Most experts will agree that counseling is a vital component of successful inpatient drug rehab. However, not all inpatient drug counseling programs are created equal. Formats can vary from highly individualized counseling to generalized group therapy, and styles can include straightforward awareness education, practical approaches, or trauma therapy. Regardless of the counseling method, successful inpatient drug counseling programs will result in lasting sobriety, and generally those counseling programs that work share a few strong characteristics.
Five Factors of Successful Inpatient Drug Counseling Programs
Here are five factors common to all successful inpatient drug counseling programs. If you find that the inpatient drug counseling program you attended did not meet the following criteria, you may consider additional inpatient care to best posture you for sobriety that sticks.
- Complete Healing Based Philosophy
The most successful inpatient drug counseling programs will emphasize full freedom from drug addiction. Inpatient drug counseling programs that do not set lasting sobriety as a goal will simply be less likely to provide you with winning strategies for achieving it.
- Individualized Therapy
Some core reasons for drug addiction cannot be appropriately shared in a group therapy session—and drug rehab success rates tend to underscore this fact. If you have not yet received the individualized therapy you need to contextualize drug addiction in your own life, past and relationships, you may benefit from an inpatient drug counseling program that will provide you with intensive, one-on-one counseling sessions.
- Trigger Coping Skills
“Triggers” refer to any stimulus (whether a physical place, feeling or situation) that creates the desire to use drugs. Successful inpatient drug counseling programs will not only teach you skills to cope with triggers, but they will also empower you to create your own coping skills as you heal.
- Emotional Trauma Counseling
Successful inpatient drug counseling programs understand that buried emotional trauma often lies at the root of drug addiction. If your past trauma was not addressed in the inpatient drug counseling program you chose, it may be time to revisit an inpatient program that does.
- Self View Adjustment
Self view assessment and adjustment should be part of any successful inpatient drug counseling program. For many, drug addiction not only lowered their self-views, but negative self beliefs played a part in the initial creation of their drug problem.
Photo credit: Jennifer McDougall
