Holistic Treatment
Treating a drug or alcohol addiction requires that people cleanse the damaging substances from their systems and receive counseling that helps them remain drug-free for the rest of their lives. This type of treatment works, but some people have been thinking that something is missing. The void that traditional rehabilitation has left can be filled with holistic treatment.
What Is Holistic Treatment?
Holistic treatment is not considered to be one specific type of therapy. The term covers something very broad that encompasses any type of treatment that is guided by a particular philosophy. The most accurate definition of holistic treatment is that it cures the entire person. The addict’s mental health, physical well-being, emotional state and spiritual considerations are all taken into account with holistic treatment.
People addicted to drugs or alcohol will be able to choose a holistic therapy that adheres to their belief systems and follows this philosophy throughout the treatment process.
Holistic treatment takes into account that people are not just physically addicted to substances. They will also take solace in drugs and alcohol for the following reasons:
- They succumb to peer pressure
- They are experiencing stress in their lives
- They want to take away feelings of loneliness
- They are in emotional pain
- They feel the need to rebel against something or someone
- They are using drugs or alcohol as a way of self-medicating
How Traditional Rehabilitation Centers Work
Holistic treatment can help you be drug free in a natural way.
It’s rare to find an addict who is only physically addicted, only emotionally addicted or only mentally addicted. What holistic practitioners have found is that people are often addicted physically, emotionally and mentally and that a spiritual side is lacking. People who enter into traditional rehabilitation treatment centers will receive treatment for their physical, emotional and mental addictions. This begins with the detoxification process to move people through the withdrawal symptoms and physical addiction and counseling to help with the emotional and mental part of addiction. These treatment centers have many successes to point to, but some people require more from a rehabilitation center than these programs can provide. The alternative of holistic treatment will address the physical, emotional and mental addictions as it also adds a spiritual component to the process.
How Holistic Treatment Is Different
Holistic treatment comprises of many different ways of healing a person. Of course, each holistic treatment center will need to address the physical addiction with the detoxification process. Once detox is over, medical professionals know that people cannot be left to return to their daily lives without undergoing any counseling, and this is true of holistic treatment centers as well. The added component in holistic treatment is that the patients will be able to work with their counselors to discover exactly what spiritual treatment will be best for them. If the addicts need to continue with these spiritual practices after they leave the rehabilitation center, they will, most likely, be able to do so.
Types of Holistic Therapy
Addicts will be able to find holistic treatment centers that offer massage, yoga, acupuncture, meditation, organic diets, Reiki, equine therapy, sweat lodges, adventure therapy, nutritional supplements, spiritual exploration, physical exercise and saunas. Every one of the above holistic therapies is designed to help people explore their inner selves. The bonuses to these holistic therapies are that they promote a sense of well-being, they help increase people’s self worth and they lead them toward a healthier way of managing difficult issues. The combination of holistic therapies and traditional psychotherapy has the potential to bring addicts into a sustainable sobriety.
The Benefits of Holistic Treatment
The purpose of holistic treatment is to help the addicts discover what caused their addictions. Once people have completed a holistic treatment program, they can claim to have received at least these four benefits:
- A Physical Benefit – The detoxification process cleanses the body of the drug’s or alcohol’s toxins, but holistic therapy also improves the person’s health and physical fitness.
- An Emotional Benefit – Because addicts’ emotional growth has been stunted due to drug use, they receive therapy to help them catch up to where they need to be currently.
- A Mental Benefit – Since a large percentage of people with drug addictions are also suffering from mental illnesses, holistic treatment centers have psychiatrists who are ready to address these issues.
- A Spiritual Benefit – People have a chance to reconnect with their old faith or to discover new ideas.
Holistic treatment may be the rehabilitation program that people who have entered into traditional therapies need to take them further into sobriety. Of course, those entering rehab for the first time are welcome as well.
