Using REBT for Addiction Treatment Support

Master Your Mindset: Using REBT for Addiction Treatment Support | Purpose Healing

1. Uncovering Irrational Beliefs that Hold You Back

One of the first things you’ll do in alcohol and drug addiction treatment is identify the thoughts that lead to a spiral of substance abuse. Emotional distress of all kinds can serve as a trigger for turning to booze and drug abuse to cope.

A therapist’s initial task is to get to the root cause of substance use and pinpoint where these negative emotions are coming from. For example, you might have belief systems that tell you you’re not a good person or that your life is worthless. You may be telling yourself you can’t cope without substances.

Once you can spot an irrational belief that might be holding you back, you and your therapist can begin challenging irrational beliefs one by one.

2. Disputing Irrational Beliefs with New Thoughts

Unfortunately, there will be a gaping hole in your life where those irrational beliefs once reigned. When you want to improve your mental health, you will need to create adaptive beliefs that bridge the gap. If you find yourself at a loss for how to combat negative emotions, a therapist can help reframe them.

For example, you might think that an onslaught of stress at work forces you to have a few drinks at the local happy hour. Once you start addiction treatment, that thought might need to transform to a more productive belief like: I don’t enjoy the added responsibility at work, but I’m capable of handling it sober.

Every time you spot one of your irrational beliefs at work in your life, you’ll need to recite the thought that you and your rational emotive behavioral therapy deemed to be more productive. This can improve performance in other areas of your life as well.

3. Key Concepts to Reinforce Rational Beliefs

Once rational emotive therapy helps with identifying irrational beliefs, it’s time to think about all of the strategies that you may want to employ to anchor your new beliefs. This means that your therapist will work with you to fill up a toolbox of coping mechanisms you can turn to when the inner noise feels way too loud.

Some individuals will only need new positive behaviors to replace their old habits. Journaling or a series of grounding exercises may be helpful at this stage. However, some find it helpful to roleplay scenarios they find tricky. Practicing new behaviors in a safe environment can be a great way to bridge the gap as you grow.

Eventually, you will feel more resilient and can achieve self or radical acceptance of your thoughts.

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Using the ABC Model (Activating Event, Belief, and Consequence)

While those tenets of disputing irrational beliefs are certainly helpful, the ABC model developed by the founder, Albert Ellis, makes the process visual. Your mental health exists as a triad, much like it does in cognitive behavioral therapy. It all starts at the top of the triangle with an activating event.

An activating event is the trigger that brings any of your irrational beliefs to the surface. You may find that you have multiple triggers for the same unhelpful or destructive thought, so be sure to dig deep in therapy and note when those beliefs surface.

The belief rises to the surface and creates a consequence if it isn’t rerouted to a more positive belief. These can include behavioral consequences, such as losing your job due to an outburst or a slip from sobriety. However, they can also be emotional consequences, like fueling an anxiety spike or feeling worthless due to a lack of control.

When you learn to interrupt the triad at the top (your activating event), you can improve outcomes later in the process. Fight back against irrational beliefs, and you might just find that all of your actions and feelings respond in a positive way, too.

How Does REBT Differ from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

If you have been in addiction treatment for a while, you might have already experienced other types of therapy to improve mental health concerns. Most of the time, therapists will start with a foundation of cognitive behavioral therapy as they assess which treatment modalities are the best fit.

CBT might seem quite similar to REBT on the surface and for good reason: REBT is a type of CBT that can be particularly useful for addiction treatment.

In cognitive-behavioral therapy, clients will note cognitive distortions, much as they do in REBT. One of the main differences is that CBT will target your automatic thoughts and replace them with specific skill-building exercises that improve the situation. The results are often faster, and you can do the steps on your own once your therapist teaches the technique.

Like REBT, there is a triad model for how mental health improves with CBT. It starts with your thoughts, which ultimately influence your feelings and, later, your actions. If you can create a healthier thought at the start of the cycle, you can interrupt the cycle and choose a different outcome.

In other words, there is a place for both CBT and rational emotive behavior therapy when it comes to a robust addiction treatment program.

What are the Benefits of REBT in Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment?

Purpose Healing Center offers a range of therapeutic interventions to address underlying distorted thinking patterns. Rational emotive behavioral therapy may not be the most well-known modality for your therapist to use, but it offers several excellent benefits.

Here are four reasons to explore REBT with your therapist as you work to improve your substance use in a clinical setting.

Best for Short-Term Therapy Sessions in Addiction Recovery

The good news is that REBT for addiction doesn’t require years of intensive sessions. Some research has found that results can surface in just a few months with regular weekly sessions with a clinician. Each of your therapy sessions addresses current negative self-talk and provides feedback to help you adopt healthy beliefs instead.

There isn’t much reason to dig deep into your psyche for the reason why you started drinking or using drugs in the first place. It’s all about how your therapist can help you in the here and now.

If you want tangible tools you can use to change irrational beliefs without committing to years of work with your therapist, REBT is a great option.

Notable Improvement in Mental Health

Mental health challenges can make it difficult for you to have healthy emotional responses. Many of the people who enter addiction treatment find that they have underlying conditions that worsen and even intensify their substance abuse. One in four adults with a serious mental health issue will also struggle with addiction.

Once you get irrational thoughts rerouted to a more positive place, some research points to the fact that REBT can alleviate some mental health concerns like depression and anxiety.

The result is that some people may be able to reduce the amount of mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and other psychiatric medications that they need to counteract their condition. It can even help with a persistent low mood, even if you have never been diagnosed with depression.

Improvement in Relationships and Reparation from Past Damage

If you’re lucky enough to have a support system around when you enter substance abuse treatment, it may be time to consider strengthening those relationships. Oftentimes, your negative emotions and the behavioral consequences of those negative beliefs isolate you and destroy intimate relationships.

A therapist can help facilitate family therapy sessions when appropriate and helpful to the client. They will learn alongside you how distorted beliefs and mental health conditions impact substance use.

Piece by piece, your therapist can walk you through a series of exercises to repair those relationships. Psychological interventions can extend beyond the client enrolled in treatment to the people who will ultimately support the client when they eventually leave treatment to return to regular life.

You’ll learn more than just rational thought patterns. Everyone involved learns about healthy boundaries and open communication, giving you a place to talk freely about negative thoughts and search for some kind of unconditional life acceptance.

Greater Resilience and Independence After Treatment

Treatment providers at Purpose Healing Center have one major goal for clinical psychology sessions: to help you build resilience and foster independence once your treatment is over. We want you to live a full and happy life without returning to treatment for a relapse. REBT for addiction is just one way to do that.

As you work through those self-defeating beliefs, you will get used to challenging cognitive distortions on your own. Recognize negative emotions and thought patterns early so that you can guide yourself to healthier coping strategies.

Even when you mess up, you recognize that it doesn’t mean the end of the world. You will have another chance to try again tomorrow. You may even have a chance to try again in a few minutes.

REBT therapy is easy to internalize after months of therapy sessions with a professional. You’ll reduce emotional distress and build resilience on your own, long after we treat addiction head-on.