Addiction is what we experience when we feel a behaviour is out of our control, despite perhaps many attempts to stop or change it. There may be chemical changes to our brain as a direct result of drinking alcohol or taking drugs or smoking, also from exercise or eating. There may be chemical changes indirectly through the distracting and/or exciting effects of risk-taking, shoplifting, gambling, gaming or pornography.
And yet people overcome addictions daily, working on their own or with help to change their lives. Some approaches (e.g. ‘twelve-step’ approaches) assert that change is impossible without help from outside. At GreenWood we certainly believe you’re more likely to succeed with help.
CBT helps you get a perspective on your addiction, not by judging you but by coming to a mutual understanding of how your addiction works for you. Armed with this understanding we can go into battle with the addiction by managing your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and behaviour in new ways. Mindfulness can free us from the endless battle with urges and lapses, whilst being clear about our values can help us take steps towards a richer life and provide much-needed reasons to change. Mindfulness and DBT (dialectical behaviour therapy) are especially good for dealing with addictions.
Our book will show you how to help yourself to Get Your Life Back. It takes you step by step, starting with identifying the problem. Then it helps you understand why you have the problem. You will learn mindfulness skills to begin training your brain. Then get clear about your values: what you really want in your life. Another chapter helps you understand how your problem works for you. Once you’ve done this there is a chapter showing you how to break the links in the chain of your problem behaviour. You can also contact us to work with a therapist skilled in this area by Skype, FaceTime etc., on the phone or face to face.