Living With Healthy Hunger Health Blog
Treatment for drug and alcohol rehab isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Not everyone responds to a 12-Step program solely. However, they may respond when other approaches are used simultaneously. One option you may find at a Costa Mesa rehab is experiential therapy. This particular treatment focuses on experiences. It could benefit you or a loved one by exposing him or her to different experiences to help cope with emotions.
Definition of Experiential Therapy
In general, experiential therapy is a variety of therapy that gives rehab patients the ability to use tools or activities to target and cope with emotions or memories. For example, the therapy may address previous or current situations in the lives of individuals to help them sort through emotions.
Types of Experiences
The experiences a patient is given varies based on the clinic. However, one example may be a role-playing activity. During this, a person acts out a previous event or one affecting him or her now. This helps the person to get in touch with his or her feelings about the happenings, especially if he or she tried to block the situation out. It’s a way to release thoughts or emotions and help a person to move on.
Art therapy is another option. A person gets an opportunity to be creative and express himself or herself. It could be an opportunity to get in touch with emotions that the person has been keeping bottled up. It’s also a way to build confidence and discover interests a person may not have known he or she had.
Animal-assisted therapy is sometimes part of experiential therapy. It consists of the person spending time with a trained animal, sometimes caring for that animal. Pets have been shown to benefit people’s overall health. Specifically, an animal may help manage anxiety and depression, two emotions that often go hand-in-hand with drug and alcohol addiction.
Benefits of Experiential Therapy
For one, not everyone opens up immediately when they visit a Costa Mesa rehab. Unfortunately, being open and honest helps a counselor get to the root of the problem and help with the healing process. With experiential therapy, a person is able to express him or herself in a non-intimidating manner that doesn’t require a person to feel vulnerable like talk therapies often do.
Additionally, a person may find a new hobby that can help him or her cope with stress in the future. It can also help a person learn to stay busy to keep his or her mind off of substance usage.
This type of therapy can improve self-esteem and assist with managing mental health issues that are often synonymous with drug and alcohol abuse.
You may find that a Costa Mesa rehab offers experiential therapy. Before you choose that rehab, you should understand what this therapy is and how it could benefit you or your loved one.
