Are you suffering from alcohol addiction and are struggling to manage in your daily life? Do you want help to overcome your addiction and lead the best life you possibly can? We are here to help. We offer our patients REBT for alcohol addiction, as we believe it is one of the most effective types of therapy. Want to know more about this? Keep reading.
What Is Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy?
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was introduced in the 1950’s by Albert Ellise as a way to help overcome addiction. Those who undertake this type of therapy are helped to identify the irrational beliefs and negative thought patterns they have, that may have led to issues such as addiction. The point of this is to identify those behaviors and emotions, and then develop strategies in order to replace them with a rational thought pattern, rather than the irrational one.
The basis of REBT is that people want to do well in life, achieve all the goals that they set for themselves and find happiness. However, often thoughts and feelings, though irrational, get in the way. It’s not easy to see that these are irrational thoughts when they feel so real to you, though. This leads to you perceiving certain events and circumstances in a different way to others. REBT aims to disrupt this destructive cycle, helping you to process things rationally instead.
What Techniques Are Used?
Techniques that are used will depend on the therapist that you have, and the way that you respond to various things that they try. REBT has three main techniques that a therapist can try with their patients.
Cognitive Restructuring Techniques
These are the strategies that will help you to change your irrational beliefs into rational ones. You may be asked to expose yourself to a feared situation so that you can see the result will not be what you expect. You may be asked to look at events in a different way to usual, or to argue against your thoughts when they come up.
Problem Solving Techniques
You may also be asked to use problem solving techniques. By doing this, you end up addressing the activating event to stop it getting to the point where you start believing your irrational thought process. For example, this can include working on problem solving skills, conflict resolution, and social skills. Having a better understanding of the situation around you will help you to make better choices.
Coping Techniques
There are often various emotional consequences of this kind of problem and that is why coping techniques may also be necessary. Some therapists may recommend mediation, relaxation, or hypnosis depending on what they think is best. Hopefully, using a combination of these techniques, you will be able to identify the triggering event that causes you to drink, and deal with it.
Who Could Benefit From It?
There are many people who could benefit from REBT, and a lot of people have in the past. For example, people who have depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sleep problems, and other issues like this may find this type of treatment helpful. The main thing that we focus on though is using this type of therapy to help treat alcohol addiction. Seeing as REBT focuses on trying to identify the negative thought patterns that lead you to the choices you make, you will need to try and explain what you’re thinking when you choose alcohol.
In order for this type of therapy to work, you have got to be honest with yourself and your therapist. The bottom line of who could benefit from it then, is those who want help to get better.
What Are The Benefits?
One of the main benefits of this type of therapy is that you are the one who has to realize where the problem lies. You have to identify the activating event, and you have to dispute your thoughts in order to restructure them. The great thing about this is that you are learning to do this on your own, rather than being told how to cope. You can then use these skills going forward to avoid drinking alcohol in the future.
Another benefit is that you can apply this to other areas of your life, not just alcohol addiction. If you find yourself following a familiar irrational pattern, then you can stop it in its tracks before it gets to a dangerous point. If you are interested in REBT for alcohol addiction treatment, get in touch with us at Grand Falls Addiction Treatment Center.