The 5 benefits of group therapy in the treatment of addictions

Addiction is a neuropsychological disease that, as it establishes itself in the mind of the affected person, makes it more and more closed in on itself. Locked in the constant search for ways to alleviate the discomfort generated by withdrawal, in the avoidance of places and situations in which there is no easy access to drugs, in the constant search for money to pay for the consumption of substances etc

Bearing this in mind, the idea that, to overcome an addiction, the solution is not only in intervene in the individual and in the psychological processes that begin and end in his mind, in the functioning of his brain. However, that is the reality, and that is why group therapy is very helpful in offering professional help to people suffering from addiction. In other words, a good part of the therapeutic resources that will help them recover their lives consist of going beyond their individual experiences and interacting with others. Let's see why.

What is group therapy and what does it propose?

Group therapy is, as has already been started in its name, a form of intervention psychotherapeutic in which several people participate at the same time and there is not only a patient and a professional of Mental health. But neither should it be confused with family therapy or couples therapy; here, the people who come for help usually don't know each other, even though they have similar problems.

In the case of addiction treatment, attendees often experience either the same type of addiction, or somewhat different variants, always in the field of impulse control problems and the discomfort generated by the abstinence. Throughout the sessions, which are carried out periodically (for example, once or twice a week), the therapists act as facilitators of a series of activities that almost always revolve around communication, mutual support and the development of social skills and emotional management.

In most cases, group therapy is combined with other types of intervention in the formed of individualized psychological therapy, to address the mental health problem from various scopes.

• Related article: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

The main benefits of group therapy for people with addictions

Here we summarize what are the main advantages and beneficial effects of group therapy for addiction cases.

1. Offers constant examples and references on coping with addiction

One of the most satisfying and exciting aspects that addicted people find in group therapy sessions is being able to be inspired by people who have been able to make more progress than yourself and, despite this, do not seem to be perfect nor have special abilities to face the temptation to relapse. Taking his example is a way of imagining a version of the "I" that has been able to burn several stages of the process of overcoming the addictive disorder.

• You may be interested in: "Detoxification: what it is and how it is carried out in the body"

2. Gives the possibility to order ideas and express emotions

Addictions are pathologies that produce a large amount of discomfort and reasons to feel frustration, and accumulating all these experiences and leaving them unexpressed can cause psychological exhaustion important. Something as simple as having people willing to listen to our problems helps organize ideas, stop avoiding certain distressing memories or thoughts, and consequently, to better "tame" the discomfort accumulated, to putting it into words and delimiting its implications and its reach in our emotions, without exaggerating it or fearing the simple idea of ​​focusing our attention on it.

3. Create a support network

Having a series of familiar faces who accompany us in our process of overcoming a addiction helps generate a system of external sources of motivation, which gives us more reasons not to relapse. This occurs because participants in addiction group therapy learn to commit to their own well-being, since they understand that this is also linked to the well-being of others others; After all, everyone makes a group effort to motivate each other, to try not to give themselves reasons to be sad about what has happened to their partner.

• You may be interested in: "What to do to help someone with a drug addiction?"

4. Allows you to retrain social skills destroyed by addiction

Keep in mind that many people who have been suffering from the effects of addiction reach a point where they no longer know they feel able to communicate in a normal way with others, because they have seen many of their closest relationships break down significant.

This lack of self-confidence produces a self-sabotaging effect. and a self-fulfilling prophecy: they assume that "by default" they cause rejection in others and for this reason they get defensive easily. For this reason, group therapy provides them with an ideal context to adequately redevelop their social skills.

5. It provides them with points of view to better manage the feeling of guilt

Many people who have suffered from addiction have an ambivalent relationship with guilt: they either assume that it is they deserve everything bad that has happened to them, or they blame others for their problems to manage the abstinence. Given this tendency to dichotomous thinking, group therapy is useful for learning to see things from other points of view. That is, to break with the habitual ways of interpreting reality.

Do you want to go to therapy to overcome an addiction?

If you are interested in starting a treatment for chemical or behavioral addictions, please contact us.

In recal clinic We are specialists in caring for patients suffering from addictive disorders and we offer both individualized medical and psychotherapeutic assistance as well as group therapy sessions. The intervention can be performed through outpatient care or through residential treatment in our fully equipped clinic. You will find us in Majadahonda.