Why Group Therapy is Essential in Addiction Treatment

Fighting drug addiction on your own can be a difficult, if not impossible task. Addiction is real and its impact on your health, relationships, career, and more cannot be underestimated. Kicking your drug habit isn’t merely a matter of will and strength. Plenty of mentally strong people succumb to drug addiction.

Fortunately, you don’t have to face your addiction alone. Group therapy can be an immensely powerful tool for combating addiction and getting your life back on track. Group therapy can provide support, will nurture you, and will also help you stay accountable.

At Soba Recovery, group therapy is one of the regular tools we use to help people fight and overcome addiction. Let’s look at some of the many benefits and why it’s so important to the recovery process.

The Benefits of Group Therapy in Addiction Recovery

Be with Others

A sense of community is a powerful feeling. When you take part in a drug rehab group therapy session, you’re joining a community of like-minded folks who want to kick their bad habits. Most if not all of the people in your group therapy session are interested in addiction treatment.

This comradery will help provide emotional support as you go through withdrawals and suffer cravings. Those who have successfully kicked the habit can be a positive inspiration and can help you set goals. Emotional encouragement can help you when times get tough as well.

Learn from Others

Group therapy is a learning experience. You can learn about other people and their shortcomings, including when and where they struggle with substance abuse. It’s hard to see your own flaws and shortcomings. We develop blind spots.

Group therapy makes it easier to recognize your own blind spots and to develop a more objective understanding of yourself, other drug users, and addiction in general. This will help you find a clearer path forward.

Eliminate Isolation

Many drug users become isolated from family, friends, coworkers, and more. Some drug users rarely come into contact with anyone who’s not an active drug addict. This can make it very difficult to kick your habits. When you’re surrounded by temptation, you’re more likely to give in.

Being isolated can leave you emotionally vulnerable as well. Group therapy will provide an environment in which you can enjoy the company of other people. Importantly, while these people will be drug users, they are also actively seeking addiction treatment.

Reduce Bad Peer Pressure

Group therapy will encourage good peer pressure and help you stay accountable. While other addicts will be in the room with you, they won’t be pressuring you into drug use. Far from it, they’ll be on the same path to recovery with you and can often hold you accountable.

Meanwhile, if you spend a lot of time around active drug users, there will be constant pressure to use drugs again and to join the crowd. This can make it impossible to stay clean.

Get Peer Advice

Your fellow drug addicts have walked many of the same roads as you. They know the many pitfalls and shortcomings. They know of many of the dangers. And they often know when to debunk poor excuses. Your peers can be a vital source of information. Learn to lean on it.

Get Professional Advice Too

At Soba Recovery, many of the group therapy sessions are mediated by trained drug counselors and psychologists. These professionals will be able to offer neutral, insightful advice and can leverage their years of experience in addiction treatment. Professional insights can go a long way when it comes to drug abuse.

Our professional drug treatment experts are not judgmental. Many know people personally who have suffered from drug abuse. Addiction is a health problem and requires medical and psychological treatment. Fortunately, we can provide that.

Get Your Life Back on Track with Group Therapy

Finally, and most importantly, group therapy will help you get your life back on track. Your career, personal relationships, family, and peer groups have almost certainly suffered as a result of addiction. There’s no point in beating yourself up over it, instead, you should work hard to break the cycle of addiction.

Group therapy in combination with individual therapy sessions and detoxing will help you restore your body to its normal physical and mental state. Beating addiction is hard, which is why it’s best to utilize multiple methods to fight addiction.

Soba Recovery has helped numerous people fight and beat addiction. No treatment approach is ever the same and we all face our own demons. Yet with perseverance and effort, you can combat and overcome your addiction.

Group therapy is available to both the patients in our live-in clinic and also outpatients. Soba Recovery’s trained professionals can help you uncover and address the root causes of addiction. You don’t have to fight substance abuse alone, let us help you and take your life back!

Why Exercise is Important in Sobriety

One of the things mentioned during nearly every addiction recovery program is how important it is to eat right and exercise throughout your sobriety. Not only do these things help get a body that has been beaten down back into shape, but exercise also offers other benefits that can ease cravings and keep you back on track. Let’s take a look at some of these benefits.

The Benefits of Exercise On Addiction Recovery

Exercise Can Provide Structure

  • One of the biggest things you learn in addiction recovery is that it helps to have a structure in your days because you need to fill in all that time previously spent imbibing. Joining a class that meets at a specific time, exercising with a group, or even creating your own daily schedule will all add more structure to your life.

Exercise Increases Your Mood

  • Exercise causes your brain to release those feel-good chemicals, endorphins. Everyone can benefit from that. In addition, as you watch your ability grow, find yourself walking further in less time, feeling healthier, you will gain pride in yourself that will want you to continue.

Exercise Increases Brain Growth

  • This is a scientific reality. While addicted, many pathways in your brain shut down from lack of use. When you exercise, the brain begins to utilize areas of the brain that have been lying quietly. This then helps create more neural pathways that lead to positive thoughts and feelings. Your brain begins to grow and come back alive.

Exercise Reduces Stress and Promotes Sleep

  • Think about a time when you were angry or upset and started pacing. At first, you may have been doing so at a very quick pace. As you continued, your steps began to slow, your mind began to clear, and you started to feel calmer. Exercise allows you to work off any negative emotions in a constructive way. As they dissipate, you can replace them with more positive ones. Once the stress is reduced, you can sleep deeper. This helps promote healing and overall rejuvenation of your body and mind.

Exercise Can Decrease Cravings

  • In studies, people trying to break free from nicotine addiction have been benefited by exercising through cravings, making quitting easier. This has also been the case with marijuana. While exercising, your mind becomes distracted as you focus on your body and the movements. Exercise helps you practice mindfulness and gives you a way to distract yourself from the cravings until they pass.

Exercise Can Create Connections

  • Exercising alone can be boring and that is why many people give up. However, there are many others who will be interested in the same type of exercise you choose. Having this common interest can help you make connections with people that you might not otherwise meet. These will be healthier connections. There are many walking and biking clubs. Simply joining a gym and maybe taking one class is another option. There are even some groups made up of others who are on the same sobriety journey as you. They will have the same interest and understand your journey.

Success Breeds Success

  • The more you find yourself improving in your chosen activity, the better you will feel. The better you feel mentally and physically, the more you will want to feel this. Your success will spread throughout all the areas of your life.

Final Thoughts

Exercise doesn’t have to be hours of weight-lifting, running a marathon, or aiming for the Olympics.  Your addiction recovery plan will most likely have you start slow. Start a walking routine, join a yoga group, or try Zumba dancing. Whatever gets you moving and causes you to enjoy the time will work. You can do this!

The Benefits of Going to Drug Detox

Unfortunately, tens of thousands of Americans die due to drug abuse each year. Illicit drugs are now a leading killer in the United States and families have been torn apart by addiction. However, help is available. The right drug rehab problem can help addicts break the cycle of addiction and allow people to get back on their feet. Attending a drug detox program carries many benefits with it.

Most importantly, a drug detox program will help you or a loved one address their addiction. Drug addiction can be very difficult to overcome. A detox program will provide support, encouragement, resources, and more. This will make it easier to kick addiction permanently. Let’s take a closer look at the many benefits of seeking addiction treatment.

Be Physically Strong

The initial stages of drug detox can be physically difficult. Withdrawal symptoms can be extremely hard to cope with and you may find yourself desperately craving drugs. It can be hard to quit drugs if you still have easy access to them as the addiction itself can be overpowering.

Fortunately, a detox program will help put distance between yourself and drugs. At the same time, the staff and medical professionals on hand will be able to help you cope with withdrawal. Over time, your brain will recover and will start to function like a normal, healthy brain.

As this happens, the hold the drug has on you will lessen. Eventually, you’ll regain your appetite for food and other simple pleasures. You’ll be healthier and will be able to enjoy a normal life once again.

Be Emotionally Prepared

While the physical ailments associated with drug abuse may be the most immediate, the emotional trauma can be every bit as debilitating. Many drug addicts feel immense amounts of guilt and/or struggle to process their emotions in a normal, healthy way. Many addicts are also dealing with burdensome personal relationship issues.

A detox program will give you space from these relationships, allowing you to come to terms with your addiction on your own. Detox and recovery will help you realize who your true friends and loved ones are.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, the staff at the drug detox program will be able to provide support and comfort. Kicking a drug habit is every bit an emotional challenge as it is a physical one. Trained professionals can prove invaluable.

Getting to a better place emotionally will make it easier for you to break your addiction. Just as importantly, emotional strength and health will provide a bulwark against future cravings.

You don’t have to combat your addiction alone. In a detox program, you’ll be surrounded by people who care and who will provide emotional support.

Get Your Career Back on Track

Drug addiction can disrupt your career, schooling, and more. Unfortunately, many people who become addicted to substances struggle to focus on work, studying and otherwise advancing. By seeking addiction treatment, you’ll be able to break the hold addiction has over you. In time, this will allow you to focus on and advance in your career.

Drugs ruin countless lives each year. Drug addiction can spark a cycle of defeat. Eventually, your cravings will strain your work and personal relationships. You may find yourself struggling to maintain a normal quality of life.

Detoxing will help restore your quality of life. You’ll be able to focus on your career again, study, and otherwise excel.

Get Your Finances in Order

Drug addiction can have a huge impact on your personal finances. Not only can addiction derail your career and earnings, but what money you do have is often wasted on your substance of choice. By seeking addiction treatment, you’ll break the cycle and won’t spend money on drugs. This way, you can save for a home, car, or whatever else is important for you.

Detox and Defeat Addiction

Breaking the cycle of addiction isn’t easy, but the benefits are exceptional. By seeking addiction treatment, you can get your life in order. You’ll be more successful in professional and personal affairs. Yet beating addiction is easier said than done.

Often, it’s all but impossible to break addiction on your own. However, by enrolling in a drug detox program, you can remove yourself from harmful situations and rely on professional, trained staffers who can help you fight and eventually overcome your addictions.

Soba Recovery is Here to Help

Drug addiction is a serious health problem and is often associated with various mental and physical ailments. Fortunately, by working with drug treatment experts, such as those at Soba Recovery, you can craft a customized addiction treatment plan that suits your needs. No two cases are alike and what works for one recovering addict won’t necessarily work for you.

What’s important is identifying the root causes of your addiction and treating your specific issues.

Why stress management is so important in Early Sobriety

Recovering from addiction is one of the most challenging things a person can ever go through. During the early stages of your sobriety, you will likely be your weakest. It is during this time that the chances of relapse at highest. This is why it is essential that you enter an addiction recovery program. Trying to quit cold turkey isn’t a good idea because it often doesn’t work, and it can also be dangerous.

In the early stages of recovery, you are almost like a ticking time bomb. It doesn’t take much to cause to turn to back to drugs or alcohol when you haven’t been sober for too long.

Stress and Relapse

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one of the leading causes of relapse is stress. When you begin to feel stressed or overwhelmed, you will be tempted to self-medicate using drugs and alcohol. You will think about the feeling that you got when you were high or drunk, and it seems like the best way to fight the stress that you are experiencing. Many addicts who relapse during stressful times promise themselves that it will be, “just this one time,” so that they can get through the stressful situation. Unfortunately, the one time often turns back into a full-blown addiction.

Signs That You Are Overly Stressed

According to the American Psychological Association, your body has ways of letting you know that you are stressed. In some cases, it is the physical symptoms of stress that are the most unbearable. These include:

  • Headaches
  • Muscle tension
  • Upset stomach
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Loss of appetite
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Jitters
  • Irritability
  • Forgetfulness
  • Anxiety

Trying To Manage the Stress

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to remove all stressors from your life. Going through recovery is a very stressful situation in itself. Fortunately, there are ways that you can reduce your stress and the symptom associated with it.

  • Focus on your breathing: Stress can quickly lead to panic, which can cause you to feel short of breath. In cases like this, you should focus on your breathing. This type of deep breathing will reduce the fight or flight response in your body, and it can help ground you. Within a few minutes, you will be more relaxed and less likely to relapse.
  • Talk: Trying to keep your problems inside is only going to increase your stress level. If you find yourself feeling stressed, before you think about self-medicating, you should reach out to a friend, family member, a counselor, or go to a meeting. Just talking about your problems can significantly reduce your stress.
  • Let go of what you can’t control: One way to create unnecessary stress in your life is to cling to the way that things were before your addiction took over your life. This isn’t something you can change, and you need to let it go. Revisiting a time when things were going well will only make your stress worse. If you have trouble letting go, it is something that you should discuss with a therapist.

Addiction Treatment Centers and Stress

When you check yourself into an addiction treatment center, you can avoid the stressors that are out there waiting for you in the real world. Sure, the stressors will still be there when you get out, but by then, you will be stronger, and you will have been clean longer.

While in treatment, you will have one-on-one therapy, where you can get to the root of your issues. When you are getting the help you need, it can reduce your stress. This isn’t something that you can get if you try to quit cold turkey.

If you are struggling with addiction, you should consider checking into Soba Mesa, a drug and alcohol treatment program in Mesa, Arizona. We offer a detox program to help get the drugs and alcohol out of your system safely and as comfortably as possible.

When you have completed detox, you will move onto the residential program. We provide modern therapies such as one-on-one therapy, group therapy, and family therapy. These are all essential when you are in recovery.

When it is time to check out, your treatment isn’t over. To maintain your sobriety when you leave, we will help you set up your aftercare services. A few essential aftercare services include a room at a sober living facility, outpatient therapy, and 12-step meetings. We will make sure that you have all of the necessary tools to maintain your sobriety after you are released.

Why You Should Travel To Arizona For Addiction Treatment

There are benefits and drawbacks to staying close to home for treatment. If you stay close to home, you are also staying close to the toxic situation you were in during your active addiction. The people who may have enabled you may have good intentions, but they probably won’t understand how to help you at first. Getting away from home is also great just for getting a new perspective; you can see things in a totally different way when you are in a new environment. For many people, there are more benefits than drawbacks to going away for treatment.

Why Arizona?

Arizona offers some unique advantages that other locations don’t. For many people, it’s far enough away that they can feel as though they are getting a fresh start. But Arizona is also different from other locations in some distinctive ways.

No Place Like Home

Literally, there may be nothing familiar about such a different kind of place. That can be good for someone who is used to being able to score drugs on the street or with friends right down the street. Such an alien location may make even the idea of finding the drug of choice seem difficult if not impossible. When new to recovery, it makes sense to avoid any obvious temptations.

A Desert Environment

Most people are accustomed to different kinds of climate. The desert environment is more comfortable than most people realize, but it is different enough from home that it helps people who need a total change so they can find a different point of view. Deserts are obviously dry, but they are also places of extremes. The landscape may seem harsh and lifeless, until you get used to it, at which point you can start noticing all the different ways the desert supports life.

Lots of Sunshine

One of the big things that trigger depression for many is the lack of sun in the winter. Arizona promises lots of bright, sunshiney days. The sensation of the sun on your face might trigger feelings of acceptance and joy, even when you’re not looking for it. The change in seasons may also really help someone from a place currently experiencing winter, because it may be able to help that person avoid the normal sensations normally associated with using.

More Workout/Therapy Options

Because of the weather, you can go outside to meditate year-round in Arizona. You can also enjoy the sunshine while taking part in yoga, art therapy, equine therapy, and many other options no matter what time of year it is.

Comfort

Should comfort be your main consideration? Obviously not. But the beginning of recovery is hard enough without adding additional discomfort and suffering. When you choose a treatment facility in Arizona, you can find one where you can be physically comfortable and where you can get the most out of the weather.

Disadvantages of Traveling for Rehab

It goes without saying that there are also disadvantages to traveling far from home for rehab.

Missing Support Systems

Even though it may be a good idea to get away from many of the people you were around during the dark times, some of the people you leave behind might be your biggest supporters. It will also be difficult to involve them in family therapy, which is part of a strong recovery program, and it may be difficult to find someone else to step up and take care of your childcare and household responsibilities while you are gone.

Aftercare

Once you are finished with the intensive first stages of treatment, you will have to go back home. That means leaving behind your supports from treatment, including people who started the journey at the same time as you. It also means finding new meetings, a new therapist, and a new everything else, when you are just getting used to your new life.

A Personal Decision

Nobody can really tell you what’s right for you, so you have to weigh your options. If your insurance covers it, you may get more benefit from traveling to Arizona for treatment. The first part of your sobriety is the hardest and it’s critical during that time to keep the focus on recovery. Getting away can accomplish that for you.

At Soba Mesa, we understand how hard it is to struggle with addiction. Drugs and alcohol were just symptoms of a disease you need to learn how to deal with, and we have the tools to help you address the real issues and start your journey. If you are considering making one of the most important changes in your life, please call today. You don’t want to keep missing out on your own life.

What Are The Benefits Of Going To IOP After Rehab

SOBA Recovery is a drug and alcohol treatment program with expert 24-hour staff. Not only do we provide inpatient and outpatient addiction treatment, but we also utilize a social model recovery community. What this means is that individuals come together and help each other because of their common experiences of suffering and recovery.

Phases of Recovery

In recovery, there are three phases.

  • Phase 1 focuses on transition. The client will become acquainted with the other residents and adjust to life at the facility. Clients will also become paired with a therapist and participate in daily group therapy.
  • Phase 2 focuses on early recovery. In this phase, clients will work on healing their relationships with themselves, family, and the community.
  • Phase 3 focuses on ongoing recovery. This is a form of intensive outpatient programs, or IOP, where clients will return to their job, if they have one, and return to SOBA the evening to continue recovery. At this stage of recovery, patients should be demonstrating personal growth and have the ability to take responsibility for their actions.

What is IOP?

IOP’s are designed to maintain the intensity of inpatient addiction treatment while allowing the patient to continue their daily life activities. At SOBA, patients who are involved in IOP will continue their participation in the 12-step program with the assistance of their sponsor and begin putting the principles into daily practice. For those clients who do not have a job, the staff at SOBA will assist them in finding one and help to develop a plan for their financial independence.

Benefits of IOP

IOP allows clients to continue their addiction treatment while maintaining a life outside the facility. They can maintain relationships with their families and continue working at their job while continuing their treatment in the evening. This helps patients to more easily transition from life at the treatment facility to continue their recovery while at home. Some other benefits of IOP include:

  • There are better recovery outcomes when treatment is increased
  • Patients have daily real-world opportunities where they can apply their learned skills
  • Community-based support
  • Development of long-term support from other patients
  • More intensive than a standard outpatient with results in heightened care and access to many therapy modalities

Services and Amenities

At SOBA Recovery, patients will receive many services and amenities provided to them during their treatment and IOP. They will continue their care and well-being in individual and group settings and through different behavior therapies. There is also 24-hour nursing care and crisis management where drug and alcohol levels can be monitored. Other amenities include a gourmet chef, fitness center, and breathtaking views.

Why IOP at SOBA Recovery is Right For You

If you have an addiction and are seeking addiction treatment, our expert staff at Soba Recovery Center can assist in helping you with your sobriety and recovery. Our staff is fully trained and experienced to help you and facilitate your individually designed treatment that meets your needs. With a treatment geared directly towards your recovery, it will be easier to strengthen yourself and rebuild relationships with your family and friends. At SOBA, we build a community of people with common experiences that are able to help each other as they go through addiction treatment. Recovery is measured and conveyed through community participation. We also have a very active alumni community that helps when patients return to their homes. Recovery is a life-long commitment and with the help of the community built at SOBA, your journey can start today. Contact us!