Recovering from alcoholism or drug substance addiction is a milestone worth celebrating since the recovery journey is usually long and challenging. The detox process is usually the start of a long journey through which the individual needs to learn how to avoid drug or alcohol cravings and avoid a relapse.

Behavioral health is one of the fundamental elements of addiction treatment. It helps the patient overcome anxiety, depression, phobias, stress, and other mental problems associated with addiction.

Fortworth behavioral health helps individuals better understand the negative thoughts or actions that contribute to drug or alcohol abuse and how to overcome them. It is a crucial element of the overall treatment for helping drug-dependent individuals overcome their addictions.

The idea behind cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is based on the assumption that individuals’ feelings and behaviors are caused by their thoughts than outside stimuli such as environment, people, or situations. Although one may not be able to change the situation or circumstances, they can change how they perceive them to change how they feel and behave.

In treating addictions, behavioral health helps the individual in many ways, including:

• Avoid triggering circumstances.
• Boost self-control.
• Recognize circumstances where they are most likely to use alcohol or drugs and avoid them.
• Develop coping habits that enable them to cope with situations that trigger their cravings.
• Manage other problems and habits that may lead them back to addiction.

The main objectives of behavioral health in addiction treatment are to boost motivation, change old habits, learn new coping skills, and manage painful feelings.

How does cognitive behavioral therapy work?

During the process of treating alcohol or substance abuse, cognitive behavioral therapy has two main elements: functional analysis and skills training.

Functional analysis

Functional analysis in cognitive behavioral therapy includes identifying and analyzing the causes and consequences of a behavior. By collaborating with the therapist, the affected individual can identify issues, thoughts, feelings, or circumstances that led to the use of alcohol or drugs and what made them continue to the extent of becoming an addict. That is important in determining the risks of relapse and how to avoid them.

The functional analysis gives the individual an insight into why they are using drugs or alcohol in the first place, which helps them identify situations where they experience difficult coping abilities.

Skills training

Whenever some individuals are dealing with difficult life situations such as stress, trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, and other problems, they seek refuge in alcohol or drug abuse to manage the feelings. If a person gets to the point of addiction, the many chances are that they are using drugs or alcohol as their coping mechanism, which is wrong.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps the individual unlearn maladaptive behaviors and learn better-coping skills. The person starts using the learned skills in situations that would typically trigger their cravings.

Skills training also helps the individual learn how to manage feelings of distress positively rather than using drugs or alcohol for a quick temporary fix.

The bottom line

Individuals who go through behavioral therapy during drug addiction treatment are able to maintain their recovery in the long term; therefore, it is imperative as a part of the overall treatment.