Whenever you or a family member is looking at substance abuse treatment, your doctor will refer you to a counselor who can help you decide on the type of treatment plan that will work best for you. Behavioral treatment will go hand in hand with the substance dependence treatment. This step is very important because it will help put a stop to the thought processes and behavior that led to the substance abuse in the first place. There are two major types of behavioral treatment: outpatient and residential. Outpatient behavioral treatment covers the many programs where you visit a clinic, hospital, or doctor’s office for counseling on a regular basis. These usually entail talk therapy of some sort, and if not on a one-on-one basis, group support of others who also are recovering from addiction. Types of therapy that may also be included are cognitive behavioral therapy which addresses immediate situations and helps you develop coping and decision making skills to make better choices. This form of treatment is especially useful in helping to deal with situations that trigger cravings. Motivational interviewing and incentives utilize your own desire to seek treatment and make lifestyle changes needed to discontinue with your substance abuse problem. Motivational interviewing leverages your own attitude and bolsters it with positive reinforcement through motivational incentives to encourage long lasting recovery from substance abuse. Multidimensional family therapy is primarily for young adults who have developed substance abuse problems. It recognizes that families operate as a whole and in order for a young person to successfully stop their substance abuse, it will require the entire family unit to cooperate in the recovery process.

As a group they will learn how to improve how they function together as a family and support the substance abuser in their abstinence from further drug use. Residential treatments are far more intensive and usually geared for those with the most severe types of drug dependence. You are admitted to the residence and remain there through the primary course of treatment and recovery which can last from 6 months to a year. A full rehabilitation program which includes not only recovery from addiction but to also build social functioning skills that may either be severely impaired because of poor life decisions and addiction or simply were never learned in the first place. Most who enter this sort of facility have a long history of drug use and often criminal backgrounds related to their drug use. Because of this, there is a much stronger emphasis on community to encourage change in patient attitudes, perceptions, and what they consider acceptable behavior toward others in order to reintroduce them to the outside community both drug and crime free.