If you are interested in rehab, you might see many facilities speak about holistic rehab. But what is it, and how is holistic treatment used in rehab? Holistic rehab is something everyone can benefit from. It doesn’t represent the entirety of your rehab program, but it should be a crucial part of it, providing you with access to classes, courses, and healthy group activities to supplement your evidence-based therapies.
What is Holistic Treatment?
Holistic treatment is defined as any form of treatment aside from evidence-based therapies. So, group therapy, individual psychotherapy, family therapy, and the like are considered evidence-based therapy, while things like yoga, nutritional courses, and meditation fall under the category of holistic addiction treatment.
When is Holistic Treatment Used in Rehab?
Holistic treatment used in rehab happens quite often. If a facility has the capacity to offer holistic treatment in addition to evidence-based therapies, most rehab programs will include both. Evidence-based practice is critical in rehab treatment, but holistic addiction treatment services in San Francisco play equally important roles in targeting the mind and the body at the same time. Yoga and meditation are beneficial forms of holistic rehab.
Yoga serves a vital role in addiction recovery by teaching individuals to be comfortable with discomfort. When patients participate in yoga classes, they generally have to hold poses and these poses come with physical discomfort. The discomfort will end at some point when the pose is released, but until that time, individuals have to focus on their breathing, their mindfulness, and the way their body is responding. Learning to be okay with physical discomfort in the form of exercise, especially strenuous exercise, teaches people how to accept the physical discomfort that comes with things like cravings. Doing this regularly teaches self-control, breathing techniques, and stress management.
Mindful meditation can be particularly useful as a form of holistic treatment used in rehab because it teaches individuals to simply acknowledge all of the thoughts they have without necessarily acting on them. Meditation similarly helps to focus on breathing. Specific meditative techniques help to put distance between the thought and the action. With phrases like I notice I am having the thought, an individual can acknowledge that they have moments of self-doubt, cravings, depression, or feelings of isolation without letting those emotions directly impact action. Putting distance between these thoughts provides long-term coping skills.
Yoga and meditation alone are not sufficient to understand how addiction works or avoid cravings altogether, but they can go hand-in-hand with other therapies like evidence-based practices.
What types of holistic treatments you get vary based on the facility and what they offer. If you have an inpatient or an outpatient treatment program, you can expect to receive holistic therapy as part of your standard requirements. Certain facilities provide in-house services only for inpatient rehab programs. If you finish the program and graduate to an outpatient program, you might find holistic treatment in your local community.
Who Can Benefit From Holistic Rehab Treatment?
Everyone can benefit from holistic rehab treatment. With holistic treatment used in rehab, the key is to find things that work for your situation.
People who have struggled with addiction to alcohol or methamphetamines can benefit from things like exercise and nutritional classes. Those who have struggled with addiction to opioids or stimulants can learn to control feelings of anxiety and depression by participating in nature walks, horseback riding, or other outdoor groups.
Almost all holistic treatment used in rehab involves a group setting. Things like meditation might not necessarily involve social interaction, but you still sit in a room with like-minded individuals, receiving social support indirectly. Outdoor activities, nutritional classes, classes on addiction, social skills, anger management skills, yoga, and other classes all involve a network of like-minded people who can help reinforce the idea that you are not dealing with your addiction in isolation and that people are struggling and learning to cope in the exact same ways.
How to Find Holistic Addiction Treatment Programs
When you set out to find different rehab programs, you can find holistic treatment used and rehab by checking out what types of treatment the facility offers. You can look on their website or even place a call and ask what services they provide. At Marina Harbor Detox, our Northern California rehab facility specializes in a combination of holistic addiction therapy alongside evidence-based practice. We work with you to determine which facets of our holistic rehab would be most applicable to your situation, helping to design customized treatment programs.
Let us help you integrate holistic treatment into your program today.
