Question by ebizartistry: For those who use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Can anyone please explain why, and in what situations you would use CBT in drug addiction counseling?
Also please explain the value/benefits of CBT over other forms of treatment.
Please explain this as completely as possible.
Best answer:
Answer by blahblahblah
CBT helps people to restructure the way they think about things and the behavior they use to deal with the irrational/nonuseful thoughts. In addiction, just as with depression, anxiety, etc., you learn (over time) to recognize what feelings and associated thoughts lead you to choose to use drugs. After recognizing the feelings that lead to the behavior, we look at the cognitions that lead to the feelings, such as “I’m not good enough”, which leads to sadness, which leads to drug use to medicate and soothe the bad feeling. Until we learn (and eventually change) the thoughts that shape the feelings, we can’t work on changing the thoughts.
CBT is an excellent, empirically validated treatment. However, it addresses the present, not the past. With CBT, it doesn’t address “having a bad childhood”, etc. If the client is into blaming behavior (ex: I do this because of others), CBT will not work. In addiction, it CAN NOT be done while the client is still using drugs. Or if the client is in denial about the problem, not accepting responsibility for his own problem. CBT is great in long-term relapse prevention.
I just googled this: http://alcoholism.about.com/od/relapse/a/cbt.htm
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