Treatment Programs in Utica, NY

At our expert addiction treatment programs in Utica, we often find that mental disorders are hard for people to understand, in general. Addiction tends to be a particularly opaque subject to them.

Understanding how disorders come about or are addressed often requires a fundamental shift in the way people generally understand the mind and the brain. Yet, such a shift in thinking is necessary both for patients of addiction and their families if they are to truly grasp how escape from this condition is achieved. If you're interested in how this may be possible, you should call us. Our experts are always happy to help families learn how to help themselves.

What Kind of Shift in Thinking is Necessary?

It is a revelation to most to learn that will and reason are not inviolable offices. In essence, however, the brain operates not very differently from the way computing devices do — when damage is sustained, for example, mistakes can occur. In mental disorders, both natural and those created by addictions, patterns of thought are altered. If you are to truly escape addiction, the damage isn't reversible. Dual diagnosis treatment in Utica finds ways to correct these thinking patterns.

This is what our advanced treatment programs in Utica achieve. To use computer terminology, they are a form of reprogramming for brains corrupted by chronic drug use.

How Do Treatment Programs Help?

Addictive drugs force the brain's reward center to produce massive quantities of the neurotransmitters responsible for pleasure. Since the brain is designed to deeply and indelibly learn actions that produce pleasure, attachment to drugs becomes a permanent part of the mind. Millions of addicts experience such attachment even years after they leave addiction behind, in the form of cravings that appear out of nowhere. Relapses known to occur a decade or longer after cessation of active substance abuse.

Addiction treatment programs are scientifically designed psychological therapies designed to help addicts overcome both the psychological compulsions created by addictive substances, as well as natural psychological shortcomings that contribute to addictive behaviors. When pursued with diligence, these therapeutic approaches can greatly improve one's chances of lifelong sobriety.

Relapse Prevention Treatment Therapies

Group Therapy Treatment Programs:

The 12-step program is a well-established group therapy mode that works for many patients. A fundamentally religious approach to sobriety, it involves taking participants through a psychological journey. Admission of powerlessness in the face of addiction, a profession of humility before God, an admission of guilt and personal failure, and positive steps to correct mistakes made in the past, our all effective ways to help the mind shake off negative thoughts and focus on actions that can actually help.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, one of the best-established addiction treatment programs in our inpatient rehab in Utica, has therapists working with participants to help in the identification of negative or harmful cognitive patterns, to correct them with behavioral exercises. Negative thought patterns can include beliefs that one is bad, weak, unlovable or a failure, and can be countered with behavioral training such as self-analysis, journal writing and visualization.

Therapy of this kind is also powerfully applied to trigger management. Addiction tends to form psychological triggers or cues. When a recovering addict is exposed to these cues, they can quickly lead to powerful cravings. CBT is able to help patients recognize what their personal triggers are, and avoid them. A participant may recognize that romantic stresses for certain kinds of music act as triggers for his addiction, for example, and modify his behavior to avoid them. Trigger avoidance can be a powerful tool to use against relapses.

Individual Therapy Treatment Programs:

Motivational interviewing therapy is a therapeutic tool that addresses a lack of motivation that recovering addicts tend to experience when struggling with addiction. A therapist attempts to help the participant by bringing out through talk therapy, various areas where a healthy source of motivation is still perceptible. The therapist then skillfully helps the participant see how success in that area may be unachievable without successful addiction recovery.

Moral reconation therapy works for recovering addicts who find themselves lacking in an internal moral compass. It is a common problem with those who struggle with addiction, coming about through a lack of healthy influences in childhood. Therapy aims to help such participants by encouraging moral behavior, and the development of an internal compass.

Alternative Therapies Exist

A number of non-mainstream therapeutic approaches used for specific aims. These group therapies help participants develop psychological skills that may be missing, or address psychological wounds that are unhealed.

Art therapies help participants get in touch with themselves, and express themselves. In cases where experiences such as domestic violence or abuse have led to substance abuse, these therapies may help patients address unexpressed pain. Other alternative therapies such as yoga and spirituality tend to help with internal agitation. Alternative therapies help recovering addicts stay healthy by helping create better mental health.

Investing in Our Treatment Programs in Utica

The greater the investment in psychological well-being, the greater the chances of sobriety over the long-term. A reasonable amount of self-education in therapeutic care, however, is an important step to finding programs that really work. Do call us at our center for treatment programs in Utica at (877) 804-1531. We'd be happy to help.