The Benefits of Mental Health Counseling during Residential Treatment for Alcoholics

There are many options available to alcoholics to help them deal with detoxification and help them to become clean. However, the detoxification process will be for nothing if the patient does not get an opportunity to deal with the psychological ramifications of the addiction. There are many benefits of mental health counseling while the addict is going through residential treatment for alcoholism.

Supportive Counselors on Hand

Nothing is more important to a recovery than the support an alcoholic has and with a mental health counselor on hand to help them, they will receive plenty. The threat of a relapse is considerably reduced when a patient is given a mental health counselor because they will be able to get help with dual diagnosis and relapse prevention.

Mental health counselors will be there to help the alcoholic through some of the emotional trauma that can occur during residential treatment and help them learn ways to deal with it after recovery.

Learning to Cope

Mental Health Counseling

Mental health counselors address both the addiction and underlying mental illnesses.

According to the SAMHSA, mental health counseling will help patients to recognize and stop their negative patterns of behavior and thinking during addiction. By acknowledging what caused the addiction to begin with, the counselors can determine if there is a dual diagnosis involved so that they can treat both the addiction and mental health concerns as needed.

Mental health counselors will know how to treat their patients so they can get the full treatment to help overcome not only their addiction but also their mental illnesses.

Resistance to Peer Pressure

Perhaps the hardest part of returning back to their lives is the friends they made during their addiction who will try to bring them back into the fold. With a counselor, the alcoholic will learn to avoid situations that can trigger a relapse and the people who may push them to just have “one more.”

By the time they are back in their daily lives, mental health counselors will help the addict to feel more confident in saying no, which will help them to maintain their recovery.

For information on how to resist peer pressure during recovery, please call 800-948-8417 Info iconCalls are forwarded to paid advertisers .

Self-Esteem Boost

According to the NCBI, an addict’s self-esteem is one of the most important concepts and variables on the influence of their problem. Mental health counselors will help their patient to improve their self-image and as their self-esteem grows, they will no longer feel the need for alcohol because it will instill a belief that the alcoholic does deserve a better life than the one they have.

Without a desire and belief for a better life, the alcoholic is very likely to relapse, which will be a further blow to their self-esteem.

Get Sober Quick

So many treatments promise a quick sobriety but very few are lasting. Mental health counseling introduces the concepts gradually to give the patient a sense of accomplishment to help them break their addiction. Many therapies can be tailored to the alcoholic’s specific needs and will go at his or her own pace. Most will quickly move by the less time-consuming ones and work through the uncomfortable ones with the alcoholic until it has become mastered.

Mental health counseling is vital to recovery and many alcoholics can benefit from everything counseling has to offer. When participating in mental health counseling, the alcoholic will have the support they need, learn to cope without the drug, learn to resist peer pressure, build their self-esteem, and see each step as an achievement.

Recovery takes as much if not more time then it took to become an alcoholic, but with the right counselor, anyone can become and remain sober on a permanent basis so they can go back to being themselves again.

For more information on mental health counseling, please call 800-948-8417 Info iconCalls are forwarded to paid advertisers and a specialist will assist you.

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