Talk therapy, or psychotherapy, involves discussions between someone and a mental health professional to resolve problems with emotions, feelings, and behaviors. Psychotherapy is the prescription for mental health conditions, including substance use disorders, promoting healing of the mind.
Mental health professionals use active listening to provide empathetic validation to the client that their feelings and emotions make sense. The chain of discussions allows the therapist to lead the client to examine thought processes, unresolved feelings, and emotions that lead to unproductive and harmful behaviors. These include using drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Talk Therapy Overview
The mental health profession provides evidence-based therapies. This means the effectiveness and success of the treatment is successful and therapeutic in resolving mental health conditions. In addition, they help with substance use disorders. People also refer to psychotherapy as counseling or therapy between a mental health professional and a person with specific challenges.
Mental health professionals utilize talk therapy. It helps their clients understand the foundation of a mental condition and how it develops. Discussions between therapist and client can help identify how to recognize and relieve problematic symptoms of their condition.
These essential discussions are vital to healing. Additionally, they help clients make conscious changes in their behavior to be healthy and positive moving forward. Researchers collect data to prove the effectiveness of therapies. Hence, they rely upon them as building blocks of a treatment plan.
According to The National Institute on Mental Health, talk therapy provides effective treatment. This occurs by the client communicating personal beliefs, emotions, feelings, and admitting damaging behavior patterns. This goal of healing through treatment is for the trained therapist to lead the client toward identifying, understanding, and resolving personal traumas, mental health conditions, and dysfunctional behaviors to improve self-awareness and esteem.
What Are The Types and Their Benefits?
Conversations between therapists and clients are essential tools for different types of therapy. To obtain a license, mental health professionals must receive education, training, an internship, and certification, which takes 3 to 5 years to complete.
Of course, various certification and licensure levels result in further commitments of time and education. The therapist plays an integral role in the success of each form of therapy because they must guide the discussions toward fruitful revelations.
Talk Therapy: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Using multiple types of therapy to address specific individual needs helps address a combination of issues. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) addresses changing behavior patterns for those who may have a dual diagnosis, both a substance use disorder and a mental health diagnosis, to identify harmful coping mechanisms.
Getting a sense of self-awareness and understanding of dealing with stressors healthily and positively can lead to healing and recovery. Linking thought processes to behaviors is taught through self-examination, validating emotions and feelings, and educating the client to build self-confidence and esteem.
Talk Therapy: Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Another type of talk therapy is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). This uses mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness to better help the client learn to navigate life. Those with a substance use disorder can utilize this therapy to maintain sobriety over the long term.
Learning to be present and in the moment offers a break from reacting quickly without thinking about the consequences. DBT is also a vital tool for identifying triggers that lead to challenges in behavior modification.
CBT Versus DBT for Addiction and Mental Health
Comparing the 2 types of talk therapy, cognitive-behavioral and dialectic-behavioral therapy, only points to their different outcomes. Individual therapy between a mental health professional and the client may begin with CBT. Someone can learn how to identify triggers, behaviors, and coping mechanisms that lead to substance use disorders or escalated mental health conditions.
Typically, CBT begins immediately after detoxification to address how to manage as a sober individual. Understanding how thought processes affect behavior is a critical tool in change. With the expansion of progress, DBT can take recovery further by incorporating tools to understand mindfulness. The critical foundation of DBT is introducing new topics to discuss and new tools to strive for longevity in sobriety or managing a mental health condition.
Personal growth can build quickly with new opportunities to understand how to increase self-esteem and self-regulation. Finally, CBT and DBT go hand in hand for a successful addiction and mental health treatment plan.
The Cons of Talk Therapy
Talk therapy can take time to see successful results, but the commitment to personal growth is worth investing time in. Unfortunately, some people want to see immediate results and may want to quit without quick validation for their efforts. It is difficult to lay the foundation for trust in sharing personal issues. It may take some time to build a bond with the therapist.
The therapist must consider each individual’s threshold for patience in feeling success in therapy and point to positive outcomes when they occur. For those struggling with talk therapy, it may be helpful to incorporate another form of positive reinforcement. This can include holistic or equine therapy as a supportive measure.
Group and Individual Therapy
Much like the difference between CBT and DBT, each therapy serves its purpose. Individual therapy lays the foundation for building trust and self-discovery one-on-one. In contrast, group therapy helps people form a peer group of people with similar experiences and future goals.
Group therapy is a group of individuals and a professional therapist for guidance and control of the discussion. Hearing others share similar experiences while learning to share personal information with the group is healing.
Support Groups Pros and Cons
Support groups can be a positive opportunity to continue to experience support after treatment. These groups can be helpful tools in maintaining sobriety and a healthy lifestyle after treatment. Unfortunately, some support groups do not include a mental health professional.
As a result, this may lead to disorganization or lack of control. Therefore, evaluating the truthfulness of the information in the debate is imperative to reap positive benefits for the group.
Reap the Benefits of Talk Therapies Near Tennessee
Open the door to the evidence-based therapies available near or around Tennessee and find the benefits leading to successful recovery. Tennessee Valley Recovery offers various treatment options that depend on talk therapy for successful outcomes in addiction treatment. There is hope for those who struggle with drug or alcohol addiction in their ideal settings.
Contact the center for more information and to enroll in a program to begin a sobriety journey.