The iconic author and philosopher Joseph Campbell once said, “We must let go of the life we have planned so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” This is emblematic of what AUD and SUD recovery is all about. It is about letting go of control and allowing others to help. One of the best places for this to happen is in day treatment.
The Prevalence of AUD and SUD in the U.S.
Addiction rates remain extremely high in the U.S. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the results of the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), “48.7 million people aged 12 or older (or 17.3%) had a substance use disorder (SUD) in the past year, including 29.5 million who had an alcohol use disorder (AUD), 27.2 million who had a drug use disorder (DUD), and 8.0 million people who had both an AUD and a DUD.”
It should also be noted that many people who are struggling with AUD and/or SUD are also struggling with some type of mental illness. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “7.7 million adults have co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. This doesn’t mean that one caused the other and it can be difficult to determine which came first.” Now, this is important to note because co-occurring mental illness can be a major contributor to relapse.
The High Prevalence of Relapse in the U.S.
Recovery should never be about short-term “fixes.” No, recovery should be about long-term success and achievable goals. If these factors aren’t taken into account, the potential for relapse goes up exponentially.
Many people don’t realize just how prevalent addiction relapse actually is. According to the peer-reviewed journal Current Psychiatry Reports, “It has long been known that addictive disorders are chronic and relapsing in nature. Recent estimates from clinical treatment studies suggest that more than two-thirds of individuals relapse within weeks to months of initiating treatment.” Also, “For 1-year outcomes across alcohol, nicotine, weight, and illicit drug abuse, studies show that more than 85% of individuals relapse and return to drug use within 1 year of treatment.”
To better avoid potential relapse, it is important to choose the right type of recovery and treatment program for the individual. From detox and residential addiction care to living in a sober living facility, there are many options.
What Are Some Types of Recovery?
Perhaps the most common image that people have in their heads when they think about treatment is the detox process. This is when an individual goes through a rigorous process of getting alcohol and other substances out of their system safely. The key word here is “safely” because detoxing on one’s own can not only be dangerous, but it can also be deadly.
This is especially true with AUD. According to the peer-reviewed journal Alcohol Health and Research World, “Disease processes or events that accompany acute alcohol withdrawal (AW) can cause significant illness and death… Another potential AW complication is delirium tremens, characterized by hallucinations, mental confusion, and disorientation. Cognitive impairment and delirium may lead to a chronic memory disorder (i.e., Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome). Psychiatric problems associated with withdrawal include anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance.”
A professional detox can ensure that these issues are significantly less likely to arise. It can also ensure that the appropriate nutrients are replenished in the individual. Most people don’t realize just how depleted individuals in need of recovery can be. According to the peer-reviewed journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, “Chronic alcoholic patients are frequently deficient in one or more vitamins. The deficiencies commonly involve folate, vitamin B6, thiamine, and vitamin A. Although inadequate dietary intake is a major cause of the vitamin deficiency, other possible mechanisms may also be involved.”
Detox can also offer an essential transition toward the next steps of recovery. This may include inpatient care, which is important if an individual requires more round-the-clock support and observation, or it may be day treatment, which offers just as much rigor when it comes to recovery, but the individual can remain active in their day-to-day lives.
What Exactly Is Day Treatment?
Day treatment offers intensive addiction care while also allowing an individual to come and go from the treatment center. Some people transition down to day treatment from inpatient care, and others choose to go directly into day treatment.
Day treatment for AUD and SUD recovery is generally a five-day-a-week program that includes full-day recovery sessions. These sessions usually include a combination of therapy, psychotherapy, counseling, and recovery community building. Day treatment also tends to involve the whole family in the recovery process.
What Are the Benefits of Day Treatment?
There are many benefits of day treatment. Perhaps the most prominent is the ability to stay active in one’s life, but there are also many others. The following are just a few of the benefits of day treatment for AUD and SUD recovery:
- A reduction in relapse potential
- The potential to build a strong “sober network”
- An opportunity to work with both recovery peers and professionals
- Often more affordable than inpatient care
- More insurances tend to cover day treatment
- Offers an opportunity to try many different recovery means, methods, and modalities
- Gives the potential to “step down” to a sober living facility
- Can help with mental health issues
- Fosters integral accountability
Now, not all day treatment programs are created equally. It is important to connect with a day treatment that focuses on individualized and comprehensive care.
Comprehensive Recovery Modalities in Day Treatment
A multi-angled approach to recovery is essential if one is going to heal at the most optimal level. This means that the approach should pull from many areas of recovery.
These areas include psychotherapy like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), experiential therapies like nature immersion and art therapy, group therapy, family therapy, trauma therapy, and holistic healing methods. Perhaps the most foundational of these modalities is psychotherapy.
AUD and SUD Recovery: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Psychotherapies like CBT are essential for recovery because they are evidence-based in their efficacy. All this means that psychotherapies like CBT have been studied long enough to show a strong correlation of efficacy.
CBT is all about getting to the underlying issues of AUD and SUD. According to the peer-reviewed journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine, “CBT is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on their behavior and emotions. Under stressful conditions, some individuals tend to feel pessimistic and unable to solve problems. CBT promotes more balanced thinking to improve the ability to cope with stress.” It is this “balanced thinking” that can become such a vital component of long-term recovery.
CBT is also about changing the negative cognitions (thoughts) and emotions (feelings) that are associated with negative behaviors (actions). According to the peer-reviewed journal Cognitive Therapy and Research, “The core premise of this [CBT] treatment approach, as pioneered by Beck (1970) and Ellis (1962), holds that maladaptive cognitions contribute to the maintenance of emotional distress and behavioral problems. [Based on] Beck’s model, these maladaptive cognitions include general beliefs, or schemas, about the world, the self, and the future, giving rise to specific and automatic thoughts in particular situations. The basic model posits that therapeutic strategies to change these maladaptive cognitions lead to changes in emotional distress and problematic behaviors.”
AUD and SUD Recovery: Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Another psychotherapy that can be highly beneficial for AUD and SUD recovery is DBT. DBT is an offshoot of CBT and other psychotherapies that focused originally on people with borderline personality disorder. It has since branched out into treating people in all populations, including those struggling with addiction.
This therapy can be highly effective in day treatment because it is comprehensive and requires accountability. According to the peer-reviewed journal Psychiatry (Edgmont), “DBT is a comprehensive program of treatment consisting of individual therapy, group therapy, and a therapist consultation team. In this way, DBT is a program of treatment, rather than a single treatment method conducted by a practitioner in isolation.” DBT can also be highly effective because many people with AUD and SUD have co-occurring disorders.
According to the peer-reviewed journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, “Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a well-established treatment for individuals with multiple and severe psychosocial disorders, including those who are chronically suicidal. Because many such patients have substance use disorders (SUDs), the authors developed DBT for Substance Abusers, which incorporates concepts and modalities designed to promote abstinence and to reduce the length and adverse impact of relapses. Among these are dialectical abstinence, ‘clear mind,’ and attachment strategies that include off-site counseling as well as active attempts to find patients who miss sessions.” Other effective therapies are found under the experiential umbrella.
AUD and SUD Recovery: Experiential Therapy Options
Experiential therapies are very much what they sound like. They are therapies that focus more on “experience” than “talk sessions.” Now, there are two primary types of experiential therapy. There is experiential therapy that involves “activity,” such as nature immersion therapy, and there is experiential therapy that involves “creativity” like art therapy and creative journaling.
Nature immersion therapy is a good option for individuals in day treatment because it takes advantage of the opportunity to come and go from the recovery center. This therapy also offers many essential benefits. According to the National Park Service, “5 minutes walking in nature improves mood, self-esteem, and relaxation. Frequent exposure to nature reduces anxiety and depression, while promoting a sense of wellbeing and fulfillment.” Also, “Physical activity in a green space can reduce stress and lower cortisol levels by 15%.”
There are also many other benefits of nature immersion therapy for those struggling with AUD and SUD. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Besides improvements to physical and psychological well-being, exposure to natural environments has been shown to bring about positive impacts on cognitive functioning.” Also, “While cognitive restoration and physiological well-being are the prominent and renowned benefits of nature exposure, there is one important construct that is often overlooked in environmental psychology research studies – that is, the human-nature relationship; also known as connectedness to nature (CN).”
Art therapy also offers many similar benefits, only in a different setting. This can be particularly true for those with co-occurring disorders. According to the peer-reviewed journal Cureus, “Art therapy is used most commonly to treat mental illnesses and can aid in controlling manifestations correlated with psychosocially challenging behaviors, slowing cognitive decline, and enhancing the quality of life. Art therapy can help people express themselves more freely, improve their mental health, and improve interpersonal relationships. The basis of art therapy is established on the idea that people can recover and feel better via artistic expression.”
Art therapy is also an exceptional non-invasive way to treat AUD and SUD, which is also why it is often used in day treatment settings. This is also true for holistic healing methods like yoga therapy and meditation.
AUD and SUD Recovery: Holistic Healing Options
The iconic yogi and philosopher B.K.S. Iyengar once said, “Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.” This “wholeness” is essential for AUD and SUD recovery.
Yoga and meditation have been practiced for thousands of years. Originally, they were solely used as spiritual or religious practices, but they have since moved into the realm of recovery.
Yoga therapy has been shown to be highly beneficial for those struggling with addiction. According to the International Journal of Yoga (IJOY), “Therapeutic yoga is defined as the application of yoga postures and practice to the treatment of health conditions. Yoga therapy involves instruction in yogic practices and teachings to prevent reduce or alleviate structural, physiological, emotional and spiritual pain, suffering or limitations. Yogic practices enhance muscular strength and body flexibility, promote and improve respiratory and cardiovascular function, promote recovery from and treatment of addiction, reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, improve sleep patterns, and enhance overall well-being and quality of life.”
These are also benefits that run parallel to those that one may experience with meditation, which is why they are best used in tandem. According to the International Quarterly Journal of Research in Ayurveda (AYU), “During the process of meditation, accumulated stresses are removed, energy is increased, and health is positively affected overall. Research has confirmed a myriad of health benefits associated with the practice of meditation. These include stress reduction, decreased anxiety, decreased depression, reduction in pain (both physical and psychological), improved memory, and increased efficiency.”
The key to effective day treatment is to utilize as many modalities as possible to find the best recovery plan that works for the individual. This may mean any/many/or all of the modalities that have been discussed. It is also important to stay positive and malleable. Not every modality is going to work for every person, but an effective day treatment program will keep making adjustments until the right combination is acquired.
A Focus on Long-Term Success at NorthStar Recovery Center
Here at NorthStar Recovery Center, we truly believe in long-term success over short-term “fixes.” This is why our day treatment is always comprehensive and individualized.
Joseph Campbell also famously said, “It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.” It is important to remember that, in life, it is never about how we fall but rather about how we get back up.
Here at NorthStar Recovery Center, our goal is to not only help our clients get back up but also teach them how to stay up. There is hope, and there is help. Recovery is right over the horizon line. The key is to reach out and grab it.
Day treatment at NorthStar Recovery Center is ideal for both AUD and SUD recovery. It offers an ideal setting and opportunity for an individual to engage in highly focused recovery means, methods, and modalities while also being able to keep one foot in one’s day-to-day life. It is also a great way to create goals in recovery and avoid a potential relapse in the future. If you feel like you or a loved one are struggling with issues of addiction, mental illness, or co-occurring disorders, we can help get you on the right road to recovery right away. You don’t have to go through this alone. For more information about day treatment, please call NorthStar Recovery Center at (888) 311-0911.