Group Therapy For Addiction

When you are living with an alcohol or drug addiction, it can be very isolating. Especially when you make the decision to work towards the goal of long term recovery.

When you are struggling with addiction, you can feel isolated from normal society due to the taboo nature of your condition. As a result, you may flock to others who also abuse substances as they understand why you do what you do and don’t judge your actions.

But this can mean that when you finally make the decision to step away from that life and leave substance abuse behind, you may also be leaving friends behind as well.

How society views addiction and addiction recovery has changed in the past few years. It has become normalised and seen as a medical condition that needs specialised care. But that, unfortunately, doesn’t stop some people from cutting loved ones off because they are struggling with addiction.

At Ocean Recovery, we know that one of the best ways to help you achieve your goal of long term recovery is by enabling you to build a healthier support network that supports your journey and can help you improve your mental health.

This is often done through group therapy, and it is a key part of your recovery journey and your time spent in a drug and alcohol rehab centre.

What Is Group Therapy?

Group therapy is very simply therapy that you do with others.

It involves you working with a fully trained and licensed therapist alongside others who are also struggling wither their addiction.

The idea is that you will be able to see that you are not alone in your experiences and to help you overcome the negative stereotypes and mind spaces that surround addicts and those who abuse substances.

You will be able to see that addiction can affect anyone no matter their:

• Gender
• Race
• Age
• Sexuality
• Religion
• Social class
• Job-status
• Family status
• Marriage status
• Family history
• Military service
• Notoriety
• Criminal record
• Housing status

But above all else, you will learn that you are not alone and that you don’t have to go through this difficult time by yourself.

Suppose you are not ready to go to group therapy as part of a drug and alcohol rehab centre treatment plan. In that case, you do have the option of finding a local support group.

The 12 Step Recovery Programme

Support groups tend to follow the 12 step programme, which includes:

1. Honesty:

To begin your journey to long term recovery, you need to be willing to open up about your addiction and admit that you have a problem. You have to tell the people you are closest to that you trust them enough to be honest about your struggles and that you need help to overcome them.

2. Faith:

You need to be willing to put your trust in others to help you overcome your addiction. This faith can be in your therapist or in God. It just depends on what you feel more comfortable with.

3. Surrender:

You must be able to surrender yourself to the higher power you have chosen to help you so that you can accept their help and make progress with your recovery.

4. Soul searching:

You must look inside yourself and identify where you have done wrong and where your addiction started. Try to learn your triggers for your cravings so that you can overcome them.

5. Integrity:

You must admit to those helping you your wrongdoings so that you can get help.

6. Acceptance:

Accept your wrongdoings in order to overcome them.

7. Humility:

Ask for help from the higher power that is helping you so that you can overcome your faults and your addiction.

8. Willingness:

You must make a list of all those you have wronged and how. You need to be able to have a blank slate and a guilt-free conscience in order to move forwards with your recovery.

9. Forgiveness:

You must seek to make amends with those you have hurt and ask for their forgiveness. They may not grant it but what matters is that you are turning your back on your old toxic behaviours to try and be a better person.

10. Maintains:

You must be willing to accept that addiction is a chronic illness that requires regular upkeep in order to avoid a relapse. You must be prepared to continue to work to keep yourself away from substance abuse and on the path to long term recovery.

11. Plan:

You must work with your chosen higher power in order to decide what you want to do next. To give yourself goals and things to look forward to in order to have a sense of achievement throughout your journey to long term recovery.

12. Service:

The final step is to offer the help you received to others.

In a support group, the final step leads to the sponsor programme. This programme will pair you up with a recovering addict who is further along in their journey than you are. They will be there to help you through your bad times, someone to call when you are experiencing cravings and to help you avoid relapses.

Then, in turn, when you reach the 12th step, you will be able to do the same for someone else, and the cycle of recovery can continue.