For example, if a person becomes easily angered or finds himself responding in other negative ways (such as entering into a depressive state) his normal response may be to use drugs or alcohol to control the anger or eliminate the negative emotions and responses (or at least make him think he is.) The trained counselors at G&G Holistic Rehab use Mindfulness and Dialectic Behavior Therapy to show him other ways of controlling anger or any other negative emotion that may cause him to turn to substance abuse as part of their treatment program.
Mindfulness is a way of recognizing the triggers that cause a negative emotion, then training one’s mind to immediately become aware of other things. For example, a client may feel himself getting needlessly angry, or reacting too strongly to a situation that may indeed call for anger. Utilizing the training he has received in the drug rehab program, he swiftly concentrates his thoughts on becoming aware of other things, which are not related to the situation causing the negative emotion.
He may focus on the simple fact that he is in a room with walls painted in calming colors, or with pictures that can evoke a calm or peaceful reaction. If outside, he can focus on the sights and sounds of nature—birds singing, the wind blowing, blooming flowers—anything to take his thoughts away from whatever is causing the anger. By doing so, he allows his mind to begin to calm down. From there, instead of focusing only on what has triggered the negative emotion, he can instead begin to see the bigger picture.
This “downtime” allows him to actively begin to think of other ways to respond to the negative emotion, or to even determine if a response is needed. Once disengaged from the trigger, he may see that the situation was not at all what he originally perceived, or that, while his perception was correct, his initial response would have been too strong.
As mentioned earlier, learning Mindfulness and Dialectic Behavior Therapy occurs during the drug rehabilitation program. For more information on this type of treatment, please visit our website at http://www.holisticdrugrehab.com/ or call 1-800-559-9503.
