To be honest, I am not quite sure about this guy. The workbook is out of this world though. It has been worth it just to find this.

My copay is $80.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:47 AM
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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
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Old 03-21-2013, 07:36 AM
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I know this is 'out there' for many for various reasons. Nevertheless, it has been and continues to beneficial for me. Once I had the money and time to do a three week intensive Primal Therapy course. This was run by one of Dr Janovs students student who was also a qualified Psychiatrist and researcher. I learnt things about arenas of the mind I could only have imagined through direct experience. Through that I was led to the meditation technique as taught by Guatama the Buddha. This was taught to me by one of the latest of a lineage of teachers dating back to The Buddha himself and by students of his that had become teachers in the ever growing meditation network of Dharma centers springing up around the world.
While the PT was like sweeping and mopping the floor the Ana-Apana and Vipassana was like getting down on the knees and scrubbing it with a tooth brush.
Through this I learnt the importance of Truth and brought me back to some core values of aa. With all this and more I finally seem to have lost the urge to drink as was promised to me in aa by the telling of the literature and the people.
It has gotten me out of a bit of a rut where I take my sobriety for granted but also never challenge it. Life has become harder but better. I see the difficulties as something that will pass or that more I see the problems as solutions waiting to happen as long as I practice what works, for me. While a lot of good roads lead to home, there are a lot of them and on them a lot of people at different stages. This is just where I'm at.
Sober today, again.
Maybe that's why I've always liked Hermann Hesse.
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