Tag: Trauma

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You’re Still You: Resources for Recovery from Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is more complicated than it sounds. Until you’re in the thick of it, you might imagine the lines are clearly drawn. “If it ever gets physical, I’ll leave right away.” But then it happens on a holiday, or while you’re between jobs. It happens in private, and you can’t remember all the details. So you tell yourself it wasn’t as bad as it felt. Or, it could have been worse. Or, it didn’t really happen at all.

Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter how bad it is. You don’t get a prize for withstanding more abuse. By the time you’re wondering if you need support, you probably do. That means different things for different people. Maybe it’s time to text a friend and ask them to have coffee. If things are more serious, you can call a hotline or find a shelter. And once you meet your basic needs for safety, you might consider rehab that treats domestic violence survivors.

Immediate Help

If you’re in a violent relationship, you can get immediate support. These hotlines and resources can help you make urgent decisions and get to safety.

Recognizing Abuse

You might not be sure if a relationship is abusive. Maybe the aggressor’s actions seem justified. And if you can empathize with someone, it’s hard to think of them as an abuser. But at the end of the day, even if you understand their motivations, violence is never acceptable. Look for these signs to recognize domestic abuse:

  • Physical violence against you, your pets, your home, or your belongings
  • The threat of physical violence, whether or not it’s carried out
  • Intimidating you physically, verbally, or with weapons
  • Verbal insults, humiliation, or threats
  • Controlling behavior, such as telling you what you can and can’t wear, or setting a curfew for an adult partner
  • Isolating you from family or friends, or discouraging you from getting social support
  • Taking control of your finances
  • Sexual assault, or pressuring you to perform sexual acts
  • Pressuring you to use drugs or alcohol

Cultural norms can make it hard to admit that abuse is happening at all. In the media, domestic violence usually takes place in heterosexual relationships, with a man as the aggressor. And it almost always includes a physical attack. But in reality, abuse can be much more complicated.

Domestic violence can happen within any close relationship: between partners, parents and children, or even platonic friends. And it can happen to anyone, including men, CEOs, and people with other types of privilege. Your identity doesn’t protect you from being abused—and it doesn’t have to stop you from getting help.

Violence Against Men

Approximately 25% of women and 14% of men experience domestic violence1 from a partner. While women are at a higher risk, men are still vulnerable to this dynamic. And the stereotype that men can’t be abused2 may prevent them from getting support.

One study interviewed staff members at an organization that supports male abuse survivors. A service manager for their hotline described a typical conversation with a new client. “I have guys that call me and say ‘I can’t be a victim of domestic abuse…I am a police officer, I’m a judge, I’m a solicitor, I work in the field, I can’t be a victim.’ Even though they know what is going on.”

This reluctance is so common, there’s a word for it. Denial, or minimization, is a common response to trauma.3 It may come from the abuser, who tries to convince you they did nothing wrong. Or it might feel like a way to protect yourself from your own feelings about their abuse. But denial can be invalidating. And no matter who you are, or how society views you, you deserve to be healthy and safe.

Abuse in LGBTQ+ Relationships

Stereotypes can also make it hard to acknowledge abuse between people of the same gender. The narrative that “men can’t be abused and women can’t be abusers” hurts everyone—even LGBTQ+ people. And the numbers make it clear that abuse goes beyond gender or sexuality. In fact, bisexual people are at greater risk for domestic violence4 than either gay or straight people.

Even in healthy LGBTQ+ relationships, stigma can prevent you from getting social support.5 And if your partnership gets violent, it gets even harder. LGBTQ+ abuse survivors face unique barriers6 to social services, treatment, and other resources.

There are several reasons for this. First, not all clinicians are experienced in LGBTQ+ issues. And when you’re in crisis, the last thing you want to do is spend time educating a therapist. Some clients might even be afraid to come out to their provider. If that’s your experience, you can connect with an LGBTQ+ affirming program to get effective support.

Abuse and Addiction

Drug and alcohol use complicate any relationship. That’s true whether it’s healthy, abusive, or somewhere in between. You might go out drinking with coworkers, and end up kissing your work crush for the first time. Or, you might stay in a violent relationship because it’s the only way you can access cocaine. These are extreme examples, but they’re both on the same spectrum.

Coercion is common in abusive relationships.7 In that dynamic, one person convinces the other to do things they don’t really want to do. This reinforces the imbalance of power. It can also make you feel ashamed of your own actions. And if they’re coercing you to take drugs or drink excessively, there’s a direct impact on your mental health. Drug use can stop you from thinking clearly, so it’s impossible to make an escape plan. It can also dull your emotions and interfere with your memory, so you have a harder time proving there was abuse in the first place.

Trauma Bonding

Drug abuse increases the risk of domestic violence.8 These two patterns also follow a similar rhythm. The high of being on drugs is often followed by the crash of a hangover. The same thing happens in abusive relationships—the good times are the very best, and the bad times are awful. In some relationships, there’s little in between.

This cycle can lead to traumatic bonding.9 Here’s how that works:

  1. You develop a close, trusting relationship with another person. You come to rely on them for emotional support.
  2. They commit an act of violence against you.
  3. You feel hurt, and instinctively seek comfort.
  4. Because you’re close to your abuser, you turn to them. If they’re also isolating you from friends and family, you may not have anyone else to talk to.
  5. They either provide or withhold emotional support. Either way, this reinforces the power dynamic, reminding you how much you need them.

The experts at All Points North Lodge say that trauma bonds feel a lot like addiction.10 So whether or not you’re actually taking drugs, residential rehab might be the right place to start healing.

Long-Term Recovery From Abuse

When it’s time to leave an abusive relationship, you’ll have some urgent priorities. And your long-term mental health might not be one of them. That’s okay. Start by securing a place to live, an income stream, and other basic necessities. You can plan your emotional recovery when you’re ready. At that point, you’ll have several options.

Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-informed care is a general style of treatment, not a specific type of therapy. It’s often helpful for people with specific diagnoses, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD (c-PTSD). It can also treat more general symptoms of trauma, as well as addiction and other mental health issues.

In this approach, providers use certain tactics to make recovery accessible. For example, if you get triggered during a therapy session, they’ll know how to respond. Trauma-informed care honors you as the authority on your own experience.

According to experts in domestic violence, a trauma-informed therapist “views individuals as survivors11 rather than victims, and recognizes symptoms as adaptive responses.” In other words, the symptoms of trauma serve a purpose. Or, they did while you were in a dangerous situation. Once you get to a safe place, those same behaviors might get in the way of your mental health. Treatment empowers you to recognize when those responses are and aren’t helpful. You’ll also learn more sustainable coping strategies.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) takes a practical approach to recovery. As a behavioral treatment, it puts you in the driver’s seat. Instead of focusing on how you feel, it teaches you new ways to respond to your feelings. And changing the way you act can improve your life and relationships. In time, you’ll feel better because of your ongoing behavior. CBT is a popular treatment for survivors of partner violence.12

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) uses physical stimuli to help you work through traumatic memories. Usually, patients describe those memories in detail during a therapy session. By performing certain eye movements, they become desensitized to triggers. But EMDR for domestic violence survivors can look a little different.13 You won’t always recount past memories during a therapy session. Instead, you might focus on mindfulness techniques and free association.

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) was first developed to treat survivors of sexual assault.14 It can also help you heal from other types of intimate violence, like verbal and physical attacks. Unlike CBT, this approach delves into your deepest thoughts and feelings about your trauma.

After intimate violence, many survivors have a sense of cognitive dissonance. For instance, you might blame yourself for someone else’s actions. But at the same time, you may feel like you had no power in the situation. It’s often hard to reconcile your sense of self with the reality of abuse. CPT helps patients make peace with that paradox.

Find Yourself Through Recovery

Trauma changes you. Maybe you lost a period of time, or a relationship you cared about. It can even seem like you lost yourself.  And the process of recovery can feel a lot like grief.

There’s no simple solution here. But with the right support, there is a way forward. Over time, you can get to know yourself again, and build the beautiful life you deserve.

Connect with a trauma-specialized rehab to learn about their housing options, pricing, and treatments.

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5 Common Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma

Trauma, no matter where it comes from or what form it takes, is real. And so are its effects on your life.

Today, as treatment professionals continue to learn how widespread trauma and trauma-related disorders truly are, more and more therapies become available to treat it. You might access these in individual therapy, or in residential trauma treatment.

You may know your trauma’s cause, or discover it in the process of healing from addiction. In either case, these treatments can help you work through trauma and manage its symptoms so you can start living a better, freer life.

How Trauma Affects Your Recovery

Trauma occurs when something you experience overwhelms your ability to cope. That’s why the causes and effects of trauma vary greatly from one person to the next. What severely affects one person might not matter much to another, and vice versa. One of the most widely used definitions of trauma1 comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):

Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.

Some studies show that people who have a substance use disorder plus trauma2 face more challenges in recovery than those without a history of trauma. This is why, if you’re considering inpatient addiction treatment, it’s important to find a trauma-sensitive rehab.

If trauma is a factor in your substance use, it’s important to address not just the symptoms of your addiction, but also the trauma itself. Mental health experts agree that the need to address trauma is “an integral part of the healing and recovery process.”3

Getting treated for trauma can help you gain perspective on, and ultimately change your relationship with your trauma and the ways it impacts your life. And rehab is a safe place to do so with the guidance and care of trained professionals.

Trauma-Specific Therapies

You might come across these therapies in your search for treatment, or during your time in rehab. Keep in mind that this list isn’t exhaustive. Different rehabs have different therapies available, depending on their program and which treatment professionals they have on staff.

1. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

What it is: CPT is a type of talk therapy that’s proven effective for reducing symptoms of trauma. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), CPT is a strongly recommended treatment for PTSD in adults.4

The APA explains that “CPT is generally delivered over 12 sessions and helps patients learn how to challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs related to the trauma.”5 The goal of CPT is to help you think about and relate to your trauma in a new way. Some experts think that doing this can decrease any ongoing negative effects of trauma you might be experiencing.

What to expect during treatment: The Society of Clinical Psychology explains that CPT “focuses initially on the question of why the trauma occurred and then the effects of the trauma on the clients’ beliefs6 about themselves, others, and the world through the use of progressive worksheets.” In this therapy, it’s common for patients to write detailed accounts of their trauma, which they’ll then reflect on with the help of their therapist.

Karen Kattar, a psychologist with the Department of Veterans Affairs, says that during CPT, you’ll “look at the evidence for why you’ve drawn the conclusions that you have about what happened to you. And a lot of the times those thoughts are, ‘It’s my fault’ or ‘I should have done something differently’ and it brings about these emotions of shame and guilt. And some of the conclusions that you’ve drawn may actually not be true.” CPT helps you change how you think about your trauma. And this can empower you to take positive steps forward.

2. Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)

What it is: Just like traditional exposure therapy helps people confront their fears, prolonged exposure therapy (PE) helps you “gradually approach trauma-related memories,7 feelings and situations.” Instead of avoiding anything that reminds you of your trauma, PE helps you process your experience and learn that your trauma-related memories aren’t dangerous. This form of cognitive behavioral therapy can be a bit more intensive and usually happens in weekly individual sessions for about 3 months.

What to expect during treatment: Because exposure sounds intimidating and can be anxiety-inducing, a PE therapist should first work with you to create a safe space. They can do this by giving you an overview of what to expect and by teaching techniques to manage your anxiety.

When you’re ready, there are 2 types of exposure you’ll work through during treatment:

  • Imaginal exposure: You’ll describe the traumatic event during therapy with guidance from your therapist, then process the emotions that come up. These sessions are usually recorded so you can listen back on them to practice managing your anxiety.
  • “In vivo” or real-life exposure: Using a plan you created with your therapist, you’ll face specific cues and triggers as homework. This could include slowly starting to encounter specific places or people, confronting your fear and then learning how to cope with feelings that arise.

3. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

What it is: TF-CBT is “a psychosocial treatment of 8-24 sessions designed to treat PTSD and related emotional and behavioral problems8 in adults, children, and adolescents.”. Although TF-CBT was originally designed to treat children, “current treatment guidelines agree on recommending TF-CBT as first-line treatment for PTSD”9 in adult survivors of childhood abuse, according to experts in an article for the Clinical Psychology Review.

What to expect during treatment: TF-CBT incorporates techniques of traditional CBT and exposure therapy. Sessions may include these components:

  • Psychoeducation (common reactions to trauma exposure)
  • Coping skills (relaxation, feelings identification)
  • Gradual exposure (imaginary, in-vivo or “real life”)
  • Cognitive processing of trauma-related thoughts and beliefs
  • Caregiver involvement (parent training, conjoint child-parent sessions)

4. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

What it is: While the goal of other treatments is to process and alter your emotions, thoughts and responses to trauma, EMDR is a one-on-one therapy that focuses directly on changing the way a traumatic memory is stored in the brain.10 It does this through the use of eye movements and other rhythmic bilateral (left-to-right) stimulation (BLS), like sounds or taps.

What to expect during treatment: During EMDR, you’ll recall a triggering memory (which you identified beforehand with your therapist) while paying attention to the BLS at the same time. Eventually, you’ll learn to focus on a positive belief while remembering the trauma.11 After each session, you’ll reassess your symptoms and decide if you need to process other memories or triggers. In general, during EMDR you don’t talk about the details of your trauma out loud and you won’t have any homework outside of your therapy sessions.

5. Seeking Safety

What it is: Seeking Safety is a present-focused treatment model that helps you find relief from trauma and substance use disorders by prioritizing safety. An attractive quality of this therapy is how flexible it is. According to SAMHSA, “it can be used for groups and individuals, with women and men, in all settings and levels of care, by all clinicians, for all types of trauma and substance abuse.”12

What to expect during treatment: Seeking Safety doesn’t make you talk at length about the details of your traumatic memories. This treatment’s main goal is to teach general coping skills through casual, group, or individual discussions on 25 topics. Some of the coping skills taught include taking good care of yourself or asking for help. These topics address the cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal aspects of trauma. Per SAMHSA’s protocol for trauma-informed care,13 “This treatment model builds hope through an emphasis on ideals and simple, emotionally evocative language and quotations.”

Finding the Right Rehab for Overcoming Trauma

Ignoring our trauma is a survival instinct—but it doesn’t allow us to heal and move on. Luckily there are safe, supportive spaces where we can start to do that, with the help of these and other trauma therapies.

No matter what kind of trauma you’ve experienced, when you experienced it, or how it’s affected you, you deserve peace. Finding a rehab with compassionate trauma specialists can be that first step on your healing journey. And with the right support, healing is possible.

Search our list of rehabs that treat trauma to learn about program options, pricing, insurance, and more, and reach out to centers directly.

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Yes, Massage Therapy Can Treat Addiction

Addiction affects every aspect of your being: mind, body, and spirit. As you lose yourself in drug abuse, these parts of your identity disconnect from each other. For some people, that disconnect has a major impact on physical health. 

When you can’t tell how your body feels, you can’t care for it properly. You might ignore issues great and small, from hunger to serious medical symptoms. Or, you might start feeling like drug use is the solution to every problem. But that just isn’t sustainable. 

If you choose a rehab program with massage therapy, you can get back in touch with your body during recovery. And when you feel safe inhabiting your own body, it’s much easier to make sense of your thoughts and feelings. 

How Does Massage Help With Recovery?

For most people, it’s easy to look forward to this treatment. Most types of massage feel good, both during and after the session. And you might just want to relax in between emotionally taxing talk therapy sessions. Massage lets you keep moving toward recovery, but feel like you’re taking a break. 

More importantly, massage has many benefits for people in recovery.1 It can help people in treatment for depression, anxiety, and even eating disorders. Massage can even alleviate some of the symptoms associated with PTSD, like dissociation. And of course, it can also improve your physical health.

Physical Benefits of Massage for Addiction Recovery

Massage has well-documented physical benefits for almost everyone. It can relieve muscle tension, joint pain, and more complex issues, like headaches. Massage therapists with some types of training can even treat serious chronic illnesses. But most people associate massage with pain relief. 

Pain Relief

Massage alleviates physical pain2 for a few reasons. On a mechanical level, it releases muscle tension and brings your joints into alignment. Over time, this teaches clients to maintain better body mechanics. Those healthy habits may protect you from future injuries.

On a neurochemical level, massage interrupts your nerves’ ability to process painful stimuli.3 Neutral or pleasurable touch stimulates the same nerve fibers that send pain signals. And according to the gate-control theory of pain, they can only process so much information at a time. As a result, being touched in a non-painful way can actually stop you from feeling pain. 

This can be helpful for anyone, but it’s uniquely important for people with some addictions. Chronic pain often leads to opioid addiction.4 If you have both of these issues, you’ll need to learn healthier ways to manage your pain. Massage can help with that, in every stage of recovery. 

Withdrawal

When you stop using drugs, you might go through withdrawal. Depending on your specific health history, you may even attend a medical detox program. Supervised detox is essential if you’re healing from alcohol, benzodiazepine, or opioid abuse. 

Data supports massage as a treatment for alcohol withdrawal.5 It’s no substitute for medical attention, but it can be a valuable aspect of your care plan. And in addition to its physical benefits, it may help you find emotional relief from the stress of detox.

Emotional Benefits of Massage Treatment in Rehab

There’s a fine line between physical and emotional health. In some holistic philosophies, they’re seen as one and the same. Depending where you go to rehab, you may be able to get a massage designed to treat mental health issues.

A growing body of research supports this application of massage therapy. Andy Bernay-Roman is both a massage therapist and mental health counselor. In his book, Deep Feeling, Deep Healing, he writes, “feelings are not disembodied experiences of some separate ‘mind’, but rather, are contained in a very physical biochemistry that modulates and marks every bodily event.”6 From this perspective, massage can have a direct impact on emotional well-being.

Neurochemical Effects

Addiction changes the way your brain’s reward system functions.7 The act of taking drugs releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure. Over time, that dysregulates your brain chemistry. If you have a serious addiction, drug use might be the only thing that makes you feel a sense of accomplishment. 

Massage increases levels of dopamine,8 serotonin, and oxytocin. All three of these neurochemicals are related to good feelings: 

  • Dopamine makes you feel satisfied. 
  • Serotonin has an impact on happiness, which is why some people take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat depression. 
  • Touch releases oxytocin,9 a chemical that encourages social bonding. 
  • Massage also decreases cortisol, which is commonly known as “the stress hormone.”

Any of these effects can improve your mental health. But for people with addiction, dopamine regulation might be the most important. Massage doesn’t only help you feel better during the stress of residential treatment. It can also play a role in the neurochemical process of recovery. 

Cravings

Massage can reduce the severity of cravings.10 That’s especially true for people with certain addictions. For example, self-massage can help you quit smoking. Some types of bodywork may even decrease opioid cravings.11 More research is needed on this subject, but the available data is promising.

Cravings can be both physical and psychological.12 But because massage affects both your body and mind, it can protect against relapse in either case. Over time, this can empower you to build a more stable life—and sense of self.

Self-Awareness Is a Form of Self-Care

Receiving a massage is a deeply personal experience. As the provider draws your attention to your own body, you may notice areas of tension or pain for the first time. And that’s not only a physical process. It can also happen on an emotional level. 

Massage improves self-awareness13 and mindfulness. Cynthia Price, Ph.D. and L.M.T., writes that “by paying attention to thoughts, feelings, sensations—our internal life—we become more aware of internal cues and thus more able to engage in self-care.” And self-care is an essential part of ongoing addiction recovery. In this process, you’ll learn how to meet your own needs in a sustainable way. That often means letting go of things you want—or things you’re craving—to make room for better habits. 

Self-care is hard work, but it can also be comforting. The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) reports that “all addictions are about self-soothing.” So are most types of massage.14 Bodywork helps people in recovery unwind in a safe way. And “giving them a pathway with which they can connect to their bodies can be enormously empowering,” AMTA experts explain. This is especially helpful if you’re healing from trauma.

Trauma-Informed Massage

Addiction is usually related to trauma. Some people start taking drugs to self-medicate PTSD. And no matter what led to your drug use, addiction also causes trauma.15 These experiences can leave you with both physical and mental health concerns. 

Massage can treat the symptoms of trauma.16 It relieves pain, depression, anxiety, and irritability. It can also mitigate more complex issues, like dissociation and isolation.

Dissociation

When you dissociate, you may feel disconnected from yourself or your surroundings. This survival strategy is usually a symptom of trauma. If it’s not safe to be in your own body, your mind creates a sense of distance. During a traumatic event, this is adaptive. But in response to a trigger, it can range from being inconvenient to putting you in real danger. Dissociating while you’re watching a movie might be frustrating. But dissociating while you’re driving a car is a serious problem. 

Massage reduces dissociative symptoms17 in clients with a history of trauma. This treatment helps you reconnect with your body, on your own terms. You can also practice setting boundaries that feel right to you. That skill keeps you safe in your own body, and it empowers you to build healthier relationships.

Interpersonal Skills

Touch is a form of communication. Even if you don’t speak, you’ll communicate with your massage therapist throughout every session. You might tense up if they use too much pressure, or wiggle your fingers if your hand falls asleep. They’ll even notice when the rhythm of your breathing changes. And that will inform how they communicate with you. 

Massage teaches you how to connect with another person in a structured way. Treatment is interpersonal, but not social. You’ll learn to describe your boundaries clearly, and answer questions about yourself. And if you forget to say something, you’ll be able to mention it during the massage. There’s plenty of space for you to make mistakes, correct them, and try again in your next session. 

Trauma can make you feel like you don’t have control over your own life. When you have an addiction, that might even be true. During rehab, massage can show you how it feels to have authority over your own body. You have the right to set clear boundaries. And in any modality of massage, you can trust that your therapist will respect them, and act in your best interest.

Types of Massage Therapy

Most cultures have developed their own styles of massage therapy. And many of these are now popular worldwide. But if you’d like to get a certain type of massage during recovery, make sure to ask whether it’s available at your rehab.

Swedish Massage

This is one of the most common forms of massage in the Western world. When you go to a day spa in the U.S., for example, you can assume it offers Swedish massage unless otherwise specified.

Swedish massage uses long, gentle strokes to relax the body.18 It may also include some invigorating movements, like kneading or tapping. Many massage therapists have training in both Swedish massage and other modalities. They may even combine different approaches during a session. For example, many deep tissue massages begin with Swedish techniques. These lighter strokes function as a warm-up before the therapist applies deeper pressure.

Deep Tissue Massage

Deep tissue massage is very popular, even though it’s not a formalized treatment modality. These sessions are less relaxing, and more focused on solving specific problems. If you have acute pain, or chronic pain caused by a muscle injury, this approach might be a good fit for you. 

Thai Massage

Thai massage is very different from most Western techniques.19 This form of bodywork is more active than Swedish massage, for example. Both the practitioner and the client are fully clothed throughout the session. Your provider will use their hands, feet, knees, and elbows to perform various stretches and compressions. 

Thai massage is ideal for people who want to improve their mobility. It can also be relaxing, but it’s unlikely that you’ll fall asleep during a session. The providers at Jintara Wellness Center and Rehab, in Chiang Mai, offer massage as one aspect of holistic recovery.20 Treatments are designed to improve your physical fitness and energy levels. You can expect to move around during these sessions, instead of lying still on a table.

Ayurvedic Massage

Ayurvedic massage originated in India, and is available at many rehabs there. At Abhasa Rehabilitation Center – Coimbatore, for example, this style of massage is an important part of recovery. Sessions include the use of special oils and herbs, tailored to meet each client’s needs. This combination of physical touch and aromatherapy activates your “sensory and olfactory organs21 through sweet and subtle fragrances, thus rejuvenating the mind, body, and spirit.”

This type of bodywork is an aspect of Ayurvedic medicine. You may receive massage in combination with other therapies, as part of a larger care plan. Whether you’re getting holistic Ayurvedic treatment or not, make sure to talk to your healthcare team before an Ayurvedic massage. It may have wide-ranging benefits–but it may not be the right treatment for you. It depends on your personal health history.

Should You Get a Massage?

Massage is hugely beneficial for most clients. But this treatment shouldn’t be taken lightly. It has a significant impact on your physical and mental health, and even your body chemistry. This can be an issue for people with certain health issues, including addiction. Make sure to talk to your care team before getting any type of bodywork. 

Massage therapists are trained to recognize both local and absolute contraindications.22 In layman’s terms, a contraindication is a reason not to give someone a massage. With a local contraindication, like a papercut, the therapist will skip that body part. An absolute contraindication means the person shouldn’t get treatment at all. 

These standards may be different in various traditions of bodywork. One issue may be an absolute contraindication in Thai massage, but treatable in the Ayurvedic style. And some of these concerns might surprise you. For example, most Western styles include the following contraindications:

Local Contraindications

  • open wounds of any kind, including burns and severe rashes
  • warts23
  • varicose veins

Absolute Contraindications

Some of these conditions might not seem serious. Many people even schedule massages because of them. For example, if you have a mild cold, bodywork might sound comforting. It’s your therapist’s job to protect your health by setting clear boundaries. To help them do that, you should give them as much information about your own health as possible. That way, they can make decisions that keep both of you safe.

Massage and Drug Use

Massage is absolutely contraindicated while you’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol.22 These providers are highly trained, but they’re not doctors. If you have a bad reaction to a drug during the session, they might not know how to help. 

Drug use also interferes with your ability to communicate. During the intake conversation, you might forget to share important information. And during the massage itself, you may respond differently than you would while sober. But nonverbal communication is an essential part of massage. If the therapist can’t understand what your body is telling them, they can’t properly treat you. 

It’s especially dangerous to get a massage when you’ve been drinking.26 Because treatment increases circulation, it amplifies the effects of alcohol. This can increase your risk of alcohol poisoning. And in addition, alcohol acts as a pain reliever. This makes it even more dangerous to get bodywork.

Taking painkillers of any kind can interfere with a massage.27 This still applies when you take them as prescribed, or use mild medications like Advil. Because these drugs dull your senses, you might not know if the therapist is using too much pressure. As a result, they might accidentally injure you. But if you’re taking painkillers as directed, you might still be able to get a gentle massage. Tell your therapist in advance, so they can decide whether it’s safe.

Get Back in Touch With Yourself

Through massage, you can get to know yourself again. Reconnecting with your body will give you new insight into your own needs. And that insight empowers you to build a life you love. 
Connect with a rehab that offers massage therapy to learn more about the styles of body work they offer, other available treatments, pricing, and more.

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Resilience in Recovery From Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma doesn’t just go away. You may continue to feel its effects throughout your adult life. Some people—although certainly not all—develop mental health conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a result of these painful experiences. And because the past can’t be undone, it can be hard to imagine moving forward.

No matter how much you’ve been through, you can learn to carry your memories in a less painful way. There are rehab programs specifically for those struggling with trauma that can help you cope with your symptoms and learn how to move forward. The first step in taking back your personal power is choosing which type of treatment feels right to you.

Choosing Trauma-Informed Care

Whether or not trauma is your primary reason for seeking treatment, you may benefit from choosing a treatment program that offers trauma-informed care. This approach centers each person’s unique experience, creating a safe and respectful environment for healing. With guidance and support, you can become empowered to live a life you love.

Trauma-informed care is an approach, not a therapy. However, many trauma-informed facilities offer therapies with proven success in treating trauma:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of talk therapy1 that helps people manage difficult feelings, urges, and behaviors. In conversation with a therapist, you’ll discuss and analyze various aspects of your internal emotional landscape. Your provider will teach you practical strategies you can use to navigate challenging situations.

For example, the American Psychological Association (APA) recommends that therapists “encourage patients to re-evaluate their thinking patterns and assumptions in order to identify unhelpful patterns (often termed ‘distortions’).” By stepping back and assessing your thoughts objectively, you may be able to regulate your emotional response.

Data shows that CBT is a highly effective treatment for PTSD.2 In one study, “92% of participants no longer met criteria for PTSD” after a series of CBT interventions. However, it’s not the only available form of therapy. Also, some clients may benefit from specialized types of CBT, such as prolonged exposure therapy (PE).

Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)

Experts strongly encourage the use of prolonged exposure therapy as a treatment for trauma.3 During a PE session, you’ll recount the details of a traumatic event, speaking in the first person and the present tense. For example, instead of just saying “I was in a car accident when I was a kid,” you might begin the story with “I’m 5 years old. I’m in the back seat of my mom’s car. It’s raining, and I can see the drops of water on the window to my right.” Patients describe their memories in as much detail as possible, and reexperience painful emotions within the safe context of a therapy session.

Over time, and with repetition, the goal is for you to move past your most intense reactions to the initial trauma. You may also be assigned homework between sessions, in which you seek out triggering stimuli in order to confront your own responses. To overcome trauma associated with a car accident, for example, you might practice driving or riding in a car on the highway. These exercises ramp up slowly over time, and you’ll process each one in your next therapy session.

Although this form of treatment can be extremely difficult, it’s also highly effective. Multiple studies have demonstrated that PE is an appropriate therapy for adults with a history of trauma.4 Some experts also suggest that combining PE with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)5 may improve patients’ commitment to ongoing treatment.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Somewhat like PE, EMDR invites people to revisit traumatic memories safely,6 with the support of a therapist. During each session, you’ll relate a present-day emotional state to a challenging past experience. For example, you might start by talking about an argument you’re currently having with a friend, and then go on to compare it to a fight you had with a parent during your childhood. Your therapist will instruct you to engage in certain activities, such as repetitive eye movements or tapping on your arms with your hands, while you revisit the memory of a difficult emotion.

EMDR helps you work through unprocessed adverse experiences,7 so you can release the emotions associated with them. Evidence suggests that this therapy might actually change the way traumatic memories are stored in the brain. Specifically, experts posit that EMDR might move those memories “from implicit and episodic memory to explicit and semantic memory systems.” In other words, patients become conscious and aware of thoughts they may never have considered before. “Consequently, the disturbing life experience becomes a source of strength and resilience.”

Yes, You Can Go to Rehab for Trauma

Contrary to popular belief, inpatient rehab isn’t just for addiction recovery. You can also attend residential treatment for a variety of diagnoses, including trauma-based disorders like PTSD, complex PTSD, and others. By taking time away from your daily life to focus on treatment, you may be able to kickstart the healing process.

Rehabs may employ a variety of therapeutic techniques, including CBT, PE, and EMDR. Some centers also teach life skills, empowering patients to practice self-reliance. Depending on your program, you may also be encouraged to connect with your recovery peers, which lets you practice valuable interpersonal skills. Research shows that community is extremely important during the process of healing from trauma,8 and the act of sharing mutual support may give you insight into your personal history.

The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Developmental trauma results from adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. It can sometimes be hard to recognize these events as traumatic until years later. When you’re young, you simply haven’t had the time to encounter diverse ways of living. As a result, it’s difficult to compare your own life to “the norm.” You might take highly distressing circumstances for granted, and not fully understand the harm you experienced until after you reach adulthood.

Whether or not you can identify childhood trauma at the time, it has a lasting impact. You may develop coping mechanisms that help you survive in the short term, but get in the way of living a healthy and meaningful life as an adult. For example, many trauma survivors learn to dissociate9 as a way of protecting themselves from emotional pain. That strategy might help you endure parental abuse, but interfere with later romantic partnerships. The first steps toward healing are understanding what caused your symptoms, and validating your own experience.

Understanding Adversity

Childhood trauma can take many different forms. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines ACEs as “disruptions to the promotion of safe, stable, and nurturing family relationships and are characterized by stressful or traumatic events that occur during an individual’s first 18 years of life.”10

The more different types of adversity you experienced as a child, the higher your ACE score. If you have a history of trauma in only one of the defined areas, you could be said to have a low ACE score—even if that type of trauma happened repeatedly. People with higher ACE scores are at a greater risk of ongoing health and behavioral concerns. For example, research shows that people with high scores are more vulnerable to addiction, depression, and heart disease. However, that risk is just one part of the story.

Experts caution against thinking of ACE scores as the only predictors of wellness. Jack Shonkoff, Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, explains that “there are people with high ACE scores11 who do remarkably well.” Certain protective factors, like trauma-informed therapy, may mitigate the health risks associated with trauma. And not every type of trauma has the same effect.

The Lasting Effects of Emotional Abuse

Every person grows up with a unique set of risk and protective factors for the development of mental health issues. Based on your unique combination of experiences, a traumatic event may or may not cause you to have trauma-related symptoms.12 And it can be extremely difficult to predict exactly which experiences will have long-term effects.

Mental health professionals distinguish between traumatic experiences in a number of ways. For example, some experts categorize these events as either “big T” or “small t” traumas. Examples of big-T traumas are listed as the “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence,” while small-t traumas may include parental neglect or humiliation.

However, these terms can be misleading. At first glance, it might sound like big-T traumas are more serious, while small-t traumas can be easily dismissed. For some patients, the exact opposite is true. Research shows that survivors of interpersonal trauma usually exhibit more severe PTSD symptoms than survivors of non-interpersonal trauma. And many types of small-t trauma are interpersonal.

“It Could Have Been Worse”

Unfortunately, it’s quite common for trauma survivors to feel guilt and shame about what happened to them. This can make it difficult to accept the magnitude of an event’s impact. And as a result, you may delay getting the help you need.

Preliminary research has found that many people minimize the effects of their trauma.13 More data is needed to understand why and how this happens, and how it can interfere with the recovery process. But even without that data, this tendency is widely recognized within established support systems for trauma survivors.

Sexual Assault Survivors Anonymous (SASA), for example, has published resources that describe the phases of processing trauma after sexual assault.14 In what they term the “Outward Adjustment Phase,” the survivor goes about their apparently “normal” life despite emotional dysregulation. SASA lists 5 primary coping mechanisms to watch out for during this time. The first of these is minimization, in which you might pretend “‘that ‘everything is fine’ or that ‘it could have been worse.’”

And yes, of course it could have been worse. Here you are, reading this article, with the emotional resources to think about healing. Not everyone gets this far. That doesn’t mean what happened to you was okay. Your feelings are valid, and you deserve to get support while you heal. That’s true for everyone who lived through developmental trauma—even if you blame yourself, even if you feel ashamed, and even if you can’t clearly remember what happened.

The Minefield of Memories

Traumatic events can directly affect brain function15 and structure. One study found that people with PTSD may present with changes to the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Researchers say that “these brain areas play an important role in the stress response. They also play a critical role in memory, highlighting the important interplay between memory and the traumatic stress response.”

As a result, trauma survivors may struggle to trust their own memories.16 According to experts at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), multiple scientific studies have “demonstrated a connection between childhood trauma and amnesia.” Some survivors repress their memories as a defense mechanism, even if it is “​​established fact that the traumatic events occurred.”

Over time, you may or may not remember the details of what happened to you. In some cases, rediscovering those memories can inspire people to begin recovery in earnest, finally seeking out the support they need. Others may never remember the specifics of their trauma, even if they’re actively engaged in therapy. Healing is always possible, whether or not you remember exactly what happened in your childhood.

Healing From Trauma You Don’t Remember

Kati Morton, LMFT, explains how it’s possible to heal from trauma even if you don’t clearly remember it.17 Even people who have repressed their worst memories are likely to have a noticeable response when confronted with triggers. Morton puts the most likely responses into 2 categories:

  • With body memories, the body responds to triggering thoughts, conversations, or events with a noticeable sensation. For example, you might feel tightness in your jaw whenever you talk about your childhood.
  • Emotional flashbacks can be triggered just like body memories, but may be harder to define. Instead of physically sensing pain or discomfort, you might feel an overwhelming sense of fear, sadness, anger, or any other emotion. It can be hard to tell whether these feelings are a proportionate response to your current circumstances, or a learned response to a painful repressed memory.

According to Morton, “identifying and understanding” these responses helps people “find better ways to manage them.” During treatment, your therapist can help you learn how to respond to triggers in a more effective way, without engaging in unhealthy behavior. This is especially important for people who have a history of both trauma and addiction.

Addiction and Developmental Trauma

A wealth of research links childhood trauma with addiction during adulthood.18 Multiple studies have found “extraordinarily high percentages of childhood trauma of various sorts, including physical, sexual and emotional abuse” among people with a history of substance abuse.

Perhaps because of this connection, some of the same techniques can be used to treat either or both of these diagnoses. In particular, prolonged exposure therapy can effectively treat both PTSD and addiction.19 If you’d like to address the 2 conditions at once, you might benefit from attending a rehab program for people with co-occurring disorders.

It’s also important to note that addiction itself can cause additional trauma.20 If you experienced trauma as a child, this can quickly become a vicious cycle: getting triggered can make you want to take drugs, and the situations that arise because of your drug use can be even more triggering. Many people need professional support in order to break free of this pattern.

You Can Learn to Thrive

Healing from trauma isn’t easy, simple, or fast. If you remember what happened to you, those memories probably won’t just disappear. And even after completing treatment, you may continue to face triggering situations. Recovery can’t undo the past—but it can help you imagine a better future.

Learn more about programs that can help, and see reviews, therapies offered, virtual tours, and more, in our searchable list of trauma rehabs.

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Rehab for Survivors of Sexual Trauma

Sexual trauma is never the survivor’s fault. It doesn’t matter what you wore, who you dated, or whether you fought back. Many people struggle to believe that, which can make it hard to ask for support. But remember: You deserve care. You have the right to heal. And for some clients, rehab for sexual trauma is a helpful place to start.

Assault may take place as an isolated instance, or it may be a prolonged series of events. And survivors of domestic violence situations may face even more barriers to healing. But under any circumstances, these experiences can have a long-term impact on your mental health.

Healing isn’t a linear process, especially for this type of trauma. Some survivors may continue to experience triggers for years to come, or even permanently. But over time, you can develop the tools you need to live with what you’ve been through, and even thrive as a result of your post-traumatic growth. Yes: after sexual assault, it is absolutely possible to heal and grow.

The Emotional Impact of Sexual Assault

According to the CDC, 43.6% of women and 24.8% of men report having experienced some form of contact sexual violence1 in their lifetimes. In other words, nearly half of women and nearly a quarter of men have been groped, raped, or otherwise touched in a nonconsensual way. A much greater percentage of people have experienced sexual harassment without physical contact. And these numbers only reflect reported instances of these events.

And these are just the documented cases. Based on purely anecdotal data, it’s safe to assume that many, many more people have experienced sexual trauma and chosen not to report it. When the #MeToo movement2 took social media by storm in 2017, the sheer volume of posts and responses suggested that the actual number of people who have been assaulted is much, much greater than that shown by statistics.

This idea is bolstered by the #WhyIDidntReport movement, 3in which people shared their reasons for remaining silent about assault. Researchers found that these reasons fall into a number of categories, including (but not limited to) shame, denial, fear, hopelessness, substance misuse, and even the desire to protect their assailant from legal consequences. Data also suggests that male survivors are less likely to report rape.4 As a result, we may never know exactly how common this experience is.

Sexual trauma can be extremely harmful, in both clear and unexpected ways. While it’s easy to see how physical violence can cause injury, some of the other effects of assault are far less visible.

Mental Health Conditions

Research has found that “the most frequently observed symptoms following rape are fear and anxiety.”5 And 44% of survivors reported moderate or severe symptoms of depression within one month of their assault. These symptoms may last for a short period of time after the event, or they may indicate the onset of a chronic mental health condition.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is perhaps the most likely diagnosis for survivors of sexual trauma. Findings “indicate that PTSD is common and severe following sexual assault.”6 This condition may result in flashbacks, dissociation, anxiety, and even physical symptoms. Most people with PTSD also struggle with triggers. A trigger is an event that reminds you of a traumatic experience, causing you to respond in a way that is disproportionate to current circumstances but would have been appropriate during the initial incident.

If the experience of sexual trauma occurred over a prolonged period of time, or was one aspect of long-term domestic violence, it may result in complex PTSD (c-PTSD).7 This condition is similar to PTSD, with slightly different symptoms. Some rehab programs are specifically designed to help clients with both PTSD and C-PTSD.

Decreased Self-Esteem

Survivors of sexual assault share a tendency to blame themselves for what happened. It can be hard to reconcile the experience of losing agency with the personal responsibility to heal after trauma. According to experts, “Self-blame is a central construct in the sexual assault recovery8 field theorized to be related to the loss of control that occurs during the assault and internalized feelings of responsibility for the assault happening and/or for one’s responses to it.”

Perhaps as a result of this, survivors of rape report “significantly lower self-esteem” than people who have not experienced sexual trauma. This symptom can make them more vulnerable to other adverse experiences, such as abuse, serious mental health conditions, and substance misuse.

Changes to Sexuality

Assault is not sex.9 It may be about sex. And by definition, sexual trauma includes sexual acts. But sex requires consent. That being said, this type of trauma can change the way a survivor feels about consensual sex. After rape, consensual sex may feel unsafe, triggering, or even physically painful. It’s quite common for a person’s interest in sex to change drastically after being assaulted.

Although “sexual assaults alter the frequency of [survivors’] sexual interactions,”10 these changes are not always straightforward. Some survivors may become sex-repulsed, and even decide to be celibate for a time. Others may show signs of hypersexuality, in which they seek out as many consensual sexual experiences as possible. In fact, data suggests that hypersexuality may be directly linked to PTSD.11 Because of this, experts have called for research into possible connections between trauma and sex addiction.

Substance Use Disorders

Many survivors of sexual trauma go on to develop substance use disorders. This coping mechanism, while unhealthy, can feel like a way of self-medicating. It may also help survivors temporarily regain a sense of agency. However, it is not an effective way to heal. Substance misuse simply provides a brief break from survivors’ most difficult symptoms, and in the long term it may result in even more serious issues.

According to experts, there’s “overwhelming evidence that victims/survivors of sexual violence are much more likely to use alcohol and other drugs12 to cope with the trauma of their victimization. Women with sexual abuse histories were more likely to report more drug-related problems…A vicious cycle may develop in which an already traumatized individual who uses substances to cope is at greater risk of experiencing additional trauma.” These behaviors may also damage the survivors’ relationships, making it difficult for them to get the support they need.

Other Impacts of Sexual Assault

In addition to its emotional impact on the survivor, sexual trauma can have an effect on their wider community. This can be true in the short term, as people react to the news of the event, and in the long term, as the survivor’s needs from those around them change.

Impact on Interpersonal Relationships

Because trauma may cause changes to the survivor’s sexuality, it often has a direct effect on their current and future romantic relationships. And depending on how a partner reacts to hearing about their history, it may result in either deeper or more fragile trust.

This disclosure, to both partners and friends, is an extremely important part of long-term healing. “A growing body of research suggests that the type of social reactions sexual assault survivors receive from others13 can have a profound impact on their health and well-being.”

Community Impact

There are a number of myths about sexual assault,14 including the idea that it’s normally perpetrated by a stranger. When we think of rape, we may imagine a person wearing a ski mask in a dark alley, grabbing an unsuspecting passerby. While this does sometimes happen, the vast majority of assaults are perpetrated by a person the survivor already knows.

According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), 80% of rapes are committed by someone in the survivor’s life.15 39% of perpetrators are acquaintances, and 33% are current or former romantic partners. And these events are associated with significantly higher rates of PTSD and depression than those perpetrated by strangers. “It is also likely that the breach of trust and sense of humiliation women may experience after intimate partner sexual violence16 may contribute to poor mental health outcomes.”

When the survivor and perpetrator share a community, they may both face significant social struggles after the trauma occurs. Survivors risk not being believed, losing friends, and losing access to community spaces inhabited by the perpetrator. Because social support is such an important part of healing, this can make it difficult to move forward.

“This stacked deck, known as ‘rape culture,’17 is the set of social attitudes about sexual assault that leads to survivors being treated with skepticism and even hostility, while perpetrators are shown empathy and imbued with credibility not conferred on people accused of other serious crimes, like armed robbery.” And rape culture has a quantifiable impact on the availability of resources for survivors.18

Healing From Sexual Trauma

Healing from sexual violence19 is a process that entails ups and downs. You can absolutely heal, but it’s important to be patient with yourself. Over time, you may recover repressed memories, find that triggers have resurfaced, or even be retraumatized by future events. Because of this, it’s important to develop a strong set of tools that will help you navigate life after sexual trauma.20 Certain styles of therapy can be especially helpful for survivors.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been proven to be effective for trauma survivors. Specifically, experts believe that cognitive processing therapy (CPT), which is one subset of CBT skills, can help clients heal from sexual trauma.

In CPT, clients examine their own deepest beliefs and emotional responses. It follows a very specific protocol, and is normally delivered over the course of 12 sessions. During this time, the client recounts the traumatic event with the goal of re-experiencing their own emotional reactions to it. Then, they evaluate their feelings, learning to modify their logical response to their own emotional experience.

Exposure Therapy

In this type of therapy, clients recount their most difficult memories, intentionally causing themselves to have a triggered emotional response in a safer context. This work can be extremely difficult, and should always be guided by a skilled practitioner.

Much like CBT and CPT, exposure therapy22 teaches you to navigate your own most painful emotions. As hard as the therapeutic process can be, it imparts valuable skills that help clients navigate future triggers and challenges.

Body Awareness

Sexual trauma can cause survivors to dissociate, feeling as if they’ve lost ownership over their own bodies. Reclaiming your body after sexual assault23 can be both difficult and immensely helpful.

This is an extremely personal process, even more so than some other forms of healing. The important thing is to choose activities that work for you, and not only those that you believe should work. Some clients benefit from a combination of exercise, massage therapy, healthy eating, or mindful meditation on physical sensations.

Simply learning to feel at home in your own body is a powerful coping mechanism. This skill may also help survivors avoid engaging in unhealthy behaviors, like substance misuse.

Rehab for Sexual Trauma

Sexual trauma often causes survivors to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms, including substance use disorders and eating disorders. It can also result in co-occurring mental health diagnoses, like depression and anxiety.

Fortunately, many rehabs specialize in treating dual diagnoses. As a result, these facilities are equipped to help survivors with more than one concern. Some programs also offer trauma-informed care, which is specifically designed to treat survivors. This may be appropriate for anyone with a history of trauma, whether or not that trauma includes consent violations.

If you choose to attend rehab for sexual trauma, it’s important to manage your own expectations about the healing process. Rehab can’t undo what happened to you. But it can help you develop the tools you need to successfully navigate life in its aftermath.

Living With a History of Trauma

Healing from sexual violence is a lifelong process. It may result in permanent changes to your sex life, relationships, and sense of self. That being said, not all of these changes need to be negative. Experts have found that “recovery from sexual victimization is possible”—and you may even experience post-traumatic growth.24

Whatever the future holds, though, healing from trauma often begins with being present in the moment. Many clients benefit from simply accepting difficult emotions, instead of trying to ignore or “fix” them. This can be helpful both for clients healing from a recent assault, and for those who had a traumatic experience long ago. No matter what happened to you in the past, understand that you have the right to heal. And you have the right to ask for help.

Your journey toward healing can begin whenever you’re ready—discover how trauma treatment programs can provide the supportive environment and specialized care to help transform your pain into growth and renewal.

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Are High Achievers More Susceptible to Addiction?

They may star in Hollywood films or run Fortune 500 companies, but many of the world’s most successful people also have a secret: they struggle with a unique set of challenges that often lead them to require treatment for substance abuse.

Take Zac Efron. This Hollywood star, famous for his lead role in the High School Musical series, was on top of his game in the mid-2000s. He was on the cover of magazines, and the idol of millions of teenagers around the world. But as he shifted into adult roles, he also became part of a much more intense party scene—one that would eventually pull him away from his career. He soon found himself treating his anxiety and loneliness with substances.1 He reflects on that time:

“You spend a lot of time in your house going crazy. You know, pretty soon you need a social lubricant…It was getting to the point where I was caring less about the work and waiting for the weekend…But then when Monday and Tuesday were too difficult to get through, then I was like, ‘Oh, this is bad.’”

Efron pulled himself out of his substance abuse in 2013, when he sold his house in the Hollywood Hills and checked into a rehab program for cocaine and alcohol addiction. But Efron isn’t the only star who has battled substance abuse. Hundreds of CEOs, athletes, artists, and celebrities struggle with addiction. But why?

As it turns out, many of the same traits that make people high achievers, like risk-taking, a strong drive for success, and dedication to their work, also are traits that make them more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. High achievement and substance abuse2 often go hand in hand—and neuroscientists and psychologists can help us uncover why.

The Science Behind Substance Abuse

To understand what drives CEOs, celebrities, artists, and other high achievers to substance abuse, we need to understand what neurological factors lead to substance abuse in the first place.

Addiction researcher and neuroscience professor David Linden, PhD, explains why the character traits that make someone a good CEO also make them a “good addict.” Simply put, the same brain chemicals that encourage us to achieve also push us toward substance abuse and other forms of addiction. Linden writes in his book The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good:3

“The pleasure derived from success, and in particular from risky or novel business ventures, is borne of the very same brain pathways that make substance use so irresistible to some. It’s all about pleasure-seeking and reward.”

But contrary to popular belief, people who struggle with substance abuse and addictive behavior don’t have a heightened desire for these substances. Instead, Linden’s research shows, many people with a history of substance abuse have “dampened” dopamine receptors. Dopamine is the chemical in our brains that allows us to feel pleasure—which means that to get the same rush of positive feelings, a person with dampened dopamine receptors needs to partake in significantly more of an activity or substance than the average person.

What does this have to do with achievement? The connection, Linden argues, is actually quite simple. Certain activities like drinking alcohol, eating fatty foods, and exercising give us a dopamine hit—and so does achieving a goal. When you set and achieve a goal for yourself, your brain releases dopamine, and you get a rush. So, the same mechanism that makes certain people more likely to crave substances like alcohol or drugs is also more likely to push them to work harder to achieve their goals.

“My strong, strong suspicion,” says Linden, “is that what makes some people more likely to rise to the top is the same thing that makes them more likely to be addicts.”

Anxiety, Trauma, and Alcoholism

Though dopamine receptors are responsible in part for substance abuse, they aren’t the only factor that can impact a person’s likelihood to struggle with addiction. While approximately half of someone’s addictive tendencies are thought to be genetic,4 the rest is based on factors having to do with life circumstances.

Constance Scharff, PhD, who works as an addiction researcher with Cliffside Malibu treatment center and co-authored the book Ending Addiction for Good5 reports that high achievers who struggle with addiction are also likely to have experienced a major stressor or trauma in their early lives that shape their behavior.

“There’s something, usually an early experience, that fuels that kind of drive, and oftentimes it’s the same thing that drives addiction. The vast majority didn’t have some sort of basic needs met as children, so they’re driven very, very hard to succeed. But the pain that goes with that is also what they’re self-medicating for.”

– Constance Scharff, Addiction Researcher, Cliffside Malibu

cliffside malibu
Set near the coast, Cliffside Malibu offers a co-occurring disorder treatment program that includes evidence-based treatment and holistic medicine.

The rate of co-occurring disorders with substance abuse is very high—which is why more treatment centers are offering treatment for anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and other diagnoses. One study from 2010 showed that exposure to traumatic experiences as a child was linked to higher rates of substance use disorder (SUD),6 and many participants were living with both SUD and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A similar study on anxiety and substance use disorders7 shows that rates of SUD in patients with anxiety occur at a higher than average rate, suggesting that there is a correlation between the two conditions.

Scharff and her team agree that exposure to adverse childhood experiences,8 also called ACEs, can increase the likelihood that a person will struggle with substance abuse later in their life. And ACEs can also lead to other traits, like perfectionism, that are associated with high achievement. As such, learning how to identify these behaviors, process childhood traumas, and cope with triggers is a pivotal part of treatment for many high achievers who struggle with addiction.

Substance Abuse and Everyday Stressors

There’s one final reason why many high achievers may be prone to addiction: the stress they experience in their daily lives.

Imagine, for a minute, what it’s like to run a global enterprise, or play in a Super Bowl Game. Not only are millions of people expecting you to succeed—your entire life is also often in the public eye. Even for people who aren’t navigating childhood trauma, the pressure to perform at a board meeting or on a movie set, along with the social pressures of being in the limelight, can be overwhelming. Facing anxiety and burnout, many high achievers self-medicate to cope.

Aton center san diego
AToN Center in San Diego, California specializes in helping high achievers who face anxiety and burnout heal from substance abuse.

Studies show that turning to potentially unhealthy coping mechanisms is surprisingly common among successful people. In the recent Executive Wellbeing Index from Bupa Global, 60% of executives who reported struggling with mental health issues during the pandemic said they turned to potentially unhealthy coping mechanisms, like alcohol or substances, to self-medicate9 those issues. Nearly 40% of those respondents said they used over-the-counter drugs and/or alcohol to treat their anxiety, depression, fatigue, or mood swings.

It’s also important to remember that though self-medication and stress is part of daily life for many high achievers, during the pandemic many people lost access to their old, healthier coping mechanisms. In the write-up on their survey, Bupa Global notes: “Many of the mechanisms people typically use to cope with such stress and anxieties such as seeing friends and family, going to the gym, going on holiday and even going to work have been diminished, and replaced for other, more addictive substitutes such as increased alcohol consumption, self-medication, substance abuse, and gambling.” In the absence of other outlets, people often turn to substance abuse.

Even for people who don’t typically struggle with anxiety or depression, periods of stress can lead to self-medication, which can devolve into a more serious substance use problem. Treating mental health struggles as they arise can help all people, including high-achievers, stay ahead of that spiral.

Celebrity Success Stories

For many celebrities, CEOs, and other highly successful people, a combination of childhood trauma, anxiety and stress from a demanding job or lifestyle, and genetics can lead to struggles with substance abuse. But those struggles don’t always end in pain and suffering. In fact, many celebrities with household names have overcome their substance abuse problems by seeking treatment.

Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, author, producer, and much more, was addicted to crack cocaine10 in her early 20s. She started using while in an unhealthy relationship and soon became addicted. In an episode where she interviewed recovering addicts, Oprah shocked her audience when she said to guest Kim Davis: “​​I did your drug.” Oprah sought treatment for her addiction and has since become one of the most influential women in the world.

Business mogul Steve Madden also struggled with addiction11 in the past. This high achiever, who started his shoe company from the trunk of his car, was tried in 2002 for money laundering and fraud. In a documentary from 2017, Madden admitted that he struggled with substance abuse since he dropped out of college, and his lawyers explained in court that his crimes were the direct result of his addiction. Madden spent 41 months in prison and was forced to resign from his role as CEO. Since then, however, Madden has returned12 as creative and design chief of the company he started back in 1990. The company did $1.5 billion in sales last year and now owns a dozen other well-known brands.

There are dozens of stories just like these. For many high achievers, especially those in the public eye, finding treatment can be challenging. But, it’s not impossible. A number of rehab centers specialize in co-occurring disorders, like Solice in Marbella, Spain, which offers a holistic approach to recovery and treats co-occurring disorders like anxiety and depression. Other facilities, like AToN Center in San Diego, specialize in helping executives and professionals heal from substance abuse. These centers and many more offer discreet, personalized treatment that takes into consideration the needs of high-performing individuals.

Solice Spain
Solice in Marbella, Spain offers a holistic approach to recovery and extra privacy for executives who are concerned about confidentiality.

True Achievement: Healing Addiction and Underlying Trauma

As many people know, high achievement can be a double-edged sword. While it comes with motivation, hard work, creative thinking, and often, success, it also can also lead you down a path toward substance abuse and other addictive behaviors.

For many high achievers, substance abuse isn’t the problem—it’s simply a way to cope. Treating the underlying causes that can lead to addictive behavior, and learning about how your body handles substances, can be an invaluable way to find healing. The more you know about yourself, the more easily you can break old patterns, and discover a more successful, motivated, and capable version of yourself.

It’s important to remember that struggling with mental health is a normal part of life—particularly for certain groups of people. For many survivors of childhood trauma, those with a family history of substance abuse, and people in positions of power, treating mental health is part and parcel of living a successful life. Though it can be hard for high achievers to admit their own flaws, it’s okay to recognize that your brain has a unique way of navigating the world. And it’s entirely okay to ask for help when you need it.

You can start your healing journey and reduce your symptoms of anxiety and other co-occurring disorders at a treatment center near you.

Frequently Asked Questions About Addiction Among High Achievers

Why do high achievers struggle with addiction?

High achievers often face intense daily pressure, stress, and a need for perfection, which can contribute to using substances as a coping mechanism.

What are the signs of addiction in high achievers?

Signs of addiction among high achievers include increased excessive workload, declining performance, mood swings, hiding substance use, and neglecting personal well-being.

How can rehab help high achievers with addiction?

Recovery.com provides tailored treatment programs that include individual therapy, group therapy, holistic treatments, and support networks specifically designed for high achievers’ needs.
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Going to Family Therapy in Rehab

Substance use disorders don’t develop in a vacuum. They often develop due to genetics, trauma, or social pressures. Any of these factors may be caused by difficult family dynamics. Because of this, many people in rehab benefit from attending family therapy in rehab.

“Family” is a complex idea. For some people, it means only their family of origin, such as parents and siblings. Others use the term to refer to their spouses and children. Many people also have chosen families, which may include friends, collaborators, and even more complex relationships. And whomever you consider to be your family, you can be sure that your group dynamic is unique.

Depending on each specific family’s interpersonal relationships, commitment to healing, and availability, this type of therapy may or may not be a good fit. However, many people in recovery find it to be extremely beneficial.

Who Benefits From Family Therapy

When you first enter treatment, it may be difficult to disentangle your own behaviors from the behaviors of those around you. Many people benefit from traveling to rehab, putting both physical and emotional space between themselves and their loved ones while they begin recovery. Over time, you’ll likely reach a nuanced understanding of what caused your past behaviors. Through this process, many people with substance use disorders learn how to be accountable for their own behavior, without blaming themselves for the actions of those around them.

No matter what led you to misuse substances, it can be extremely helpful to examine the external and interpersonal circumstances of your life. This process empowers clients to make sustainable changes, with the goal of living a healthy lifestyle even when faced with challenging situations. By focusing on yourself, and staying in your lane, you can consistently make choices that support your own values.

The Person in Recovery

For many clients, family therapy is an essential component of recovery. As you learn more about the dynamics that enabled your past behavior, you’ll become better equipped to create more sustainable interpersonal relationships. This process can also help you come to terms with past traumas, such as growing up with an alcoholic parent, especially if those traumas were either shared with or caused by family members.

“Family work helps people achieve and maintain long-term emotional resolve and resilience.”

– Ameet Braich, Clinical Director, Camino Recovery
Camino Recovery exterior pool
Set on a lush campus in Vélez-Málaga, Spain, Camino Recovery‘s robust family program runs 4 to 5 days.

Significant data supports the idea that healthy family dynamics can help you commit to long-term recovery. Specifically, “Involving family members in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment1 can positively affect client engagement, retention, and outcomes. Positive social/family support is related to long-term abstinence and recovery, whereas negative social/family support (e.g., interpersonal conflict, social pressure to use) is related to increased risk for relapse”.

This modality not only helps clients do inner, emotional work; it can also be the first step in building a support network to help you navigate life after rehab. That network may ultimately include your family, friends, loved ones, and even work colleagues. Family therapy can help you bolster your closest relationships, giving you a strong base from which to cultivate a wider community.

One study on the effects of family therapy in addiction treatment2 found that “Family therapy enhanced family resilience, structure, and strong ties; the program improved problem-solving skills, coping skills, and family resiliency levels” of people with substance use disorders. Although this particular research focused on adolescents in recovery, the same theory may apply to adults in recovery. And these same skills may also improve the lives of the other people in your family.

Family of Origin

In most families, members play multiple roles at once. You might be a parent, a grandchild, and a spouse, all at the same time. These dynamics are always complex, even in the easiest and healthiest of circumstances. Family therapy is not only intended to help you heal; it’s also designed to help the people around you heal, and to heal the ways in which you relate to each other.

“Family members assume certain roles, which often relate to…cultural attitudes, family beliefs, gender, and overall family functioning. Some roles develop in response to stress or the underfunctioning of a family member.” When you attend rehab and begin recovery, the roles of your family members may begin to shift. Although this process can be extremely healthy, it can also be stressful and confusing. For example, if your spouse has learned to care for you in a certain way, you may no longer benefit from that specific kind of care. Family therapy creates a safe space in which you and your loved ones can process these changing relationships.

Loved Ones and Chosen Family

Not everyone considers their family of origin to be their family. And not everyone should. If your relationships with your original family were particularly traumatic or harmful, it can be healthy to surround yourself with people of your own choosing. Many rehab centers define this word much more broadly, inviting clients to focus only on loving and supportive relationships.

“‘Family’ means a group of two or more people with close and enduring emotional ties. Using this definition, each person in treatment for a behavioral health disorder has a unique set of family members. Therapists don’t decide who should be in family therapy. Instead, they ask, ‘Who is most important to you?’” By answering this question, clients can start to regain agency in their own lives. You have both the ability and the right to choose which relationships are healthy for you. Even before your loved ones start attending therapy, defining “family” for yourself may help you understand your core values and your deepest needs. “It is up to clients to identify whom they would like to include in family counseling.”3

Some rehab centers have a special focus on providing therapy for chosen families. In the LGBTQ+ affirming program at Caron Ocean Drive, for example, some clients may be estranged from their families of origin. The team at this rehab strongly believes that “family members, including people you identify as your family of choice, should be part of the treatment process. If you are dealing with rejection from your family because of your sexuality, our therapists can provide counseling for you and any family members you wish to include.”

Caron Ocean Drive OurCampus Grounds
Caron Ocean Drive in Boca Raton, Florida offers a warm, nurturing environment for family therapy.

However you define family, it’s likely that you can find a rehab program that can support you and your loved ones. Some rehab centers—especially those that offer personalized treatment—may work with you to create a specialized program that meets your exact needs, making family therapy as accessible as possible.

Making Family Therapy Accessible

Even if family therapy is the right fit for you, as an individual, it may or may not be accessible for your loved ones. This is especially true for clients who attend destination rehabs. When you’re located in a different city or country from your family, you may need certain accommodations in order to schedule group conversations. Fortunately, in this technological era, there are many options available.

Phone Calls

If family therapy sessions aren’t the right fit for you or your loved ones, you may still benefit from staying in touch. Some rehabs allow clients to use cell phones and other electronics to contact far-away family members.

Every program has its own regulations. In some facilities, you may have free access to your personal cell phone or computer throughout treatment. Others may allow you to schedule phone calls in advance. You may also be required to spend some time in therapy before you’re allowed to reach out to family, or to begin focused family therapy.

Virtual Family Therapy Sessions

Thanks to the growing popularity and accessibility of online medicine, you may be able to try family therapy even if your loved ones are far away. There are a number of HIPAA-compliant telehealth platforms4 that allow clients to safely meet with therapists, trusting that their conversations will remain private and protected.

Research suggests that virtual therapy may be just as effective as in-person therapy.5 David Mohr, Ph.D., director of the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, asserts that “telehealth is essentially just as effective as face-to-face psychotherapy—and retention rates are higher.” However, since the popularity of this format has grown so quickly, there is still much we don’t know about its efficacy.

Some programs also offer telehealth options that are only available to families, in addition to family therapy with the client. All Points North Lodge, for example, hosts weekly virtual support groups for people with a loved one in recovery.

All Points North Lodge theater room
Known for their cutting-edge facilities, All Points North Lodge in Vail Valley, Colorado, includes telehealth options specifically for families.

In-Person Family Therapy

If you attend rehab locally, you and your family may prefer to attend therapy together in person. This is an important option for people whose loved ones may not be comfortable using technology to discuss personal information, and those whose families include small children.

Many programs offer various versions of this modality, ranging from regular meetings to occasional visits. Aurora Recovery Centre offers a wide variety of robust programming for families, which people can attend either with a loved one in recovery or on their own. While these programs are therapeutic, they also share practical skills, teaching attendees “how family and community systems are affected by substance use disorder.” PROMIS London takes a different approach, hosting a family week during which your loved ones come together as a group for several days in a row.

Benefits of Family Therapy

Because every family is unique, every family is affected by substance use disorders6 in a slightly different way. These conditions can easily influence “breakdown in the ways in which family members get along, communicate, and bond with each other. A family is a system consisting of different ‘parts’ (the family members), so a change in one part can cause changes throughout the system.”

Family therapy is intended to heal not just the involved individuals, but the whole system. This process may teach you and your loved ones how to better support each other through hardships, encourage each other to use healthy coping mechanisms, and engage in activities you all find meaningful. Rehab is, among other things, a time for you to get to know yourself again. And you may find that you’ve changed. Family therapy invites your loved ones to get to know you again, too.

“Although family counseling may temporarily shake up the family system and activate intense feelings, these feelings are a normal part of counseling.” This process isn’t easy. However, for many clients, it is an extremely important part of recovery.

Aurora Recovery
Aurora Recovery Centre invites family members to their verdant campus in Manitoba, Canada.

Limitations of Family Therapy

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to healing from a substance use disorder. As helpful as family therapy can be, it may also be detrimental to certain clients. For example, some clients find that attending rehab—and especially traveling to rehab—is a helpful way to distance themselves from toxic interpersonal dynamics. In these cases, it may be better to take a break from communicating with loved ones until after you complete residential treatment.

In other cases, family therapy may be detrimental to a client’s loved ones. According to experts, “certain family members should not be included in SUD treatment and services. Such situations include when intimate partner violence has occurred, when child abuse or neglect has occurred, when individuals are currently withdrawing from substances, when clients with SUDs are also struggling with psychosis or are suicidal, and when clients have significant cognitive problems (like severe learning or memory problems).”

And even if you and your healthcare providers agree that family therapy would be beneficial for all involved, it may not be a realistic option. Your family may even be resistant to treatment,7 refusing to join you in the process of recovery. If this is the case, it’s best to focus on your own healing, and rely on your clinicians to provide you with more direct support. You may also benefit from attending support groups, and connecting with other members of your cohort.

Your Family and You

Family therapy is a way of healing not just your psyche, but also your relationships. By improving your communication skills, you’ll learn how to navigate stressful situations without losing much-needed interpersonal support.

It’s important to remember, though, that you are not your relationships. Working on your family dynamics can be extremely helpful. But regardless of their mental health, and regardless of their approval of your behavior, you have the right to be well. Whether or not you decide to attend family therapy, rehab is an opportunity for you to focus on your own personal healing process.

To learn more, view our collection of rehabs offering family programming.

Frequently Asked Questions About Family Therapy in Rehab

What is the role of family therapy in rehab?

Family therapy plays a vital role in addressing the impact of addiction on the family system. It promotes healing, communication, and understanding among family members. This process can teach members how to better support each other, building a foundation for lasting recovery.

How does family therapy benefit the addiction recovery process?

Family therapy benefits the addiction recovery process by fostering a supportive and healthy family environment. It helps identify and address enabling behaviors, improves communication skills, rebuilds trust, and provides a strong foundation for sustained sobriety and emotional well-being.

Who participates in family therapy sessions during rehab?

Family therapy sessions in rehab typically involve the person in treatment and their family members. This can include parents, siblings, spouses, and chosen family. The goal is to address dynamics within the family system and strengthen relationships for long-term recovery.

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Building Confidence With Strengths-Based Addiction Treatment

Strengths-based treatment empowers clients to direct their own recovery process. This is a departure from many therapeutic modalities, where the focus tends to be on the negative. You analyze unhealthy habits, come to terms with past mistakes, and talk about the problems you’d like to “fix.” This perspective can be very beneficial for some, but it’s not for everyone. The strengths model offers an alternative.

This type of therapy is used to tackle the same issues, but from a more positive perspective. Rather than focusing on their flaws, clients build confidence by growing the skills that serve them best. Strengths-based counseling places an emphasis on the coping mechanisms that got you through difficulties, rather than dwelling on the choices that caused them. 

The goal is for you to view yourself with compassion and respect, cultivating a more positive outlook toward your life and the world around you. This reminds you that no matter how hard things were before, you had the skills to get here. You are capable of great things. And you can use your current strengths to develop an even better toolkit for mental health, with skills that will empower you to build a meaningful life. 

Strengths-based therapy is both a philosophical perspective and a practical approach to the healing process. In order to understand what happens in this form of treatment, it’s important to know about its underlying ideology.

The Philosophy of Strengths-Based Treatment

This approach is fundamentally different from the more widely used model of medical care. In most medical treatments, for any condition from substance use to cancer, the focus is on treating the “bad” symptoms. If your neck hurts, you might take aspirin. If you twist your ankle, you might wear an ankle brace. This can also be applied to more complex issues: if you have depression, you might see a therapist, or start taking antidepressants. In any of these examples, the primary goal of treatment is to stop you from hurting. This model is a negative feedback loop,1 in which a change in a negative stimulus (such as spraining your ankle), is regulated by making a change in the opposite direction (such as wearing an ankle brace). These simple solutions often work well, but they are not always appropriate for healing complex mental illnesses, such as substance use disorders.

The strengths-based approach, on the other hand, is a positive feedback loop. This type of treatment has similar goals to traditional medical care, but it reaches them by using a very different strategy. Instead of treating negative symptoms, the therapist encourages the client to focus on the positive. You’ll catalogue your own strengths, and learn how your skills have helped you navigate past life experiences. By understanding your own best qualities, you’ll become better equipped to use healthy coping mechanisms in the future. This empowers clients to make choices more intentionally, and to build fulfilling, sustainable lives. 

The Medical Model of Care: Fixing Problems

In the case of mental health, negative feedback loops can influence the way clients view themselves and their prospects of recovery. “Traditionally, the mental health arena is highly influenced by the medical model where severe mental illnesses are considered chronic with irreversible neuropathological brain changes and information-processing deficits,” says Huiting Xie, Senior Staff Nurse at the Buangkok View Institute of Mental Health in Singapore in an article on strengths-based approaches for mental health recovery.2 As a result, “Mental health recovery seems like an impossible dream.” The very model we use to determine a course of treatment can sometimes make it difficult for clients to heal.

This common perspective can severely damage the self-esteem of people with mental health diagnoses, which may impede recovery. In fact, research has found that “24% of the people with schizophrenia scored low on self-esteem2 on the Rosenberg self-esteem scale.” This also applies to people with substance use disorders, whether or not they have additional diagnoses. Therapy is intended to cultivate mental health, and not to increase feelings of guilt. Although it’s important to take responsibility for your mistakes, low self-esteem can lead to shame spirals.

This pattern can also cause clients to perform badly in relationships with other people. This results in a lack of community support. Isolation is unhealthy for most people, but especially for those with substance use disorders, who benefit from having a level of public accountability. Strong relationships also help people in recovery build meaningful lives, making plans they can look forward to that don’t include unhealthy behaviors. A lack of community can also make relapse far more likely.

Although the traditional medical model is a very effective way to treat certain disorders, it’s not the only way. For some clients, especially those with mental illness and substance use disorders, it can even be counterproductive. It’s easy to separate one’s identity from physical conditions—you are not your carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s much harder to draw those distinctions when your illness affects your emotions or your behavior. This paradigm can give clients the impression that, just by being themselves, they are a problem that needs to be fixed or isolated from the world. That idea is extremely harmful. Strengths-based treatment can be a lifeline for clients who are engaged in this way of thinking.

Strengths-Based Treatment: Promoting Confidence

Strengths-based therapy has many of the same goals as other treatment modalities. However, those goals are achieved through a very different process. Instead of emphasizing “bad” behaviors, therapists encourage clients to lean into their more positive traits. No matter how hard someone’s life has been, all of us have strengths that have helped us get to this point. In most cases, clients who are starting therapy have made the decision to change. That fact alone is a reason to take pride in yourself.

In strengths-based talk therapy, the therapist guides the client through the process of assessing their own best qualities. Many forms of addiction treatment emphasize “pathology, focusing on problems and failures in people with mental illnesses; the strengths-based approach2 allows practitioners to acknowledge that every individual has a unique set of strengths and abilities that [they] can rely on to overcome problems.” By acknowledging these strengths, the therapist not only encourages the client to do the same; they also provide tangible, memorable evidence they are worthy of praise and respect.

Strengths-based treatment may be helpful for people with a wide variety of diagnoses, including substance use disorders. Research is being done on its efficacy in treating a number of demographics. Like any form of therapy, however, it may not be appropriate for all clients. In some cases, strengths-based therapy is a valuable component of healing, but should be used in combination with other therapeutic modalities. 

It’s important to be realistic about recovery of any kind. False hope can be harmful, especially to people who are emotionally triggered by severe disappointment. However, overt pessimism can be equally damaging. The strengths model deals in practical hope. By taking a clear-eyed look at your most positive qualities, you can ground yourself in reality and begin to build a more sustainable life. This therapy has many of the same goals as other treatment modalities; however, those goals are achieved through a very different process.

Strengths-Based Treatment in Practice

The actual process of strengths-based recovery may look and feel different from other types of talk therapy. Because the goal is to empower the client, and not to “fix” them or their problems, therapists use a distinct set of techniques and conversation styles. Clients are encouraged to assess and celebrate their own unique strengths, rather than conforming to a set of values that may or may not resonate with them.

Assessment

In the first stage of strengths-based treatment,3 “case managers engage clients in a process that is the antithesis of most assessments.” Some practitioners don’t even read the client’s complete medical record until after their first meeting. Instead, they meet you in the present moment, listening to your perspective before learning about other healthcare providers’ opinions. This allows them to approach you as a whole person, making space for you to have your own thoughts and feelings about the healing process. 

This approach is intended to empower the client. When you’re in the driver’s seat, you learn how it feels to make decisions about your own life. You can begin to build confidence not only by talking about your strengths, but by amassing evidence that you’re capable of making sustainable choices. If you begin this process during your time at an inpatient rehab program, the risks are somewhat mitigated. You can trust that your talk therapist and other healthcare providers will provide feedback if you begin to fall into unhealthy patterns. 

After meeting with you and hearing about your experience, the therapist will support you in deciding what your treatment will look like. Unlike many other modalities, clients in strengths-based therapy define their own treatment goals, and decide which services will be used to achieve those goals. You’ll begin by going through a questionnaire to assess your strengths. For some clients, this is their first time consciously considering their own best qualities. This strengths-based assessment3 focuses on your ability to “accomplish a task, use a skill, and have or fulfill a goal in nine life domains,” including life skills, finance, leisure, relationships, living arrangements, occupation/education, health, internal resources, and recovery.

According to experts, by inviting a client to take such an active role in their own recovery, the strengths-based approach can significantly decrease their denial.3 In the act of considering which services will be most effective for them, clients must take an honest look at their own goals, needs, and preferences. By doing this, they begin to come to terms with their current emotional state. They accept their own problems, and immediately link those problems to possible solutions. This process can be less jarring and painful than more traditional therapies, in which the client begins treatment by extensively describing the difficult issues at hand.

Identifying Your Strengths

After the initial intake process, clients go through various strengths-based assessment worksheets4 to help them identify their strengths and skills. This process invites you to take an objective look at your own life experiences and behavioral patterns. For example, one worksheet asks the client to reflect not only on strengths they see in themselves, but on strengths the therapist heard and reflected back to them. Then, the client goes on to list situations in which those strengths were apparent. Every therapeutic process is unique, so your therapist may or may not give you this exact assignment.

Most people in recovery have more strengths than they initially think. They may also have developed coping mechanisms that once felt like negative attributes, which can help them build more sustainable lives. It’s common for people with substance use disorders to find themselves in dangerous or even life-threatening situations, in which they must make split-second decisions. If you were once in a dangerous situation, and made a decision that minimized harm to yourself or someone else, you used a skill to do so. That’s something to be proud of. Going to rehab and engaging in therapy will hopefully help you avoid such difficult dynamics in the future, but you can find ways to use that same skill in situations with lower stakes.

Rehab is an opportunity to develop healthy coping mechanisms. In some forms of treatment, therapists assume that clients are starting from scratch, and unlearning all their current habits to make room for new ones. The strengths model takes the opposite approach. With this type of treatment, you begin by acknowledging and honoring the fact that you already have positive coping mechanisms. Your therapist guides you through the process of honing these skills, and learning to apply them in a healthy and sustainable way.

Self-Empowerment Through Strengths-Based Treatment

The positive philosophy of strengths-based treatment5 has an impact on every aspect of therapy, including interpersonal dynamics. This process is most effective when the therapist and client view themselves as collaborators. Instead of enacting the power dynamic seen in so many therapeutic relationships, the therapist and client interact as equals, honoring each other’s contributions to the conversation.

Over time, this dynamic teaches the client how to build relationships that are based on mutual respect. This practical experience also allows you to create memories of healthy interactions, amassing evidence of your own strengths and skills.

Working as a team, the therapist and client begin to explore skills that have “been historically successful in the client’s life.”5 Clients practice viewing themselves in a more positive light, developing confidence and self-compassion. Experts note that this process reveals clients’ inherent resilience. “In most cases, it is not necessary to teach clients new skills, thoughts or emotional reactions. Instead, therapists can help clients identify the strengths they already possess and build a model of resilience from these existing strengths,” according to Christine A. Padesky and Kathleen A. Mooney, creators of the four-step Strengths-Based cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT)6 model. “Rather than focus on areas in which the person is not resilient, we advocate in-depth exploration of areas in the person’s life in which they exhibit sustained activity and that are not linked to problem areas.”

It’s important to recognize that behavioral patterns do not exist in a vacuum. Strengths-based therapy also includes an assessment of the client’s external environment and family structure. In many types of therapy, this assessment would be focused on assigning responsibility or even blame to the people in your life, locating the root of your biggest problems. The strengths model, unsurprisingly, has a somewhat different goal. The therapist and client use this information to identify opportunities for the client to seek out external support.

Strengths-Based Treatment in Community

You are not alone in your experiences. Strengths-based recovery practice7 recognizes that community is “an oasis of potential resources,” and a very important component of healing. This applies to your existing community—family, friends, colleagues, etc.—and also to the new community you’ll build during therapy. This community may come from group therapy, support groups, 12-Step programs, family and friends, and other people in your rehab program.

Group Therapy

After arriving at inpatient rehab, clients may or may not get to choose which groups they attend. Of course, your choice of rehab facility may be partially based on which groups are offered. However, you may find that your preferences change after you begin inpatient treatment. Strengths-based treatment gives clients a great deal of control over which types of therapy they engage in. You’ll be empowered to make your own decisions, just as you are in every other aspect of this approach. 

Experts note that typically, “the treatment program determines the types of groups clients will attend, the information to be presented, and the perspectives to be used to evaluate the client’s success or failure in treatment. In opposition to that approach, case managers who implement a strengths-based approach will attempt to ensure that clients are in control of their own treatment.”3

By having so much say in what your treatment looks like, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about your own needs. This is an absolutely essential part of healing. The more you know about yourself, the better equipped you’ll be to adopt healthy patterns of behavior. If you can really meet your needs, and do so in a sustainable way, you can start to alleviate self-destructive desires. 

You’ll also gain valuable experience in meeting your needs on your own terms. When this process begins in a safe environment like inpatient rehab, you have the freedom to make mistakes and through trial and error. Your actions always have consequences, but any negative effects can be moderated by on-site therapists and medical professionals. 

Family Therapy

The principles of strengths-based therapy can also be applied to families. Whether you choose to attend family therapy, or simply discuss your family dynamics in a one-to-one session, this philosophy helps many clients identify ways to heal their relationships. The strengths model encourages clients to approach family members from a place of respect, honoring each person’s contributions.

As Elsie Jones-Smith, of the American Board of Professional Psychology, writes, “The SBT (strengths-based therapy) philosophy toward working with families8 deals with the unique knowledge, competencies, capabilities, and resources of individual family members as well as the family as a whole. Strengths may involve relationships and connection among immediate family members, extended family members, friends, and members of a given community. These strengths can also be found in the family’s unique beliefs, cultural and ethnic heritage, or socioeconomic background.”

This process of honoring each family member’s unique knowledge and history is not intended to ignore problems. It goes almost without saying that family dynamics can contribute to mental illness and substance use disorders. However, it’s not often productive to dwell on wrongdoing. This model avoids placing blame on any individual person or family unit. Instead, it refocuses on the individual and collective skills of the people involved.

By considering the strengths of your family members, and of your family unit as a whole, you may discover new ways to reconnect with the people closest to you. It’s okay to ask for help, and it can be very healthy to seek advice from those you trust. You may find that the people in your life have strengths that are very different from your own. Perhaps you’re great at listening, but your sibling is better at articulating difficult emotions. The two of you could learn a great deal from each other. Strengths-based family therapy might help you do this in a focused way, allowing each of you to feel like an expert while you both practice working as a team. 

Participating in a team of any kind can build individual confidence.9 This includes family systems. One study asserts that teamwork “has the ability to enable the members of the team to have a higher level of emotional security, self-confidence and the ability to plan and decide with others positively.” Strengths-based family therapy not only improves group dynamics; it can also empower individual family members in other areas of their lives. This is especially important for people in recovery from substance use. In order to heal your relationships, you must understand your own needs and goals and have a clear sense of what makes your life meaningful.

Holistic Strengths-Based Treatment

The strengths model is intended to treat the whole client, in the wider context of their life and community. Rather than just treating your symptoms, this approach is intended to improve every aspect of life, including self-image, patterns of behavior, and interpersonal dynamics. Although clients are asked to evaluate their personal histories, the focus is on the future.

In order to identify goals, you’ll begin by defining your personal values. For example, if you value adventure and travel, buying a house may not be an appropriate objective. On the other hand, if you value stability more highly, it may be time to let go of dreams of a traveling lifestyle. There’s no one right way to live, but it is possible to find the best possible path for yourself.

Assessing and exercising your strengths can help you understand what a meaningful life looks like for you. You’re also likely to find that even your most difficult past experiences are valuable lessons. No matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done, or whether you regret your past choices, you can be sure that you’ve learned and grown along the way. 

Elsie Jones-Smith writes, “Strengths-based therapy10 adheres to the belief that even the most challenging life stories that clients bring to therapy contain examples of their exercise of strengths in their struggle with adversity. For instance, the addict’s or substance abuser’s maladaptive responses may also contain within them the seeds of a struggle for health.” Those seeds contain valuable information about what you valued, even in the darkest times of your life. To extend the metaphor–by planting and watering them, you can develop even better coping mechanisms, nourishing the life you’ve always wanted.

Experts note that people with substance use disorders3 “frequently become adept at making decisions in crisis, with very short-range goals in mind. Although this type of decision-making ability is a strength, recovery and sobriety will also call for the ability to plan and carry out longer-range goals.” When you first begin therapy, it can be difficult to see how your own best qualities came through in the difficult situations you previously encountered. Once you start to recognize your own strengths, you can start to plan for a better future. It’s important for people in recovery to learn how to think about their lives in the long term. And in many cases, this is a new experience.

The Hero’s Journey

Strengths-based therapy positions the client as the hero of their own personal narrative.11 In their book on this approach, John J. Murphy and Jacqueline A. Sparks write “Clients are often portrayed as dysfunctional, passive, and acted upon by the expert counselor’s intervention. Drawing from decades of research that paint a very different picture, SBT acknowledges and honors heroic elements of clients’ lives throughout the course of counseling. These elements include clients’ creativity, wisdom, resilience, and other strengths that contribute to effective therapeutic outcomes.”

The hero’s journey,12 famously defined by Joseph Campbell, is well understood as a literary concept. This detailed framework can be divided into three steps: the departure, the initiation, and the return. In the departure, a person acknowledges a problem that needs their attention, and decides to make changes. During the initiation, they confront the difficult emotions that haunt them, and the decisions that led them this far. Finally, in the return phase, they begin to rebuild their life based on recent revelations.

It’s easy to see how this process relates to that of addiction and recovery. In the case of addiction, the departure occurs when you decide to change your life. This initiation might occur in detox, rehab, or other forms of therapy. The return is the ongoing process of recovery.

Academic researchers are now applying this framework directly to mental health, especially in the context of trauma. In the article “Trauma Recovery: A Heroic Journey,”13 scholars describe how the process of healing from a traumatic experience, such as substance abuse, fits into this paradigm. They conclude that in many cases, “trauma survivors are the living narrative of such heroic tales,” and that “recognizing survivors in this way empowers them to continue to fight bravely for the ability to change their own story.” 

In strengths-based therapy, as in the hero’s journey, clients take an active role in their own lives. This process encourages you to develop compassion for your own struggles, and to look forward to a brighter future of your own design. For example, at the New England Recovery Center, clients engage in a “client-centered, strengths-based approach” intended to “motivate them for active participation. Cognitive-behavioral treatment provides clients the necessary tools for achieving and sustaining recovery. Concepts and skills learned during the initial stages of addiction treatment are continuously emphasized and practiced on a daily basis.”

Developing the Strength to Change

In strengths-based therapy, the client is positioned as an expert. The therapist trusts you to make your own decisions and to implement your skills. By learning how it feels to be trusted, you’ll begin to trust yourself, either again or for the first time. 

When you trust yourself to make good decisions, you’re far better equipped to navigate difficult situations. Strength-based therapy offers you the emotional space you need to build healthier coping mechanisms, and to use them even when you encounter triggers.  This strategy is a powerful way to build confidence and start working toward a better life. 

If this type of therapy feels right for you, you can learn more about the rehabs that offer strengths-based treatment here.

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Trauma-Informed Care: How Rehab Can Support Post-Traumatic Growth 

Trauma can be an isolating experience. When you go through something so painful that it changes you, it’s natural to feel like no one else can understand your new reality. You may have trouble connecting with the people around you, or no longer enjoy activities you once found meaningful. No matter how hard it is at first, remember: this is not the end of your story. You can always create a new beginning.

By going to rehab, you can get help from experts in trauma, PTSD, and CPTSD. The simple fact that these experts exist is proof that trauma is extremely common. You may feel isolated, but you’re certainly not alone. Depending on your program, you can also spend time in rehab building community with people who have life experiences like your own.

Diagnosis After Trauma: PTSD and CPTSD

This process can teach you a great deal about your own perspective. There are countless kinds of trauma, and everyone’s response to it is unique. For the most part, however, people whose mental health has been severely impacted by trauma are diagnosed with PTSD and/or CPTSD. 

PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder1 (PTSD) normally develops in response to trauma that occurred in a discrete, specific amount of time. It’s often diagnosed in veterans and survivors of sexual assault. This condition is characterized by many symptoms, including but not limited to the following: 

  • recurring, involuntary, and intrusive memories of the traumatic event
  • flashbacks and/or dissociation
  • avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event
  • dissociative amnesia
  • persistent negative beliefs and/or self-blame
  • feelings of alienation

PTSD can be overwhelming. You may have the sense that one moment, or one brief period of time, permanently changed your emotional capacity. And that might even be true. But it doesn’t mean you’ll always be in pain. 

paracelsus confidentiality
Paracelsus Recovery in Zurich, Switzerland takes developmental trauma into account when addressing mental health and addiction issues.

CPTSD

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder2 (Complex PTSD or CPTSD) is similar but not identical to PTSD. This describes people who have experienced prolonged trauma, such as long-term domestic abuse or long-term childhood trauma. While many veterans who served only one tour have PTSD, those who spent years in active service, and especially those who were detained in Prisoner of War camps, may in fact have CPTSD. The term may also apply to people who grew up in violent neighborhoods or spent time in prison. 

CPTSD is not yet officially classified as a diagnosis by the DSM-V (the American Psychiatric Association’s manual for assessing and diagnosing mental health conditions). However, many clinicians use it as a framework for discussing their clients’ experience. The term has been in use since at least 1988, when Dr. Judith Hartman of Harvard University suggested that the symptoms of long-term trauma may require a different kind of treatment than those of PTSD. She referred to a number of specific symptoms: 

  • self-destructive behavior, such as impulsivity and substance misuse
  • emotional difficulties, including rage, depression, and panic
  • chaotic personal relationships
  • dissociation and personality changes

Although CPTSD is not yet classified as a medical diagnosis, a growing number of healthcare providers use the concept as a therapeutic tool. It may very well be included in a future version of the DSM. Even now, many people in recovery identify with the term. Like any diagnosis, this is not only meant as a way of explaining ineffective or damaging behavior. Instead, it can help you define your experience in order to chart a path away from destructive patterns. 

What Is Trauma-Informed Care?

“Trauma-informed care“3 refers to a variety of healthcare practices that take into account the unique experiences of people with a history of trauma. Providers may be experts in treating PTSD and CPTSD, and they may offer special accommodations for certain clients. For example, when a survivor of assault sees a massage therapist who offers trauma-informed care, the therapist might make it a point to ask for verbal consent before touching any new area of their body. The provider’s goal is to treat the client with respect, making sure they feel as safe as possible throughout the healing process. 

Trauma-informed care takes the client’s past, present, and future into account. It’s not productive or even possible to ignore the original traumatic event while trying to move forward. Jan Garber, the CEO of Paracelsus Recovery, explains:

“When we’re looking at trauma, we often look at family of origin to understand how people were shaped and how that then informs how they react in life and how they relate to others.”

He adds, “If someone’s coming to us, most of the time they’ve identified a set of symptoms that’s saying, ‘Hey, stuff in life isn’t well, or it’s not working the way it could.’ So that’s the smoke, and where there’s smoke, there’s fire. So we want to really look at where that fire is and how the fire started.”

Looking at the root cause of trauma is not about assigning blame. It’s unlikely that you caused your own trauma, and it’s certainly not true that you’re responsible for other people’s behavior. You did not make this mess; or at least, you didn’t make it alone. Whatever or whomever the source of your pain may be, though, healing is your responsibility. That can feel very daunting, especially for people who experienced childhood trauma. Remember that you are not the first person to feel this way. There is a great deal of research that can guide you through PTSD and CPTSD, and your healthcare providers are there to help you navigate it.

mclean fernside
McLean Fernside in Princeton, Massachusetts recognizes clients’ need for trauma treatment as an essential part of recovery.

Learning From Triggers

Trauma-informed care is sensitive to triggers. This word has been co opted and even denigrated in recent years, so it’s important to define it in this context. 

A trigger is an inciting event that elicits a strong emotional reaction which may be disproportionate to the present moment, but is a reasonable response to the past trauma you’ve experienced.

It is not true that being triggered means you are weak, or fragile, or maladjusted. On the contrary, triggers exist for good reason. The extreme emotional reactions they cause used to serve you well. With time, effort, and therapy, many people can overcome these disproportionate reactions. 

Triggers are unique to everyone. Some are very common; for example, many survivors of physical violence have trouble looking at gorey images. However, they can also be hard to predict. A bouncy pop song might be triggering if it was playing when you got in a terrible car accident. If you struggle with your family of origin, you may be triggered by a funny sitcom about a happy family.

Simply avoiding triggers is both impractical and ineffective. Even if you never play the radio in your home, that same bouncy pop song might come on the speakers while you’re at a grocery store. Isolating yourself from situations in which you might be triggered can prevent you from living the life you want. The long-term goal of trauma-informed care is not to protect you from triggers—although that may be a useful short-term strategy. You will instead learn how to regulate your emotions and tolerate difficult situations.

The first step toward building habits is to acknowledge your current patterns. From there, you can decide which of them are still helpful. The skills that got you to this point served an important purpose, but they may not be the skills you need to build a better life. 

Trauma, Addiction, and Mental Health

When you experience trauma, it’s natural to develop coping mechanisms that are appropriate to use in emergencies. These strategies are very important; they are designed to help you survive and ultimately escape. But life isn’t always an emergency. Some of these habits can become harmful if you keep using them after the danger has passed. For example, a person who grew up in a violent home might have learned to mistrust their family members. That skill was probably a very important defense mechanism during their childhood. In adulthood, however, that same skill has the potential to damage a romantic partnership. 

If you’re living in an unsafe situation, it’s normal to want to escape. If physical escape is not an option, you may turn to other means of escape, such as substance use. Researchers have found “that there is high comorbidity between PTSD with substance abuse disorders4 and other mental disorders.” Because of this well-understood connection, many rehab centers are well-equipped to offer trauma-informed care. 

“Even if the person doesn’t define for themselves that they have trauma history, we assume that they do,” says Dr. Monika Kolodziej, Program Director of McLean Fernside. She describes their trauma-informed approach:

“What that means is being very respectful of space. It means being a clear communicator. It means not overstepping boundaries. And it means introducing the possibility that treatment for trauma might be an important part of their recovery. So in addition to being sensitive and interacting with the person in a way that’s respectful, that doesn’t overstep boundaries or is not aggressive or confrontational, it also means providing treatment and skills.”

PTSD and CPTSD can also co-exist with or even cause other diagnoses, such as anxiety and depression. Scholars have also suggested a link between CPTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD);5 some even suggest that we stop differentiating between these two conditions.6 If you’re living through ongoing trauma, and develop an additional mental health issue as a result, it can be even harder to get out of danger. And once you do arrive at a safer place, these conditions can complicate the healing process. 

Trauma-informed care takes these many complexities into account. Rehab is a place to not only move past substance use, but also learn to cope with the underlying cause that led you to use substances in the first place.

Camino Recovery exterior pool
Camino Recovery in Vélez-Málaga, Spain uses EMDR to help clients reduce the impact of traumatic memories.

Trauma-Informed Behavioral Health Services

Rehab is designed to be a safe, protected environment in which you can begin healing from trauma. You’ll have access to experts who can help you process your past experiences and learn new skills to use in the future. Without the added responsibilities of work, school, or caring for your family, you’re free to focus on yourself. This dynamic is especially important for people with a history of domestic violence, and anyone whose trauma has caused them to struggle with interpersonal dynamics. 

PTSD and CPTSD can be extremely isolating, both during and after the original trauma. That isolation can even be a key indicator of whether or not you’ll develop one of these conditions in the first place. For instance, if a person gets in a car accident and then has to wait for hours before an ambulance arrives, that waiting period might be just as emotionally damaging as the accident itself. After that traumatic event, it could also be hard for them to explain why they’re triggered by sitting quietly at the side of a road.

Rehab offers clients the opportunity to inhabit a safe and protected environment, without isolating them from care. By connecting with your cohort and your team of providers, you can learn how it feels to simultaneously exist in a private space and benefit from community support. 

Various rehab facilities offer different types of therapy for people with a history of trauma. Behavioral therapy is a particularly effective treatment. This approach provides clients with very specific tactics for navigating difficult situations, coping with triggers and urges, and living in accordance with their personal values. Some common styles of therapy for healing from trauma7 include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), exposure therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). 

Each of these kinds of therapy looks at trauma from a slightly different vantage point, and it’s important to choose the one that’s right for you. EMDR, for example, aims to restructure the way memories are stored in the brain. Meena Lavender, Family Therapist and EMDR Practitioner at Camino Recovery, explains:

“If you had a filing system in your brain, it would house traumas in different sections of your brain. What EMDR does is access it one by one and processes that to eliminate the emotional charge it has.”

EMDR is just one example of trauma-informed care that simultaneously treats the mind and the body. This holistic approach can be helpful for clients who experience physical symptoms as a result of their emotional experience. In some cases, these symptoms can be extreme: panic attacks can be mistaken for heart attacks, and dissociative episodes can put a person at risk of physical harm. Ryan Soave, Director of Program Development at All Points North Lodge, states: 

“We hold trauma in our body, and stress is really the symptom of trauma. we can start working some of that stress out of the body, utilizing things like yoga, breath work, meditation, massage, the sensory deprivation tank, exercise and other types of functional movement, then when that stress is released from the body, it makes it easier to deal with the stressors that are going to come on a daily basis.”

The Ball, the Box, and the Button: A Metaphor for Healing

Imagine that, at the moment you originally experienced trauma, someone handed you a box. Inside it, you find a bouncy ball and a big red button, which is mounted on one of the sides. Whenever the ball hits the button, you’re reminded of your painful experience. That may mean you get triggered, feel anxious, and/or have the urge to engage in destructive behavior. 

At first, the ball and the box are almost the same size. The ball is constantly pressing down on the button, and you spend most of your time feeling the effects of what you’ve been through. This acute phase of healing from trauma can be very overwhelming. Without effective tools to regulate your emotions, it’s unfortunately easy to fall back on unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Over time, though, you learn. You grow. The box gets bigger, and the ball has room to bounce around. It spends less and less time pressing on the button. Your feelings may still be intense every time the button gets pushed, but you’ll have some space to breathe in between those moments. You’ll develop skills to manage your own reactions, and be better prepared for the next time the ball hits. 

This metaphor was originally developed to describe grief. And the process of healing from trauma is not unlike the process of grieving.8 Often, though, what you’re grieving is a version of yourself. As painful as that is, there is a well-charted path forward. 

Trauma-informed care offers people the space they need to get to know themselves again. This is your opportunity to redefine yourself, your life, and your values. Healing is a-linear, and there will always be good days and bad days. This process is intended to help you navigate them both. 

To learn more about your options for care, see our collection of residential rehabs offering trauma treatment here. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Trauma-Informed Care in Rehab

What is trauma-informed care in rehab?

Trauma-informed care in rehab is an approach to treatment that recognizes the impact of past traumatic experiences on an individual’s mental, physical, and emotional health. It focuses on creating a safe and supportive environment for healing and recovery.

What are the key principles of trauma-informed care in rehab?

The key principles of trauma-informed care in rehab include safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural sensitivity. These principles inform every aspect of treatment, from the initial assessment to ongoing support after leaving rehab.

What are the benefits of trauma-informed care in rehab?

Trauma-informed care in rehab benefits individuals by taking their experiences and trauma into account to provide a safe and supportive environment for recovery. This can foster a sense of empowerment and autonomy, which may lead to improved mental health outcomes.

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What Does It Cost to Go to Rehab in Malibu (And Why Do So Many People Pay)?

malibu beach at sunset with building, palm trees and one person walking, silhouettes

Want to compare Malibu treatment options? Check out our collection of 25+ Malibu rehabs. We’ve compiled pricing info, treatment specializations, and other key differentiators to help you find the best rehab option in Malibu.

It probably comes as no surprise to hear that attending rehab in Malibu is expensive. It’s where Mel Gibson, Lindsey Lohan, and plenty of other rich and famous people have checked in, often spending multiple thousands on an ocean-view room (Mel Gibson went to Passages, where a room starts at $80,000 a month, for example).

But how much does it really cost you to go to rehab in Malibu? And why are people willing to pay the prices?

Here’s everything you need to know.

No Place Like Malibu

The city of Malibu is located about 30 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, along scenic Highway 1, and encompassing a 21-mile strip of coastline. Home to Hollywood stars, glorious sandy beaches, and some of the best surf along the entire Pacific coast, Malibu also comes to mind when thinking of the word “rehab.”

In 2013, the New York Times reported that there were 35 state-licensed drug and alcohol rehab clinics in the Malibu area1 alone (which had a population of just 12,645), along with an ever-rising collection of unlicensed sober-living homes popping up across the city.

Today, it seems Malibu has a rehab center on almost every corner, and many of these have ventured beyond traditional drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, treating mental health conditions too, and often adopting more unique, experiential and alternative treatment approaches.

What Does It Cost to Go to Rehab in Malibu?

With such a desired location, treatment in Malibu is bound to be costly. The answer here depends on which rehab center you’re looking to visit, not to mention any insurance benefits that may help with some of the costs.

Passages (where Mel went) is one of the most luxurious of all the residential providers in Malibu, and its price also reflects this. For your $80,000-per-month stay, you get access to the following:

  • 5 different estates, which offer exquisite ocean-view rooms
  • 10 acres of Malibu paradise
  • Tennis courts
  • A glass-housed gym and personal trainer
  • A private and tranquil detox unit
  • Two swimming pools and a Jacuzzi

They can treat up to 29 clients at a time, and they recommend a 60-day commitment to guided sobriety.

While Passages and Summit Malibu sit at the two ends of the financial scale, there are many other rehab options between them, such as

And there are several reasons so many are willing to pay Malibu prices …

The Beach Is Right There

Of course, a big benefit to receiving addiction and mental health treatment in Malibu is the beautiful scenery and warm climate. Whether it’s the sound of barreling waves breaking along the shoreline, the sight of an epic sunset along the Pacific horizon, or the smells of fresh sea air and the feel of a light breeze on your face, Malibu is a truly magical location, a location that can help you find that all-important reset button.

Malibu offers complete tranquility, calmness and peace. It’s a place where you can switch off, slow down and take the time to watch the sun descend below the horizon, every single day.

You’re Close Enough to Normal Life

Given how close Malibu is to Hollywood and LA, it makes for the perfect place to escape without needing to disconnect from everyday life completely. Many Californian residents, for example, can attend a program and continue to receive follow-up care, reducing the rate of relapse down the road.

Places like Passages offer relapse prevention counseling, for example, while other centers offer clients specialized outpatient treatment, so clients can go about their regular life while continuing treatment.

While most of the centers mentioned are primarily residential, for some people, outpatient treatment is the best approach to their recovery. It gives people a sense of normality, and it helps bring the lessons learned in recovery into real life, helping them overcome issues for good.

There’s an Array of Specialized Centers

Many rehab centers in Malibu are well experienced in treating high-profile individuals and the issues they face, such as alcohol and drug use. For instance, Center for Professional Recovery and Seasons in Malibu specialize in treating executives, celebrities, doctors, lawyers and the like.

Other groups can also find treatment tailored to them. Paradigm Malibu, for instance, is committed to treating underlying core issues that are impacting the lives of teens and Visions Adolescent Treatment offers top-of-the-line treatment to teens specifically aged between 13 and 18 years of age.

Across providers in Malibu, there’s a wide range of alternative and holistic wellness programs that help those suffering from issues like mental health disorders and trauma as well.

Malibu Has Some of the Best Recovery Centers in the World

Because of its location, Malibu has become one of the most sought-after rehab locations in America. Malibu, in many ways, invented the stereotypical high-end, resort-style rehab center. Some have received criticism of simply being a spa or vacation and lax on the hard work of recovery. However, many providers offer both the luxury of vacation-like settings and solid clinical treatment. For instance, centers like Oro House Recovery, Seasons in Malibu and Avalon Malibu have some of the best clinicians across the country, and as a consequence, the quality of treatment often outranks many other centers.

There are Many Reasons So Many Pay the Cost to Attend Rehab in Malibu

It’s home to an abundance of alcohol and drug addiction rehabs that exclusively treat high-end clients and often get attention from the press, which may be the reason the general public associates “rehab” with Malibu and with Hollywood stars.

But Hollywood aside, Malibu is the location of choice for many looking to recover due to the various treatment options and the beautiful weather and scenery.

A person would have to travel far and wide to find a place similar to Malibu. The likes of Spain, for example, hold up in terms of climate and tranquility, and Thailand offers warmth and a less expensive rehab experience as well.

This makes Malibu an extremely popular destination of choice for rehab. To find out more about rehab in Malibu and to find a rehab, visit here.

Frequently Asked Questions About Rehab in Malibu

How much is rehab in Malibu?

• Prominence treatment, price starts at $47,000 per month
• Paradigm Malibu, price starts at $48,000 per month
• Summit Malibu, price starts at $48,000 per month
• Sunset Malibu, price starts at $50,000 per month
• Malibu Hills, price starts at $68,000 per month

Why is rehab in Malibu popular?

Because of its location, Malibu has become one of the most sought-after rehab locations in America. Malibu, in many ways, invented the stereotypical high-end, resort-style rehab center.

Where do CEOs go to rehab?

Many rehab centers in Malibu are well experienced in treating high-profile individuals and the issues they face, such as alcohol and drug use. For instance, Center for Professional Recovery and Seasons in Malibu specialize in treating executives, celebrities, doctors, lawyers and the like.