Non 12 Steps Treatment

Non 12 Step Holistic Rehab

Addiction medicine has continued to evolve and has now identified addiction as a brain disease.  This means that alcohol and drug use affects the chemical balance of an individual’s brain.  The brain may be predisposed to a more addictive personality and mental health conditions.  Addiction medicine has not established evidence based treatment programs that focus on the underlying core psychological or psychiatric conditions.  Whether an individual had the mental health symptoms prior to use or after, the main focus is to develop a treatment plan that will help a person learn to rewire their brain through various evidence based treatment elements.

Non 12 Step Treatment Elements

Treatment elements should include in-depth and comprehensive psychological and psychiatric assessments.  The information that is compiled from these assessments will help the clinical and medical treatment team design an individualized treatment plan.  The most common elements at an evidence based and non 12-step treatment program include individual cognitive behavioral therapy, individual case management, and individual psychiatrist meetings.  The individual in treatment will focus on stress management, medication management, life skills, relapse prevention, exercise, and nutrition.

What is the Difference Between 12-Step and Non 12-Step

The difference between 12 step and non 12-step programs are the approaches that are followed for the treatment process.  A 12-step treatment program focuses on the group process.  The 12-step model has been extremely successful for hundreds of thousands of people over decades due to the strong community of recovery associated with 12 step support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.  The evidence based model has been paving the way to delving deeper into the disease concept and how to address the chemical imbalances that are in the brain and to reverse the damage of the addiction and mental health symptoms.  The goal is to help the patient reach equilibrium in the chemical balance of the brain so that they can better process group therapy and start to integrate the support groups and life skills into their long-term treatment plan.

Receive Help from a Non 12 Step Recovery Program

Having a good understanding of the differences and what to expect at a non 12-step treatment program will help guide you and provide a better understanding of the differences in treatment philosophies. Oftentimes, non 12-step based addiction and dual diagnosis treatment programs will incorporate a support group called Smart Recovery.  Smart Recovery is a support group that does not follow the 12 step model.  Smart Recovery has become a very popular option for those who have not had success in a 12 step based program. Call to speak with a Treatment Specialist at (866) 644-7911.