Holistic therapies
Holistic Therapy
New Harbor Behavioral Healthcare believes in comprehensive whole-person wellness as a crucial component of quality substance use disorder treatment. While much of our program focuses on individual, group, and family evidence-based therapy, holistic therapy is heavily emphasized as adjunctive support. Cultivating the ability to be comfortable and present in the body and incorporating practices such as meditation, yoga, and exercise often help individuals build lasting and sustained recovery. We hold regular programming designed to help our clients build these vital habits and regularly learn how to incorporate these practices into their ongoing recovery routines.
Types of Holistic Therapy
Holistic therapy largely refers to supportive interventions that address the body, mind, and spirit as interrelated systems. Many of its basic tenets draw upon traditional eastern conceptions of wellness, such as those cited in acupuncture, where certain body parts hold energies that can unlock healing for the person concerned when treated. Some would call this an “east meets west” way of treating the whole person.
Some of the most common types of holistic therapies are:
- Somatic therapy: a series of body-centered techniques that utilize combinations of practices such as dance and meditation to reduce stresses caused by the use of substances of co-occurring disorders
- Breathwork: This technique involves any manipulation of the breath, and there are numerous ways people utilize this practice for healing benefits. One method uses a three-part breathing sequence that produces a disorienting or euphoric feeling in the body. This technique often requires the assistance of an experienced practitioner and can lead to a deeply felt sense of peace.
- Yoga: With studios now commonplace around Dedham, MA, and eastern Massachusetts, most people have heard of yoga. The spiritual form of yoga teaches students how to utilize physical asana poses to bring calm into the body and prepare the body for perfect meditation.
- Acupuncture: There is some evidence that acupuncture can help with addiction recovery by treating specific points in the ears. When engaged regularly, acupuncture can help reduce stress and inflammation in the body, and its devotees swear by its health-supportive effects.
What Can Holistic Therapy Help With?
People with problematic relationships with substances can almost always benefit from some holistic therapy. Some of the common co-occurring conditions that affect people who have substance use disorders and who can benefit from holistic therapy are:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- School stress
- Family troubles
- Trauma
- Chronic Pain
Because holistic therapy aims to heal the whole person, these practices can help with issues that don’t have a single, definable cause or that affect several areas of an individual’s life.
Benefits of Holistic Therapy
Holistic therapy practices are typically used to help people handle tension and stress, promoting overall well-being. The whole-body approach of holistic therapy addresses all aspects of health—physical, mental, and spiritual. People in Dedham, MA, who participate in holistic therapy methods can start connecting multiple aspects of their lives. They can better explore how these connections affect their overall wellness than talk-based therapy alone.
Holistic therapy can help people learn strategies they can practice independently outside treatment. Any client who leaves our program with a basic understanding of starting and maintaining a meditation practice will have a tool that can contribute to a better life. Learning these strategies can help people manage daily triggers that could cause a return to substance use. Holistic therapy methods often focus on preventing issues as well as treating them. Holistic treatments can help people avoid problems that harm physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.
What to Expect from Holistic Therapy
As part of a comprehensive intensive outpatient program, engaging in holistic therapies will begin in the comprehensive assessment process. The therapist will create a treatment plan that is tailored to the individual that includes appropriate holistic tools. This will begin a lifelong process of creating a greater awareness of the inextricable link between the physical body and the whole self, and become a core part of an ongoing recovery plan.
The Takeaway
Holistic therapy approaches in Dedham, MA, provide ways for people trying to heal from substance misuse to better understand their triggers and how those triggers affect their overall well-being. Holistic therapy practices incorporate physical, mental, and spiritual tools to help someone adjust their thinking to help their general state of well-being.