Overcoming substance abuse is both a psychological and a physical process. Over time, addicts develop not only an emotional reliance upon a substance but also a physical one, as the body adapts to the presence of the drug, and reacts to its sudden absence with painful withdrawal symptoms. Many addicts never overcome this powerful double addiction because they fail to address the underlying issues that drove them to addiction in the first place. Addiction counselling and psychotherapy look to locate and examine these underlying issues, and to use this understanding to ameliorate the consequent anxiety and low self-esteem that drugs hold out the promise of relieving.

Counselling and psychotherapy for addiction

Before any patient begins the counselling process, it is important for them to recognise that they have a problem with addiction, and to be prepared to analyse the underlying reasons for this. Therapy can be a painful emotional process. Very few patients are driven to substance abuse through the addictive nature of a substance alone, and there are almost always painful emotional issues that need to be addressed before any recovery can be achieved.

Meeting with a drugs counsellor

As a trained and experienced psychologist with first-hand experience of addiction, we are fairly uniquely placed to guide you through addiction therapy, and to facilitate your recovery. Whatever the underlying reasons for your dependency – traumatic past events, identity issues, a sudden loss or relationship breakdown – it is vital these issues are located and addressed if destructive pattern of addiction are to be broken.