Does Addiction Counseling Help

Addiction counseling can help as long as you have the willingness to surrender your ego and follow the suggestions wholeheartedly. Counseling can show you the path to recovery. The process of counseling may span for a few weeks, months, or even years. It depends on the intensity and impact on your personal life, professional life, family life, and other aspects. Addiction could be related to substance abuse, medical drugs, steroids, behavioral addiction, eating, pornography, masturbation, etc.

The process of recovery could be a lifelong endeavor. There is a possibility of relapsing to your old habits and addiction at any time during recovery. A counselor can give you certain psychological tools to sue when you are in crisis. You should be able to use your wisdom and exercise them on time, every time.

Why Quit Addiction

A counselor can give you the practical reasons for quitting the addiction and staying sober. The primary reason for going to the counselor is that you no longer enjoy your addiction. It has become a pain. For example, let us consider the alcoholic addiction.

The first drink you enjoyed, in the beginning, has transformed into absolute dependence. You can’t manage your everyday life without a drink. But the tragedy is that you can’t manage your life after the drink also. Unmanageability is killing your body, mind, and the spirit.

Quitting addiction can restore your physical health. It can keep you serene and sober. You can enjoy your personal and professional life. It gets organized and disciplined. You can regain your self-respect, social and family acceptance, peace of mind, and a comfortable lifestyle. A counselor can make you realize all the aspects.

Acceptance is the First Milestone

The first step to recovery is the acceptance of powerlessness over addiction and unmanageability of life. When you accept your utter defeat, the counseling starts working positively

Withdrawal Symptoms

It is easier to get sober from an addiction. What matters is staying sober for the rest of your life. Sometimes you may get a feeling that life without your favorite substance could be hell. The fear of facing reality may drive you back into addiction at any time during counseling and recovery. It is the relapse. Counseling tells clearly you about the critical points of temptation.

Hunger can be one of the triggering points of relapse. Restlessness can spring from anger and resentment. Physical stress and fatigue is the other triggering point. Loneliness can drive you mad and push you to relapse.

Counseling can help you to overcome such everyday problems. It gives you a set of simple psychological and spiritual tools to overcome your addictive behavior. Counseling can be helpful in the following aspects.

· Craving for addiction dissolves

· You can identify the root causes of addiction

· You get strength and courage to live without the substance

· You can enjoy your life and strive for contentment

· You learn to be restful and peaceful

· Your resentments towards the external world reduce slowly but surely

· You become honest to admit your defects

· You start working towards solutions

· Mental obsession for substances remains in control

· You understand that recovery from addiction is a lifelong process, one-day-at-a-time

Craving

Craving is the ultimate destructor of logic and orderly thinking. You may stay resolved never to touch that drink today, no matter what. Then you get an annoying call from your spouse, boss, employee, or others to give you terrible news. Frustration makes you stretch your hand and grab that drink and gulp it down.

Once you start, there is no end. The drink knocks you out for the day. Counseling can help you overcome the craving for substance misuse when the craving strikes. You may eat a bar of chocolate, an ice cream or a cake. Then you call your counselor and ask for guidance. Counseling saves you from a horrible day out with drinks (or the other substance).

Root Causes

The substance (let us consider the example of alcohol) gave you joy, entertainment, fun and strength in the first few days/months/years. Now it has become a liability. You can neither live with it nor without it. Any external stimulation can drive you to relapse because the internal balance is lost. Counseling can diagnose the root causes in your conscious mind. An experienced counselor can even probe into your subconscious mind through behavioral observation. Then he can determine the root causes and try to reduce their intensity of impact.

Strength and Courage

Addiction always makes you think of that “satisfying drink” which quenches your insatiable thirst and gives you an illusion of satisfaction. It is a chain reaction which needs more drinks every day. Counseling gives you strength and courage to live your life without addictions.

Counseling gives meaning to your life. You start valuing your health and fitness, sanity, and sobriety more than ever before.

Contentment

Counseling gives you contentment in life. You can start your progressive life from the start and strive for happiness. The probability of relapsing decreases considerably with time.

Rest and Peace

The food you eat tastes tastier than ever before. You can relax and stay calm. The moments of anxiety and restlessness reduce considerably. You learn how to be in peace and harmony with your mind.

Resentment

Resentment towards the others is stated to be a major cause of addiction and relapse. Counseling teaches you the art of taking responsibility for the results of tour actions. Then you know how to accept your defects and stay away from resentments.

Obsession

Counseling can reduce the mental obsession for the addiction. It is a gradual process which takes time and effort on your part. Counseling can simplify this process and streamline it. You can postpone the addiction for the next hour and day. Soon it becomes a habit. Counseling helps you to replace the obsessive behavior for addiction with a positive habit. Then you can easily start leading a healthy and sober life.

If you have any physical or medical issues resulting from long-term addiction, it is better to start your counseling after DETOXING your body and brain from the substance.