Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Our Clearbrook rehab in Massachusetts offers many types of therapy programs for treating both substance use and mental health disorders. One of these therapies is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT focuses on talk therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. Through various exercises and “homework” exercises outside of sessions, clients learn to develop life skills for recovery and how to change their thinking, negative emotions, and behavior. Our center for cognitive behavioral therapy administers an evidence-based practice that is often our most effective method of care. Keep reading to learn more about CBT for addiction and how it could help you or a loved one.

How Does CBT Addiction Treatment Work?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a classification of mental health counseling founded in the 1960s by Dr. Aaron T. Beck. While it was originally applied to mental health care, the use of CBT therapy for addiction and other conditions is now just as common in the medical field.

Generally, cognitive behavioral therapy is used to treat:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Eating disorders
  • Grief
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Phobias
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Relationship problems
  • Sleep problems
  • Stress
  • Substance use disorders
  • & More

When it comes to addressing substance use disorders, CBT helps people address problematic thoughts and feelings associated with drug-taking behavior. This treatment focuses on teaching those recovering from addiction to find connections between their thoughts, feelings, and actions and increase their awareness of how these factors can impact their recovery.

CBT for substance abuse shows that many harmful actions and emotions are not logical or rational. These feelings and behaviors are often linked to past experiences or environmental factors, such as the person’s home environment.

When a person with a drug or alcohol use disorder understands why they feel or act a certain way – and how those feelings and actions lead to drug use and drinking – they’re better equipped to overcome their addiction. The CBT therapists at our Massachusetts inpatient drug rehab help clients identify their negative “automatic thoughts.” An automatic thought is based on impulse and often comes from misconceptions and internalized feelings, such as self-doubt and fear.

Often, people try to self-medicate these painful and disturbing thoughts and feelings by drinking or using drugs. By continually revisiting distressing memories, those in drug or alcohol treatment can reduce the pain caused by them. Clients at our center for cognitive behavioral therapy also learn new, positive behaviors with which to replace their substance use.

CBT for substance use disorders is a problem-specific, goal-oriented approach that focuses on patients’ current challenges, thoughts, and behaviors. In CBT therapy, patients at our Massachusetts rehab learn to:

  • Avoid generalizations, all-or-nothing thinking, or thinking in extremes
  • Challenge underlying assumptions that might be false
  • Describe, accept, and understand rather than judge themselves
  • Develop self-awareness
  • Distinguish between facts and irrational beliefs
  • Face their fears rather than avoid them
  • Focus on how things are rather than how they think they want them to be
  • Gain a better understanding of other people’s actions and motivations
  • Identify problems more clearly
  • See situations from different perspectives
  • Stop fearing the worst
  • Stop taking the blame for everything that happens to them
  • Understand how past experiences can affect their feelings and beliefs

Triggers – things, people, or places that “trigger” or cause cravings for drugs and alcohol – keep many addicted people from getting sober. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for addiction treatment also helps those struggling with drug or alcohol abuse deal with these triggers in three key ways:

  • Recognize: Identify which circumstances lead to drug or alcohol use
  • Avoid: Remove yourself from triggering situations whenever possible or appropriate
  • Cope: Use CBT techniques to address and alleviate emotions and thoughts that may contribute to drug or alcohol use

Specialists at our Clearbrook facility can help patients identify their current problems rather than dwell on the past. By doing so, they’re taking a proactive approach to change negative thinking and behavior and support their recovery.

Contact Our CBT Center Today

Clearbrook Treatment Centers caters to each patient and guides them through their recovery. Those receiving addiction or residential mental health care at our facility will have access to our CBT program as well as our other drug therapy programs.

Cognitive behavioral therapy programs are just one of the many methods we utilize to help those who are struggling with addiction or mental illness find relief. CBT can be used to treat a variety of ailments and has also become a more common treatment for conditions like schizophrenia and psychosis, helping specialists find the cognitive connection between a patient’s thoughts, feelings, and symptoms.

If you or your loved one has a mental health disorder or addiction, our Northeast addictions treatment center offers options for Massachusetts substance abuse treatment and mental health care that can help. Contact Clearbrook today to learn how you can get started.

Related Reading:

DBT vs. CBT: How Are They Different?

What Is Urge Surfing in Recovery?