Individuals who are sober and have graduated-from (or are currently enrolled-in) an addiction treatment program will need ongoing counseling and therapy for an extended period of time. Outpatient therapy for sober individuals in recovery helps to keep an individual sober, helps them to fight negative thoughts and behaviors, and prevents relapse.
Outpatient Therapy for Recovering From Substance Abuse
At AZRI, we DO NOT offer addiction treatment services, but rather offer ongoing therapy for those who are in-recovery, sober, looking to stay sober, and need help dealing with mental health or mood concerns. Depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns are the specialties of our individual therapists in Arizona.
At The Arizona Relationship Institute, we are not a rehab, nor do we offer any sort of addiction treatment. Rather, we happily refer friends, family and clients to Active Recovery Care for starting off your addiction treatment and detox needs.
The Need for Ongoing Therapy After Rehab and Addiction Treatment
After getting sober, most recovering addicts will require some form of therapy either on an ongoing basis, or from time-to-time. Therapy helps to treat a person’s response to the negative triggers in their life that pushed them towards drugs and alcohol in the past, and push the threat of relapse in the future. This is the type of behavioral therapy that our therapists at AZRI focus on.
Therapy for Depression After Quitting Drugs and Alcohol
Depression and anxiety are common side-effects when quitting alcohol and certain types of drugs. Withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, panic attacks, and depression can linger-on for months or even years. These symptoms will reduce and eventually go-away as long as a person remains sober. However, staying sober often requires a great deal of support from friends, family, and a therapist.
Therapy for depression and anxiety — alongside holistic practices like yoga, meditation, and a focus on other health hobbies — can lead you through the triggers and negativities that distract you from your commitment to sobriety.
Therapy for Addiction Substitution
Many recovering addicts suffer from “Addiction Substitution,” or trading one addiction for another. This type of individual may be off of drugs and alcohol, but the addictive behaviors live-on in a replacement addiction. Some recovering addicts may develop a food addiction or a shopping addiction in response to quitting drugs and alcohol.
A replacement addiction is a warning sign that the recovering addict is not getting the mental health counseling and therapeutic needs they require alongside their sobriety.
Therapy for Eating Disorders
The Arizona Relationship Institute therapists can help to treat the mental health symptoms related to eating disorders. Eating Disorder Therapists in Arizona can help you to deal with the thoughts, emotions and behaviors associated with eating disorders, while our partners at Active Recovery Care help with the nutritional and medical concerns.
Therapy for Mood Disorders
Many individuals recovering from substance use disorders were previously using drugs and/or alcohol to self-medicate the symptoms of mood disorders. Undiagnosed mood disorders are a common trigger for drug and alcohol use, and are even more common as triggers for relapse. Ensuring that these triggers do not cause relapse is the main concern of therapists for mood disorders and substance abuse issues.
What Are Compulsive Behaviors?
Compulsive Behaviors are simply actions or thoughts that occur repeatedly or consistently. Many compulsive behaviors can become problematic in everyday lives, and require therapy or other therapeutic practices to treat.
Examples of Compulsive Behaviors
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- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Hoarding
- Sex Addiction
- Gambling Addiction
- Shopping Addiction
- Eating Addiction
- Eating Disorders
- Fear of Germs
- Repetitively Checking (things, people, places. etc.)
- Obsession with Numbers or Obsessive Counting
- Obsessive Cleaning
- Codependent Behaviors
- Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors
- Pulling or Cutting Hair Obsessively
- Substance Use Disorder
- Alcohol Use Disorder
A full list of the thoughts, actions and behaviors that are categorized as Compulsive Behaviors would be too long to compile, because the symptoms manifest in millions of different ways.
Tourette’s Syndrome is an acute and visible example of compulsive behaviors — as many sufferers will make body movements, vocal noises, or say words repetitively.
Therapy For Compulsive Behaviors in Arizona
The Arizona Relationship Institute offers therapy for compulsive behaviors in Arizona. From addictive behaviors and substance use disorders to obsessive thoughts, AZRI therapists treat the mental health symptoms of obsessive behaviors, and reduce the negative impact on sufferers’ lives.
What Treatments Are There For Compulsive Behaviors?
There is no official “cure” for compulsive behaviors, rather therapists help sufferers to ease the symptoms and negative effects of them. Therapy sessions and different forms of psychotherapy (including CBT, HRT, and others) help people to learn how to put the obsessive thoughts out-of-mind, so they can concentrate on their daily lives instead.
With the obsessive thoughts out-of-mind, a person learns to stop the compulsive behaviors and actions (like drinking, taking drugs, hoarding, gambling, shopping, etc.) or reduce their frequency significantly.
Habit Reversal Training (HRT) for Obsessive Behaviors
Habit Reversal Training (HRT) can help change even the most stubborn of bad habits and hard-to-break repetitive behaviors. It is a simple behavioral therapy that has shown miraculous results in reducing “tics” associated with Tourette’s Syndrome and can be used for other types of compulsive behaviors.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Obsessive Behaviors
Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs), and behavioral obsessions have been successfully treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT shows great results as a therapy for relapse prevention, as the therapy teaches you how to analyze why you do the things you do. From there, you can easily change your behaviors and cut-out the negative things to you do, once your brain makes the connection.
Do I Need To Be In Rehab To Receive Therapy for Addictive Behaviors from AZRI?
You do not need to be currently enrolled in rehab to receive therapy for addictive behaviors from The Arizona Relationship Institute (AZRI). However, you must be clean and sober from drugs and alcohol. If you are actively abusing drugs and/or alcohol, you are encouraged to seek Addiction Treatment first, and ongoing therapy sessions may take place in an outpatient setting at AZRI for approved clients.
We do not offer therapy for “Court-Ordered Therapy.”
How To Start Therapy For Addictive Behaviors
To begin, start with your free consultation from AZRI. Your free 15-minute phone consultation will help to answer your questions, will help us to understand your needs, and will help approved applicants move-on to the next steps.
