Addiction is a mental health condition that debilitates a person’s ability to function in society and enjoy life. Addiction is a physical or psychological dependence on a psychoactive substance or high-risk behavior that impedes the ability to function in society. Addiction harms both the victim and the victim’s close relations.
Addiction negatively affects physical health, intimate relationships, job performance, and overall quality of life. Addiction’s predisposing factors are varied but include genetics, chronic stress, a history of trauma, mental illness, and a family history of addiction.
In many cases, addiction is a form of self-medication that helps people suffering from addiction cope with underlying trauma or mental health issues.
Psychotherapy is a mental health service that helps people suffering from addiction understand the impact of their addiction on their life and those around them and helps them develop healthy coping strategies to heal from addiction.
The American Psychological Association (APA) finds that behavioral therapy reduces the harmful behaviors and substance abuse patterns associated with addiction. Trained mental health providers like those at Restorations Health Group help patients gain control over their lives by guiding them through the recovery process.
Located in Anaheim, California, Restorations Health Group offers a spectrum of therapy treatments designed to help patients identify the root cause of their addiction, change their patterns of abuse, and improve their quality of life with healthy coping mechanisms.
Psychotherapy is an umbrella term that includes psychiatry, psychology, and other mental health disciplines intended to help patients cope with emotional or mental trauma.
Psychotherapies employ different approaches according to a patient’s needs to assuage the undesirable effects of mental illness. Psychotherapy treatment may include talk sessions, psychoanalysis, counseling, psychosocial therapy, and other mental health services, either in isolation or jointly.
There is a common misconception that psychotherapy is ineffective and intended for people who cannot help themselves. These assumptions are incorrect and harmful to the well-being of people who struggle to lead rich and fulfilling lives because of mental illness.
Western societies have long stigmatized mental health issues and psychotherapy, but public perceptions are shifting as we learn more about the benefits and efficacy of psychotherapy treatments.
The discipline of psychotherapy dates to antiquity, when Greek philosophers inquired into the connection between medicine and mental health. For centuries, medical doctors, elders, and intellectuals have practiced the principles of psychotherapy under various cultural customs such as counseling, reassurance, and communing with elders.
The modern aversion to psychotherapy is predominantly social, and perceptions of early psychotherapy treatments may be to blame. In Western civilization, traditional medical professionals dismissed early forms of psychotherapy.
It took the development of Sigmund Freud’s “talking cure,” an early form of psychotherapy intended to help children with learning disabilities, for a small subset of medical professionals to accept the medical significance of psychotherapy’s principles and techniques.
Modern psychotherapy has evolved dramatically since Freud. Scientific advances in brain imaging and psychological practices have debunked Freud’s theories with scientific certainty. Psychotherapy now uses quantitative data and theories rigorously tested by psychology professionals trained in neurological science to diagnose and treat patients.
Today, psychotherapy treatments like those used at Restorations Health Group in Southern California, involve collaborative empiricism between medical and mental health professionals to relieve symptoms of mental health issues in a safe space.
Psychologists practice many forms of psychotherapy today. Two of the most popular forms are systems therapy and transpersonal psychology. Systems therapy improves an individual’s relationship with society, while transpersonal psychology helps individuals navigate the spiritual experiences of human life, such as birth, loss, religious worship, prayer, and meditation.
There is a broad spectrum of psychotherapy approaches, but all forms employ a strict code of ethics that delineates the patient-therapist relationship and best practices for achieving therapy’s desired outcomes, namely improved social function and increased sense of self.
Additionally, many psychotherapists are interdisciplinary professionals, utilizing the methods and theories from various medical disciplines to treat their patients.
Since 1993, the APA, a respected body of scientific researchers, psychologists, and other psychotherapy professionals, has conducted research to scientifically validate psychotherapy as a medical treatment for mental health disorders and performed public outreach to inform biased populations of psychotherapy’s benefits and lack of side effects.
Recent scientific literature shows psychotherapy treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy can help identify and change harmful behavioral patterns caused by mental illness.
Moreover, psychotherapy can help make patients feel more comfortable with themselves by improving their self-esteem and helping them develop healthy coping strategies.
Modern psychotherapy may also utilize therapeutic drug regimens to help patients achieve the desired outcomes of therapy. Research has shown pharmacological therapies used in combination with psychotherapy can greatly increase the likelihood of successful treatment or mitigation of severe mental health issues such as schizophrenia.
This collaborative approach to mental health also has marked benefits for people suffering from anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other mental disorders.
Above all, the success of therapy depends on open and honest communication between the patient and the therapist. At Restorations Health Group in Anaheim, California, our compassionate staff has helped thousands of patients overcome the difficulties of mental health disorders in a confidential, welcoming, and supportive environment.
Different types of psychotherapy use different approaches to treat patients according to their mental health needs. Restorations Health Group in Southern California offers a spectrum of mental health services including:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Cognitive behavioral therapy helps patients understand how their thinking and behavior influences their daily life. A psychologist helps the patient develop new patterns of thinking and behaving that improve their daily social function.
Psychodynamic therapy: Psychodynamic therapy unpacks learned behaviors, or trauma, from childhood to help patients develop self-awareness and practice healthy behavior. A therapist may prescribe certain activities such as journaling to help patients reflect on their life experiences and draw new insight into their mental health.
Supportive therapy: Supportive therapy helps patients develop coping strategies to help themselves. Supportive therapy improves symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions by improving a patient’s critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and perception of reality.
Interpersonal therapy (IPT): IPT is a short-term psychotherapy regime where a psychologist or therapist helps a patient understand how relationships work and how these relationships are affected by mental health conditions.
Dialectical behavior therapy: This is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy where a psychologist or therapist helps a patient understand and control strong emotions that negatively impact daily life. Dialectical behavior therapy treatment plans often include individual and group therapy sessions.
Over half of psychotherapy patients report or show quantifiable signs of improved mental and social function.
During psychotherapy, a trained psychologist or therapist helps you navigate the complexity of behavioral and cognitive issues that make the routine functions of daily life difficult. In instances where psychotherapy does not directly improve social and mental function, it has been shown to increase a patient’s peace of mind about their condition.
The benefits of psychotherapy treatment may be concrete, such as fewer sick days because of mental health collapse, or abstract, such as increased self-esteem. In either case, psychotherapy helps patients feel comfortable in their skin and improves how they function in society.
Research has also shown that improved mental and social functions derived from psychotherapy indirectly improve overall health. Patients who have an open and honest relationship with their therapist and diligently practice their treatment plan are more likely to identify and change behaviors that reduce their quality of life.
Although the benefits of psychotherapy vary from patient to patient according to their unique situation, brain imaging shows that therapy sessions do positively influence brain function. The brains of psychotherapy patients often show improved function in cognitive ability and mood regulation.
Often the changes detected in brain function after psychotherapy treatment mirror the results achieved by therapeutic drug regimes, but with the added benefit of fewer physically harmful side effects.
Not everyone who visits a psychologist or therapist has a mental health condition. Many people with conventional life issues such as marital stress, family trauma, or work-related conflicts attend therapy sessions to work through their feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
Restorations Health Group in Anaheim, California is a judgment free-zone staffed by nondiscriminatory medical professionals eager to help patients improve their mental health.
Psychotherapy can help mental health conditions and personality disorders like:
Anxiety disorders: disorders characterized by intense feelings of fear or worry that prevent patients from completing routine tasks. Examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Mood disorders: disorders characterized by a distorted or inconsistent emotional state that interferes with a patient’s ability to function. Examples of mood disorders are depression and mania.
Addictions: characterized by a proclivity to engage in high-risk or self-harming behaviors. Over time, addictions alter the brain’s reward system to weaken self-control. Addictions may include substance abuse or frequent engagement in self-harming behaviors, such as gambling.
Eating disorders: characterized by an unhealthy relationship with food, either eating too much or too little based on a distorted perception of reality. Examples of eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia.
Personality disorders: disorders characterized by rigid and distorted perceptions of reality that affect social communication and daily function. Examples of personality disorders are bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.
Psychotic disorders: disorders characterized by a severe and persistent detachment from reality. Psychotic disorders often include delusions, hallucinations, and agitation.
Psychotherapy treatment also helps people without mental health conditions. Psychotherapy helps patients resolve conflict, manage anxiety and stress, cope with trauma, manage unhealthy reactions, acknowledge ongoing health problems, and improve sleep quality.
Psychotherapy helps reduce the need for mental health services over time, increases a patient’s quality of life, and reduces the need for lifelong therapeutic drug regimes. In most cases, psychotherapy teaches patients lifelong skills that last beyond treatment, increasing their self-reliance.
A meta-analysis conducted by the APA of peer-reviewed articles concerning the efficacy of psychotherapy concluded that therapy sessions are beneficial for a diverse demographic of people, with positive health impacts that outlast pharmacological treatments alone.
The effectiveness of psychotherapy depends on the particular state of a patient’s mental health, the type of mental health professional visited, the severity of the patient’s condition, how much stress the patient experiences, the patient’s family involvement and support system, how much the patient’s condition interferes with daily life, and the patient’s insurance coverage.
Research and meta-analyses show psychotherapy is an effective addiction treatment. Patients suffering from addiction have improved their mental health condition through psychotherapy by identifying and changing harmful behaviors, becoming self-aware of the impact their behaviors have on others, and unpacking the motivations for addiction.
Psychotherapy also provides patients recovering from addiction with a support system to guide them through the healing process and limit the chance of a relapse.
In many cases, addiction is a coping mechanism for patients. Psychotherapy helps patients replace addiction with healthy coping strategies designed to improve a patient’s self-worth. These healthy coping strategies are effective long-term strategies that reduce morbidity and disability caused by addiction in vulnerable populations.
Psychotherapy also utilizes individual and group therapy to contextualize addiction disorders within a broader social network. A large, supportive social network of friends, family, and recovering patients helps a patient process the negative emotions associated with seeking medical treatment.
Addiction is often associated with feelings of guilt or shame. At Restorations Health Group in Anaheim, we understand that addiction is a complex and debilitating mental health condition with lifelong consequences. Our trained staff of medical professionals utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to help patients recover from addiction in a safe, open, and honest environment.
It is important not to self-diagnose when exploring the types of disorders psychotherapy can help treat. Doing so may increase feelings of dread, guilt, or shame associated with seeking treatment and prevent you or a loved one from seeking proper medical attention.
If you or a loved one is suffering from addiction or other mental health conditions, call Restorations Health Group located in Southern California at (877) 578-0708 to explore treatment options confidentially with a trained medical professional.
