The Buddha famously said, “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” This is the type of self-love that is required if one is to start to fully recover from issues of addiction and/or mental illness. Now, this is also the type of self-love that can be a positive byproduct of group therapy in day treatment.
The Prevalence of Addiction in the U.S.
Many people don’t realize just how prevalent addiction remains in the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “In 2022, 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.”
Unfortunately, while these statistics are relatively high, the number of people who actually seek help remains low. There are many reasons for this. One is that people fear the stigma associated with having addiction and/or mental illness.
According to the peer-reviewed journal Current Opinion in Psychiatry, “The prevalence of substance use disorders is increasing in the U.S. general population, but these disorders remain seriously under-treated. Stigma can reduce the willingness of policy-makers to allocate resources, reduce the willingness of providers in non-specialty settings to screen for and address substance abuse problems, and may limit the willingness of individuals with such problems to seek treatment. All of these factors may help explain why so few individuals with substance use disorders receive treatment.” Another reason why people don’t get the help they need is they are held back by co-occurring disorders.
The Prevalence of Addiction With Co-Occurring Disorders
Comorbidities (also known as co-occurring disorders) also remain highly prevalent in the U.S. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “7.7 million adults have co-occurring mental and substance use disorders.” Also, “Of the 20.3 million adults with substance use disorders, 37.9% also had mental illnesses,” and “Among the 42.1 million adults with mental illness, 18.2% also had substance use disorders.”
While co-occurring statistics remain high, the good news is there are many means, methods, and modalities that can help people recover from either sole issues or comorbidities. The key is to connect to the right recovery center to fit one’s individualized needs because individualized care is essential for optimal long-term healing.
A Focus on Individualized Addiction and Mental Health Care
Here at NorthStar Recovery Center, we only believe in individualized care. There are many recovery centers that only offer broad “one-size-fits-all” treatment plans. We find that this rarely works because it does not get to the specific underlying issues that often cause the negative behaviors associated with addiction and mental illness.
Often, these underlying issues are associated with trauma. Yet, many people are unfamiliar with what trauma exactly is in a psychological sense. According to the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Medicine, “The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) defines a traumatic event (TE) as exposure to threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence. Such exposure may occur directly or indirectly by witnessing the event, learning of the event occurring to a loved one, or repeated confrontation with aversive details of such event (e.g. emergency responders). Exposure to TEs is a prerequisite for the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is also associated with a wide range of other adverse mental and physical health outcomes.”
PTSD is also more common than many people realize. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the National Center for PTSD, “About 6 out of every 100 people (or 6% of the U.S. population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives.” Also, “About 5 out of every 100 adults (or 5%) in the U.S. has PTSD in any given year. In 2020, about 13 million Americans had PTSD.” Also, individualized care is not the only important aspect of effective treatment. Treatment must also be comprehensive.
A Focus on Comprehensive Addiction and Mental Health Care
Comprehensive care starts with connecting to the client. This includes a proper intake that focuses on the individual rather than the diagnosis. As the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, famously said, “It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
Comprehensive care also has to do with utilizing all aspects of the recovery realm. This includes psychotherapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), experiential therapies like nature immersion therapy and art therapy, trauma therapy, group therapy, and holistic healing methods like yoga therapy and meditation. Also, this is what having a multi-angled approach to recovery is all about.
The Importance of Having a Multi-Angled Treatment Approach
A multi-angled approach to recovery is all about holistic healing. Now, many people think that holistic healing only has to do with more “eccentric” practices like reiki and massage therapy. However, while those practices can actually be extremely helpful, holistic healing has more to do with “whole mind-body” healing. It has to do with utilizing modalities that heal physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
When all aspects of the “Self” are treated, then the opportunity for healthy well-being and long-term recovery becomes not only possible but probable. One of the best ways to focus on this whole mind-body healing is via day treatment.
Understanding Day Treatment
Day treatment is an ideal way for people to focus on their recovery while also being able to stay connected to their day-to-day lives. Now, this does not mean that it is any less intense or effective than residential care. Rather, it simply means that the individual has more autonomy over their own recovery.
Day treatment requires focus 24/7, even though most facilities will only require an individual to connect in person with the treatment center five days a week for eight hours a day. However, clients will also attend recovery community meetings (like 12-Step meetings) while they are outside of the treatment facility or recovery center. Day treatment also offers many other benefits.
The Benefits of Day Treatment
While there are benefits to all types of recovery, like residential care, day treatment has its own unique set of benefits. Perhaps the most obvious has already been mentioned, which is the ability to remain outside of the treatment center. There are also many other benefits of day treatment:
- Connects people with others with “shared experiences”
- Introduces individuals to different types of treatments
- Is often more easily covered by insurance
- For those without insurance, it can be more affordable than residential care
- Connects people with 12-Step and other community meetings
- Offers an opportunity for the whole family to get treatment
- Often has alumni support groups for after treatment ends
- Keeps individuals accountable for their own recovery
- Helps reduce the chances of relapse
This last benefit is crucial because many people don’t realize just how common relapse currently is in the U.S. 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.” Group therapy can also be very effective in helping people avoid a relapse.
Understanding Group Therapy
Group therapy is highly effective for many reasons. One of the primary reasons is that it connects people who have shared experiences of addiction and/or mental illness. This connection allows individuals to both see that they are not alone in their struggles and that recovery is possible.
Group therapy is also very versatile. According to the peer-reviewed thesis, Group Therapy, by Doctors Malhotra and Baker, “Group therapy is the treatment of multiple patients at once by one or more healthcare providers. It can be used to treat a variety of conditions including but not limited to emotional trauma, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).” Also, “Group therapy provides a solution to this problem by allowing for the treatment of multiple individuals simultaneously.” There are also many other benefits of group therapy.
The Benefits of Group Therapy
While people are often going to experience different benefits from group therapy, there are also many universal benefits that many people tend to share. The following are just a few of those benefits:
- Helps individuals develop essential social skills
- Keeps people accountable to their therapy
- Offers a safe space for people to share without fear of judgment
- Helps individuals gain new perspectives
- Can help bridge individual therapy and family therapy
- Helps relieve isolation
- Allows people to build a healthy “sober network”
- Can reduce relapse rates
- Often more affordable than individual therapy
- Helps with anxiety and depression
- Reduces stress and feelings of loneliness
Group Therapy and Other Means, Methods, and Modalities
It is also important that group therapy be utilized with other modalities. This includes psychotherapies, experiential therapies, and holistic healing methods.
When multiple methods are used, the chances for long-term recovery are greatly increased. Using multiple methods also makes it possible for a recovery plan to be more flexible. For example, if one type of treatment isn’t working, it can be replaced with one that may be more effective. One of the most effective of these treatments is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
Group Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
CBT can be exceptionally effective because it can get to the underlying issues that cause the negative behaviors associated with addiction and mental illness. It is also a process that helps with growth and long-term recovery.
CBT focuses on the negative way that people view themselves and the world around them. According to the peer-reviewed journal Cognitive Therapy and Research, “Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) refers to a class of interventions that share the basic premise that mental disorders and psychological distress are maintained by cognitive factors… [T]hese 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.”
CBT is not the only type of therapy that helps to get to these underlying issues. Experiential therapies also help people with these issues, either via external activities or creative outputs.
Group Therapy and Experiential Therapies
Experiential therapy is all about helping individuals connect with their issues via external means. This may involve physical activities via nature immersion therapy, or it may involve creative means of expression via art therapy.
Nature immersion therapy offers physical, emotional, and mental benefits. 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… 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 whole mind-body benefits. 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.”
Group therapy is not just often more effective when used with experiential therapies; it can also benefit from being utilized alongside holistic healing methods. This includes holistic means like yoga and meditation.
Group Therapy With Yoga and Meditation
According to the iconic yogi and spiritual leader B.K.S. Iyengar, “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.” Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years. Initially, it was solely used as a religious or spiritual practice, but it is now also being used in the realm of recovery.
The benefits of yoga for addiction and issues of mental health are vast and varied. 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.”
A Focus on Long-Term Success at NorthStar Recovery Center
The Buddha also famously said, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” Some of that peace can be gained via group therapy and its accompanying modalities.
Here at NorthStar Recovery Center, we believe in long-term success over short-term fixes. That is why we offer individualized comprehensive recovery plans that focus on the future.
It is important to remember that recovery is always about the journey, never the destination. That journey can start right here at NorthStar Recovery Center. There is hope. We can help.
Group therapy can be highly beneficial for addiction recovery. One of the primary reasons is that it helps clients connect to both recovery professionals and recovery peers. It also creates a safe space where one can share openly and honestly without fear of judgment. Group therapy also works well with a number of other modalities, like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). If you feel like you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, mental illness, or both, we can help get you on the right road to long-term recovery right away. For more information about the benefits of group therapy and other treatment options, please reach out to NorthStar Recovery Center today at (888) 311-0911.