Have you undergone trauma treatment as part of your drug or alcohol rehab? Did you relapse? Did the therapy fail to meet your individual needs because of a generic approach to treatment? Find out about other options open to you right now.
Understanding the Importance of Treatment for Trauma in a Rehab Setting
Depression and anxiety are significant triggers for addictive behaviors. But did you know that developing these psychiatric disorders in response to trauma is possible? As a result, you not only deal with an addiction and a co-occurring mental health challenge but also trauma. What started out as a way to keep unwelcome thoughts or feelings at bay turned into chemical dependency.
Staff members at many trauma treatment centers at a rehab facility understand this problem. However, few can target the traumatic experience efficiently enough to bring about healing. For someone in recovery, this calls for a variety of modalities to work together. Moreover, all therapies must feature custom approaches for each program participant.
Where Trauma Treatment May Fall Short
Although experts agree that including therapy for trauma is a must, application of this commitment varies. One trauma treatment, for example, will be vastly different from another center’s idea of therapy. Moreover, what happens in one setting can be different from the treatments that clients in another enjoy. There are some problems that can crop up.
Case in point is the narrow understanding of the term. One person’s trauma may be another individual’s sad episode. Most anyone agrees that rape, assault, or victimization qualify as traumatic experiences. Would the same understanding apply to a car or bicycle accident?
In reality, an event is traumatic if you experienced it as trauma. It doesn’t matter if it meets a general litmus test. Too many trauma treatment applications fail to recognize this fact. As a result, your trauma remains without treatment and turns into a relapse potential.
Another shortcoming is the use of a generic treatment approach. Doing so contradicts the essence of effective rehab in general and trauma treatment in particular. For example, some situations present as single-event traumas while others are ongoing. It’s impossible to treat both conditions the same way.
Integrating Treatment the Right Way
To make trauma treatment work in recovery, all modalities must base their content on this crucial piece of information. Examples of such therapies include:
- Dual diagnosis treatment for co-occurring mental health challenges you’re experiencing right now
- Individual therapy for behavioral pattern recognition and changes that you want to make
- Group therapy sessions as vehicles for addiction education and relapse prevention strategizing
- Family therapy, which opens the door to ending co-dependency and establishing healthy borders
- Sexual behavior treatment that helps you redefine a healthy sense of closeness with another person
Having a continuum of care in place is vital. Assuming that you decide to participate in residential treatment, you will not experience sudden healing at discharge. Instead, you transition to independent living. For many trauma survivors, this step can seem daunting.
A good-quality facility offers you transitional living as an option. It’s the step between residential care and living on your own. At this stage, you live with peers in recovery and participate in running a household. But you still meet with a therapist and participate in an intensive outpatient program.
Finding a Trauma Treatment Opportunity that Has Helped People in Recovery from Chemical Dependency
The Santé Center for Healing in Argyle, TX, has invested in the trauma treatment aspect of its care. You don’t have to continue the vicious cycle of drug abuse, caused by trauma. Call 866-238-3154 today to find out what therapists at this treatment center can do for you.