Addiction treatment
Luis Gomes, Clinical Manager at The Seventy4 Foundation describes below the types of treatment that we use and the positive impact of using such treatments within the field of addiction.
An addiction is a complex process that can leave any individual feeling confused, hopeless and defeated. If you or someone you love or know is suffering from an addiction to a chemical substance or behaviour, at Seventy4 we can provide answers to your problems. We can offer solutions with the help of specialist staff who have the experience and qualifications needed to guide a person out of the problem and into the solution. We offer a variety of programmes and types of treatment that provide options to the suffering individual seeking help.
Group Therapy
Human beings by nature are social beings. However an individual suffering with addiction tends to become progressively more isolated from the ones he/she loves and respects. Group therapy is a powerful therapeutic approach that is very effective in treating addiction. Group therapy has several advantages over other treatment types. These include different therapeutic factors such as: peer identification and support, reduced sense of isolation, information, encouragement and feedback from others, structure and discipline often absent in the lives of people abusing mind altering chemicals, and the instillation of hope through the examples of others that recovery from addiction is possible and open to all. At Seventy4 we offer a variety of groups in our different programmes:
- Psycho-educational groups; educate clients of the dynamics of addiction and aim to alter addictive beliefs that lead back to using or drinking.
- Skills Development groups; these teach the skills needed to attain and maintain abstinence, such as for instance those needed to manage anger or cope with cravings and successfully prevent relapse.
- Interpersonal process groups; allows the individual to explore his/her tendencies within the group - an area now recognised as very important when reducing the likelihood of relapse in substance misuse. These groups also commonly provide a space to share helpful information about maintaining abstinence and managing a chemical-free life on a daily basis.
CBT and REBT
At Seventy4 we offer individual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) to help the individual address a number of emotions ranging from depression and anxiety to low self-esteem and low frustration tolerance which commonly influence and co-exist with the addiction. CBT and REBT are problem-focused and time-limited treatment approaches with proven efficacy, evidenced by a large body of research.
The basic assumption underlying both approaches is that the way we think affects how we feel and behave. By a direct focus on the negative and dysfunctional beliefs of the person, we can help begin to challenge and eventually change the way a person feels about a particular situation, permitting alternative and healthier ways of responding to it. For example, a person who believes that it is awful to feel frustrated will be more likely to relapse once he/she starts craving his drug of choice.
Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET)
MET focuses on the fact that individuals who come for treatment approach it at different levels of readiness to change their behaviour. It is based on principles of motivational psychology, and is designed to produce internally-motivated change. Treatment outcome research studies supports MET strategies as effective in producing change with clients suffering from chemical dependency. At Seventy4 we use this therapeutic method both in individual and group counselling to help increase the client's awareness of the potential problems caused, consequences experienced, and risks faced as a result of his/her addiction. We help the individual resolve ambivalence over changing, envisage and come to believe that a satisfying drug free future is possible, leading to increased motivation to achieve it.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
At Seventy4 we use DBT as the basis of our approach to treating individuals suffering from a dual diagnosis. DBT is a psychotherapeutic approach which combines standard cognitive-behavioural techniques for emotion regulation and reality-testing with mindfulness, distress tolerance skills and learned acceptance of situations that cannot be changed derived from Zen Buddhist practice - however they are viewed solely as psychological techniques and no religious allegiance is involved or expected in their application. Research has demonstrated DBT's effectiveness with client's diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, and with client's who present varied symptoms and behaviours, including self-harming and sexual abuse survivors.
There are four primary treatment modalities in DBT:
- 1. Individual therapy
- 2. Group skills training
- 3. Phone contact
- 4. Therapist consultation
Skills training is central to DBT and carried out in a group setting. In these groups individuals are given an opportunity to address deficits in skills found to be relevant to the particular problems experienced in particular by dual diagnosis clients.
12-Step Facilitation
At Seventy4 we use the 12-step approach along with other treatment methods in our Day Programme. This is an approach that developed out of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and has proven helpful to countless people worldwide. The 12-step approach sees addiction as the inability to control one's use of a mood altering chemical or behaviour despite awareness of its damaging consequences. Furthermore addiction is viewed as a lifelong illness or condition, which, if unchecked, will be progressive and eventually fatal. This condition can be managed and controlled by intervention but not 'cured'. As a result, controlled drinking is not seen as a realistic aim, with complete abstinence being the only safe and realistic option.
Working alongside 12-step fellowships is central to this approach as this is where the individual will continue to access support when not engaging with the Day programme's structure and after its completion. This 24 hour support network operates through attending meetings, phone contact with other people in recovery, and getting the guidance of a personal sponsor.