Substance Abuse Counseling

Substance Use Disorder

Are You Using Too Much And Too Often?

Is substance use creating problems in your life? Has the need to use affected your work, relationships, and goals? Do you find that when you’re feeling sad, stressed, or overwhelmed, you turn to alcohol and other drugs to numb the pain?

Perhaps you’ve realized that supporting your addiction has become too expensive. Over time, you’ve spent more and more on your substance use only to realize that your habit is no longer sustainable.

It’s also possible that your family thinks your use has spun out of control. Maybe they have given you ultimatums, taken away your custody, or even cut you off financially. It could be that your addiction has jeopardized your work or caused you to lose your job entirely.

And if you struggle with depression, anxiety, or unresolved trauma, you may rely on alcohol and other drugs to keep your emotional pain or distressing memories at bay. Or if you have recently suffered a loss, you may find that substances can temporarily mask your grief. In addition, if you deal with daily, chronic pain, it could be that substances are your only form of relief.

No matter the reason for your use, a need to numb has potentially spiraled into an addiction. And if your substance use has become so problematic that it’s jeopardizing elements of your daily life, it may be time to seek help, support, and guidance through counseling.

Creating Boundaries with a Loved One with Addiction

Why People Use Substances to Cope with Depression and Anxiety

Is Alcoholism Genetic, a Legitimate Disease, or Just a Character Flaw?

How to Know When Substance Use Has Escalated into Substance Abuse

How to Help Your Child Who is Struggling with Addiction

Addiction Is An Illness That Has Altered The Lives Of Millions Of Americans

People struggling with addiction may often view their substance use as shameful, taboo, or something to hide. But the truth is, they’re not alone.

For many users, the urge to escape emotional pain and numb anguish lies at the core of their compulsion to use. And it’s not uncommon that those struggling had addictive behaviors modeled to them as children or adolescents that normalized excessive drug or alcohol use. But despite the fact that addictive behaviors run rampant in our culture and are even glorified at times (namely when it comes to drinking), as a society, we can be relatively unforgiving of and judgmental about addiction.

If you find it difficult to use in moderation, it’s important to remember that addiction is an illness—not a character flaw!

As a disease, addiction can wield incredible amounts of power over you. Excessive use has likely changed your neurological makeup in such a way that once you experience any relief from emotional pain, it’s increasingly hard not to numb.

Our counselors, however, are not here to judge, place blame, or take away your sense of agency. Instead, at Rhapsody Behavioral Healthcare, we approach substance abuse treatment from the premise that you are invested in getting better and are capable of doing so.

Substance Abuse Counseling Offers

Healthier Alternatives For Relief

A need to use—whether it’s when you’re distressed or

simply part of your daily routine—has likely become an

automatic behavior or craving. You are probably not

thinking so much about the why behind your need to

use but are predominantly focused on finding relief.

Nevertheless, addressing the underlying reasons for

your addiction is vital.

In therapy, you are given a safe environment to process your urges, eventually getting to the root of why you

According to the American Addiction Centers site, close to 20 million Americans age 12 and older are battling a substance use disorder.[1] Some struggle with alcohol, others with illicit drugs, and 1 out of 8 adults struggle with both. Not to mention, a large portion of users battle some kind of other mental health disorder—including

depression, anxiety, and unresolved trauma—alongside their substance use.

feel the need to use. Plus, addiction counseling can offer excellent resources for rehabilitation so that recovery can be successfully reinforced.

After you have decided to enroll in substance abuse counseling at Rhapsody Behavioral, we will create a client profile for you, utilizing the answers you provide via an electronic intake form through our Therapy Notes system. This will help to prepare your addiction counselor for your first meeting. During this initial session, your counselor will go over your medical history, presenting problems concerning your substance abuse, and goals for treatment.

The main objective of counseling will be for you to understand the why behind your substance abuse. Using elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and motivational interviewing, your counselor will help you make sense of your thinking patterns and triggers in an empathetic and nonjudgmental way. You will also learn a lot about the effects of substance abuse on the brain so that you can start to accept that addiction recovery is a complex process that begins on a neurobiological level.

Over time, you will gain individually tailored and meaningful skills for coping. We will also provide you with multiple resources that can help you on the path to recovery. Soon, you will have an arsenal of tools at your disposal that you can turn to instead of substances—particularly during times of anguish or distress.

Substance abuse counseling at Rhapsody Behavioral Healthcare empowers you to choose recovery and reclaim your life. With our support, you can get back to a level of functioning that allows you to participate fully in your relationships, work, and everyday activities.

Maybe it’s time to seek treatment for drug addiction or alcoholism, but you have some concerns…

I already stopped using on my own—I don’t need substance abuse counseling.

While it’s great that you have forged the path to recovery, it’s not something you should have to do alone. It may be a good idea to continue treatment in case situations come up in the future—such as an onset of anxiety, depression, or an instance of loss—that have the potential to trigger substance abuse.

Counseling can be preventative in that regard because it will not only reinforce your recovery but also continue to shed insight into the why behind your addiction so that you can fully understand how to respond to distress in healthy ways.

What if I relapse?

Our counselors want you to understand first and foremost that getting clean is not a requirement—it’s a goal. Relapse is a very normal part of the addiction recovery process, and you will not be treated as a failure if it happens.

We won’t spend time judging or shaming you, but instead, we will treat you compassionately as a client who has had a flare-up of an illness. As such, we will start the recovery process over again and support you in your relapse so that, eventually, you can achieve the most successful outcome possible in substance abuse counseling.

I’m afraid I will never get clean.

It’s true that addiction is a powerful thing that has likely maintained quite a bit of control over your life for a while now. However, our clinicians believe you have the inherent skill set and strength needed to overcome addiction—we’re just here to help you access them.

As mentioned previously, relapse is a normal part of the recovery process, and we will support you even when things aren’t going according to plan. Though the idea of conquering your substance abuse may seem unattainable right now, we are confident that counseling can help you to create meaningful and lasting change.

You Can Establish New, Healthy

Ways Of Coping With Distress

If substance abuse has compromised your daily life

and functioning, counseling at Rhapsody Behavioral

Center can help you locate the root of your addiction

so that you can successfully recover.

For more information about our services or to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation, please send us an email or contact us via our site.

[1] https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics