Psychotherapy Options At Ohio Recovery Center
Medically Reviewed By: Manish Mishra, MBBS
As one of the most effective treatment options for addiction and mental illness, psychotherapy is key to our recovery programs at ORC. We offer the most effective and latest evidence-based therapies for lasting recovery.
Through psychotherapy at Ohio Recovery Center, you will explore and learn how to manage your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with the help of a licensed, master’s-level clinician.
Also known as talk therapy, psychotherapy is an effective, core treatment option for various mental health conditions, including addiction. Through this treatment approach, you can improve your self-esteem, build communication and relationship skills, and strengthen your ability to cope with stress or difficult emotions, all of which contribute to lasting recovery.
Types Of Psychotherapy At ORC
Even though our talk therapy options at Ohio Recovery Center are evidence-based and proven effective in treating different conditions, not everyone responds to the same type of therapy in the same way. That is one reason why we offer a variety of therapy options.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Perhaps the most popular type of therapy, CBT focuses on identifying and changing negative thoughts and beliefs that may be contributing to your substance use or mental illness, or delaying your recovery.
For example, if you believe you will never get better, your therapist can help you adopt a more positive and realistic belief, such as “With the right treatment and support system, people can and do recover.” This can boost your confidence, motivate you, and help you make healthier choices in life.
Research shows that CBT is effective in treating drug and alcohol addiction, depression, anxiety disorders, and many other mental health disorders.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
A modified form of CBT, DBT encourages you to change unhelpful behaviors while accepting difficult feelings and experiences that you cannot change. This acceptance can help you manage challenging situations more effectively.
Originally designed for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), DBT is now used to treat other conditions as well, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders.
DBT focuses on four main strategies:
- distress tolerance (coping with unpleasant feelings and experiences)
- emotion regulation (recognizing and managing your emotions)
- mindfulness (focusing on the present moment)
- interpersonal effectiveness (navigating relationships in a healthy way)
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
It’s not always easy to find the motivation to change when you’re living with addiction or another mental health disorder. MI is a psychotherapy that can help you overcome fear of change, ambivalence, or doubt so that you can live a healthy life.
Your therapist will work with you to discover your own motivation to change, gain clarity, and move forward with healthy behaviors.
Exposure Interventions
As part of our CBT offerings at Ohio Recovery Center, we provide exposure interventions to address mental health issues that involve intense fears, such as PTSD, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). During this process, your therapist will help you slowly and safely face your fears so that you become less sensitive to them.
For example, if you have social anxiety disorder, your therapist may first ask you to call a friend on the phone. Over time, you will be asked to engage in social activities that are increasingly more challenging for you, such as speaking up during a group event. Avoidance has been shown to make fear worse, and this gradual exposure to your fears can help you overcome them.
Group Therapy
In group therapy, you get the chance to connect with people facing similar challenges. A mental health professional oversees each session and introduces discussion topics, such as self-care, coping skills, and conflict resolution.
Group therapy will also typically incorporate strategies from CBT, DBT, or other psychotherapies.
Family Psychoeducation Therapy
To recover from a mental health condition, including drug or alcohol addiction, you need a strong support system. In family psychoeducation therapy, your family members will learn about your condition, how it affects you, and how to best support your recovery journey through the highs and lows.
You will also learn how your condition affects your family members. Through mutual understanding and improved communication skills, you can begin to resolve conflicts and strengthen your relationships with each other.
Why Psychotherapy Works
In addition to the more specific benefits associated with particular types of therapy, there are some benefits that all therapy types share.
Mental health benefits of therapy include:
- helping you make positive changes in your life
- teaching you healthy coping strategies
- improving your relationship skills
- boosting your self-esteem
In addition, psychotherapy encourages people to identify and address feelings and situations they might otherwise try to ignore. While addressing these experiences may cause discomfort at first, it’s an important step toward recovery from mental illness and addiction.
Start Your Recovery At Ohio Recovery Center
Psychotherapy often works best when combined with other treatment methods, such as support groups, medication therapy or management, wellness activities, and others offered at ORC. Our treatment team will help you determine which methods will best meet your personal needs.
To learn more about our psychotherapy options, please reach out to Ohio Recovery Center.
- American Journal of Psychotherapy - Exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11977784/
- American Psychological Association — Understanding psychotherapy and how it works https://www.apa.org/topics/psychotherapy/understanding
- Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2247440/
- The Permanente Journal — The Role of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy in Medicine: Addressing the Psychological and Physical Symptoms Stemming from Adverse Life Experiences https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3951033/
- Psychiatry https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963469/