Drug abuse and addiction happen due to multiple reasons and it is unfortunate that drug addicts and abusers use drugs as blindfolds. It may not be intentional because the majority of the issues that are not physical are actually emotional and psychological.
These issues take place in the subconscious mind and end up controlling people without their knowledge. If you are hooked into claws of drug addiction, then you are suffering from issues that you hardly know exist. The only thing that is clear is that you get triggered to indulge in drugs now and then until it becomes a habit.
When it comes to treatment, you may think that you are going to rehab to treat the drug addiction and its physical effects alone, as well as overcoming the drug cravings. However, if you really want to heal, you may be in need of holistic therapy.
What is Holistic Therapy?
For ages, holistic therapy has been used in the East and it now seems to be spreading to the West. This can only mean that it is an effective treatment that’s why more people are willing to try it to get to where they desire.
Holistic therapy is a healing process that focuses on you as a whole. It not only treats the body, but also the spirit, emotions, and mind. Therefore, since drug abuse and addiction damages multiple aspects, namely mental, emotional, social, spiritual and physical, holistic therapy is one of the recommended approaches towards 100% complete recovery.
If you seek treatment from a good drug addiction treatment facility, you should expect the traditional treatments along with holistic therapy. The traditional treatments include medically assisted detox, group meetings, and individual counseling.
The holistic addiction recovery treatment works since it focuses on you as a whole. For this reason, reputed drug addiction treatment facilities ensure that you get individualized treatment to suit your personal needs.
How the Holistic Therapy Works
As you seek holistic therapy, the therapist gets to know you first. There has to be a sense of trust between you and the therapist for this therapy to be effective. Additionally, the therapist must understand your concerns and goals by truly listening to you. The most important things are getting your worldview and therapy expectations.
After knowing this much about you, the therapist determines the best treatment course for you. Holistic therapy involves multiple approaches which go individually or can be incorporated with one another. They include;
- Art therapy
- Gestalt therapy
- Psychotherapy
- Mindfulness practice
- Meditation
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Journal keeping
- Family therapy
- Hypnotherapy
- Anxiety management
- Assertive training
- Guided imagery
The most common therapies that are used include;
- Yoga
- Meditation: It is a practice that helps in lowering stress levels. The breathing techniques are useful in overcoming drug cravings.
- Exercise therapy: It includes aerobics, weight lifting, hiking, etc.
- Acupuncture: Insertion of fine needles in certain body points to regulate and stimulate energy flow and thus have a healthy balance.
- Art therapy: Painting and drawing, among other things relieve stress by quieting the mind.
- Aromatherapy: Usage of the sense of smell to have a body balance.
- Massage therapy: Loosening of the tight and stiff muscles heals the body
- Reiki: Treats mental and emotional distress.
In addition to the above, the holistic therapist can recommend some physical treatments or spiritual pursuits, which are all dependent on your interests. It is likely that you can keep up with treatment that you are interested in and that you find enjoyable to engage in.
Therapists rely on the fact that healing one health aspect naturally heals other aspects. This can work if you enjoy indulging in physical fitness, whereby your therapist will encourage you to do more physical health techniques. Eventually, you will have a mood and energy boost, thus making efforts towards other health types a bit easier.
According to therapists that specialize in holistic therapy, it has no end. Therefore, if you choose to continue, then the better for you because you benefit more. Since therapy is based on your self-awareness and is self-centered, you have the right to decide when it should end.
The most important fact that holistic therapy is based on is that personal growth never ends because it is an ongoing process. Therefore, if you stop, you can always go back to it when something impeding your growth occurs since guidance will be offered to overcome it.
Effective Treatment Principles Supporting Holistic Therapy
- It is impossible for a single treatment to be appropriate for anyone.
- Effective treatment attends to not only your drug abuse problem but also other multiple individual needs.
- Your treatment and service plan requires frequent and continuous assessment and modification as necessary so that all your changing needs can be met.
- The combination of behavioral therapy and meditation is important for the overall therapeutic process. This combination follows detoxification, treatment, and therapy.
Holistic Therapy Criticisms
According to the holistic therapy proponents, this approach has produced positive results in the treatment of multiple ailments. These include various anxiety disorders types, stress-related issues, major depressive disorder, and trauma-related disorders ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to sexual abuse.
Unfortunately, holistic therapy has a major limitation- its own focus. It can be very challenging to identify whether the spirit, feelings, and body of a person are already integrated. This is because there are no defined empirical standards to help therapists identify the integration point.
Additionally, some critics claim that the holistic therapy approach is more in line with philosophy while it should be about actual treatment notions. However, despite coming from questionable sources, there have been successful attempts to integrate holistic therapy principles with empirically validated psychotherapies and some bodywork techniques.
It also seems that there is a vast array of different approaches and techniques in holistic therapy, making it difficult to have reliable research trials that can produce evidence of the significant advantages of this approach.
Holistic therapy is worth considering if you really want you to heal as a whole. However, ensure that you are dealing with a professional that has experience and knowledge in this type of therapy. If you tune your mind to healing, then recovery can be a smoother path.