Traditional therapy and counseling services have proven to be effective in helping people recovering from alcohol addiction or substance abuse. However, sometimes, patients need more.
Sometimes, they need new treatment approaches that traditional methods don’t cover. That’s what holistic therapy does. It offers both conventional and unconventional treatments to ensure a comprehensive recovery.
If you’re interested to learn more, this post covers everything you need to know about this therapeutic approach.
Table of Contents
What Is Holistic Therapy?
Holistic therapy is a type of treatment that uses a wide variety of therapeutic techniques to offer comprehensive care. That means it doesn’t just focus on your physical and psychological symptoms. It also helps you form better self-care habits.
That mind-body-spirit connection reduces stress/anxiety, improves your trauma responses, and boosts your overall health. For addiction treatment, holistic therapy can help with physical decline, emotional stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, and more.
Ultimately, this holistic approach addresses the root cause of your health issues in a way no other treatment approach does.
That said, most patients struggling with substance use disorder (SUD) don’t engage in holistic medicine alone. It’s usually a complementary modality to the traditional treatment plans rehab facilities offer.
What Types of Holistic Modalities Are There?
Holistic therapy isn’t limited to one modality. It offers a variety of healthcare practices, with each serving a different purpose.
1. Nutritional Therapy
Patients recovering from substance use disorder tend to focus on psychological treatment and building a healthy routine. They often overlook the importance of a balanced diet.
However, addiction usually leads to serious nutritional deficiencies. So, understanding your body’s dietary needs and adopting healthy eating habits is an essential part of the healing process.
Holistic therapists understand this connection and address it with nutritional therapy. Working with holistic nutrition professionals, you’ll identify the nutritional imbalances contributing to poor health and make the necessary dietary changes to promote optimal health.
Developing a healthy body with a balanced diet will help you gain the strength and composure for a successful recovery.
2. Yoga Therapy
Yoga helps you recover from SUD by optimizing your physical and mental health condition. The different postures you have to take stretch your muscles to their limit, improving your fitness, strength, balance, and flexibility.
Mindful meditation teaches you to stay present in the moment and be aware of your thoughts and physical sensations without allowing your mind to drift away.
Combining physical and mental wellness, yoga therapy helps you develop healthy coping mechanisms to reduce future cravings and resist potential relapses.
That’s not necessarily exclusive to yoga. Tai chi, dance therapy, and other movement therapies offer similar results.
3. Acupuncture
Acupuncture is an alternative therapy approach that focuses on inserting fine needles in certain parts of the body to stimulate the healing process. Needle insertion prompts the release of endorphins, which alleviate pain and reduce withdrawal symptoms.
It also improves your mood and promotes relaxation and emotional well-being, helping you cope with the stress that comes with the post-detox period.
4. Massage Therapy
There’s more to massage therapy than lying on a table and listening to soothing music. It’s an outlet to relieve the physical and psychological symptoms of substance use disorder, including anxiety, depression, and muscle pain.
A massage therapist can stimulate your muscles and skin with circulating movements. That simulation sends a signal to the nervous system, prompting it to release dopamine.
As an effective feel-good hormone, it’ll help you stay relaxed and mindful, which makes for a seamless recovery.
5. Art Therapy
People struggling with substance use disorder may feel ashamed to talk about their experience with addiction. That’s why art therapy is so effective. It’s a non-verbal endeavor.
Whether it’s painting, sculpting, or playing an instrument, you can express the complex issues you might be uncomfortable discussing without saying a single word.
It’s a healthy, creative outlet that helps you understand your feelings, work through your traumas, and explore new ways to express yourself.
6. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most popular and effective evidence-based treatments for substance abuse. It helps you identify the thought patterns, emotions, and circumstances that led to addiction in the first place.
Not only does this arm you with the knowledge to overcome addiction, but it also helps you identify the triggers that might prompt potential relapses. CBT also helps you manage distress using healthy coping mechanisms, which helps you resist future cravings.
People with addiction issues tend to fixate on negative ideas and emotions. However, cognitive behavioral therapy helps them realize that these emotions aren’t logical but are merely a reflection of past experiences and traumas.
Learning how to monitor these thoughts and replace them with new adaptive ways of thinking will take them a long way in their recovery journey.
7. Somatic Psychotherapy
Contrary to the mental health-focused CBT, somatic psychotherapy focuses on your physical health and how your body reflects your emotions, traumas, and psychological distress.
In the standard somatic experience, you tell your therapist about your issues, just like in talk therapy, and they use bodywork techniques to release these pent-up frustrations.
These techniques include breathwork, meditation, massage, dancing, sensation awareness work, and grounding.
Relieving all the negative emotions and buried traumas from your body helps you overcome the stress that can hinder your sobriety.
8. Reiki Therapy
Reiki therapy is based on the belief that the human body contains vital internal energy that reiki practitioners can use in addiction treatment. These practitioners can point to the areas that require treatment in your body and guide the energy toward them to start the healing process.
Although there aren’t that many studies on the efficacy of reiki therapy, the common consensus is that it can help reduce stress, ease physical pain, and balance your immune system.
9. Sound Healing
As the name suggests, sound healing uses different vibrations, frequencies, and auditory stimulations to alter the body’s energy and emotional state.
For instance, using soothing vibrations can calm your mind, reducing stress and anxiety. Certain sounds can prompt the release of dopamine and serotonin, uplifting your mood and helping you overcome depression.
Like reiki, sound healing can stimulate the release of pent-up emotions, relieving all the emotional baggage and frustrations inside your body and mind.
Who Is Holistic Therapy For?
Since it has a wide variety of techniques and approaches, anyone can benefit from holistic psychotherapy. Besides addiction recovery, it can help people struggling with:
- Anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Depression
- Poor sleep
- Stress
- Digestive issues
- Phantom pains
Who Shouldn’t Try Holistic Therapy?
As effective as it is, holistic treatment isn’t for everyone. For instance, sound healing may not be a safe option for pregnant women, especially those in the first three months, as some sounds might be harmful to the baby.
Someone with hypertension, heart issues, or a physical injury should consult a healthcare provider before engaging in movement therapy. The constant movement may be too physically overwhelming for their state.
How Effective Is Holistic Therapy?
A lot of research has addressed the efficacy of holistic healing in supporting addiction recovery throughout the years. A 2021 systematic review tackled the effectiveness of yoga interventions for substance use disorder.
These interventions included different types of yoga and breathing exercises. Out of the eight studies the review covered, six showed that yoga had a positive effect on patients’ recovery journey. It improved their anxiety, pain, and substance abuse symptoms.
A 2014 study argues that art therapy reduces denial, shame, and opposition to addiction treatment. It also provides patients with an opportunity to switch from a passive mindset to an active one.
A 2023 study shows that the relapse prevention, case management, and cognitive restructuring modalities of CBT have shown impressive results in treating SUD throughout the years.
Final Thoughts
Now, you know all there is to know about holistic therapy. It’s an effective therapeutic approach, but it shouldn’t replace traditional psychological treatments.
It offers a wide variety of services, so it can answer your needs no matter what they are. That said, you should still consult a healthcare professional before indulging in it if you’re pregnant or suffering from an injury.
If you or your loved ones need support during your addiction recovery journey, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
