CBT therapy portland oregon addiction treatment recovery

If you’re looking for the best addiction treatment approach that is most highly supported by many, long-term, successful, scientific studies, look no further than Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as “CBT.”

In this post, we’ll dispel some of the most common misconceptions about CBT, explore alternatives to CBT, and describe what a common CBT session might look like with an addiction treatment specialist or mental health counselor. 

If you’re ready to get started, call us now for your quick assessment at (503) 206-8850.

What is CBT? How does it work for addiction treatment patients? 

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is probably the most popular and accessible mental health and behavioral health intervention in the United States. When you hear people talk about “talk therapy,” these days, it’s most likely that they are referring to CBT.

Unlike older models of talk therapy, which relied on rehashing the past, interpreting dreams, or analyzing family backgrounds and dynamics, CBT focuses on the present. 

CBT works to affect two dimensions of the patient’s experience: thoughts and behaviors. 

CBT is based on the premise that our thoughts can and should be changed when they are not “helping” us achieve our goals. 

Unhelpful thoughts in the context of addiction often look something like: 

  • I can’t change. 
  • I deserve to feel like garbage. 
  • I can’t trust myself.
  • Everyone knows I’m a loser.
  • I can’t make it through life without drinking or using. 
  • This is just who I am.
  • There’s no use in trying, I know I will just fail. 
  • This stress is going to kill me. 
  • No one can help me. 
  • I always end up alone. 

Thoughts like these are connected to our behaviors. For example, when we think “I can’t change” then we find it difficult to begin to seek treatment and believe that it might “work.” When we think “everyone knows I’m a loser,” we behave in ways that confirm this thinking by anticipating a negative reaction from those around us. 

In each case, our unhelpful thoughts create a negative feedback loop with our behavior. 

Part of a CBT session might be challenging the patient to reframe thoughts like “I can’t change” as something like: “I haven’t changed…yet” or “I have learned new things in the past and I can learn new things in the future.” 

CBT practitioners help patients with learning new coping skills, thinking patterns, behavioral patterns, and emotional patterns. Practitioners do exercises in session with the patient, as well as group exercises in group counseling sessions. They often assign homework to patients so that skill building can continue in between sessions. 

What conditions does CBT help address?

does cbt help with addiction portland oregon

CBT is used to address a wide variety of conditions and behaviors. In addition to addiction treatment, CBT is popular for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and many other mental health conditions and mental illnesses.  

What is the evidence supporting CBT? 

CBT is probably one of the most well-researched behavioral health interventions available today. Insurance companies recognize CBT as a safe, effective treatment for substance use disorder and it is seen as one component of the “gold standard” for modern addiction treatment programs. Study after study demonstrates the efficacy of CBT. 

What alternatives to CBT exist for addiction treatment patients? 

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There are many providers and programs which combine CBT with other interventions for substance use disorder patients. In addition to CBT, many programs incorporate interventions like Motivational Interviewing, Art Therapy, Equine Therapy and other “Experiential Therapies,” Music Therapy, Mindfulness Based Interventions, Yoga and meditation, Virtual Reality therapies, Digital interventions, and Neurofeedback therapy. 

At Shanti Wellness and Recovery, we incorporate multiple modalities to address complex cases, depending on the personalized treatment plan we devise with each individual patient. Some alternative treatments, like equine therapy, are not available at our clinic. We stick to the most common-sense, grounded, evidence-based treatments for our patients. As an outpatient facility, we know that our patients have busy lives and want to stay close to home while accessing discrete, friendly, high-quality, effective treatment that offers relief and healing without the fuss. For most patients, we use Medication Assisted Treatment as well as nutritional therapy to restore optimal health and make it easier for our patients to reclaim their lives and enjoy recovery as soon as possible.  

What you’ll find at Shanti Recovery and Wellness… 

Portland residents tend to gravitate towards our programs because we offer a warm, family-style environment with knowledgeable clinicians in a comfortable setting. Our building is a converted craftsman that looks and feels more like a chiropractor’s office or a naturopathic family medicine clinic than it does an addiction treatment center. We tailor our patient-centered treatment plans around your preferences and goals, taking the whole patient into consideration, rather than treating addiction in isolation. 

Interested to learn more about how we can help? Give us a call today to begin your journey to freedom from addiction!