Past events often have a significant impact on your current thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The effects of these events may be positive. However, they can also contribute to serious problems like addiction. Therapy plays an essential role in the effective treatment of all kinds of substance problems. This treatment often comes in the form of traditional talk therapy. But you may also benefit from an experiential therapy program, which helps you cope with past events in uniquely beneficial ways.
At Painted Desert Recovery, we offer a range of options to help women recover from substance problems. Those options include our experiential therapy program. In combination with our other treatments, this therapy supports your goal of a durable return to recovery. Learn more about how experiential therapy can help you process the past by calling 844.540.0357 or completing our online form.
Experiential Therapy vs. Talk Therapy
Traditional talk therapy has known benefits for improving your mental well-being. It does so by helping you understand and change damaging thoughts and emotional responses. However, on its own, this approach may not provide you with sufficient benefits. Why not? An increasing number of experts believe that your body also plays a crucial role in your mental health. Unless you have help with this aspect of your health, your problems may not be fully addressed.
That’s where experiential therapy, also referred to as experience therapy, comes in. In this form of therapy, activity takes center stage as a recovery tool. When you’re active, you must use your body. Under the guidance of a trained therapist, this activity will help you heal in ways that you can’t just by talking.
Types of activity used in experiential therapy include:
- Mindful forms of movement like yoga or tai chi
- Hiking or similar outdoor activities
- Cooperative play with others
These activities do not replace other forms of treatment. Instead, they provide additional ways of supporting your recovery.
Experiential Therapy for Addiction
Many people affected by drug or alcohol addiction have a history of trauma exposure. That’s especially true for women. Trauma exposure not only increases your chances of becoming addicted. It can also leave you stuck in ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that reinforce your addiction. If left unaddressed, trauma can contribute to worsening problems over time.
Research shows that experiential therapy is an effective treatment for trauma by:
- Using movement to help you overcome emotional blockages
- Giving you a non-verbal way to access hidden trauma-related issues
- Providing you with a sense of self-mastery and self-control
All of these benefits also apply to experiential therapy for addiction. That’s true because the therapy helps you get at some of the core issues behind substance abuse.
Women’s Experience Therapy
Women have elevated risks for many kinds of serious trauma. They also have higher odds of developing substance problems after trauma exposure. This means that women have a particular need for effective experiential therapy. To get the full benefits of treatment, you may prefer to get help in a gender-specific program. At Painted Desert Recovery, this kind of program allows you to focus on your recovery in the company of women with similar personal histories.
Seek Utah Experiential Therapy at Painted Desert Recovery
For women-centered experiential therapy, turn to the specialists at Painted Desert Recovery. We understand how past events can affect you in the present. We also understand how guided experiences in therapy can help you overcome those events. You have several options for experiential therapy at Painted Desert. This array of choices allows you to pick activities that appeal to you. It also makes it easier to incorporate your therapy into other aspects of your recovery plan. For more information on how we can help, call today at 844.540.0357 or reach out through our online form.
