Can therapy help with addiction?

When drinking or substance use becomes a coping strategy

Lots of us use alcohol to relax, socialise or escape stress. This can make it quite hard to notice when alcohol, weed and other substances can stop being ‘fun’ or a ‘nice way to relax’ and start to become a habitual strategy we use to manage our more painful feelings associated with anxiety, depression, stress, loss of motivation, self belief and optimism.

Over time, our drinking can start to compromise our emotional connection with the people we care about most.

Sometimes our behaviour when drinking can harm friends’ and loved ones’ sense of safety and trust in us. We may lose our temper and shout at them, saying unkind things we don’t mean. And when these special people we love and value start to distance themselves from us because they’re scared, we create the exact situation we’re trying hard to escape.

In my work with clients, drinking and other compulsive behaviours are seen primarily as coping strategies to manage guilt, grief and loss, shame about ourselves and not feeling good enough, loneliness, anxiety or overwhelm.

This is where a person-centred approach to working with addiction can be especially helpful

Rather than focusing on blame or asking people to become ‘accountable’ for their behaviour, person-centred counselling supports people as they come to understand themselves more deeply and recognise the deeper feelings and beliefs that lie beneath patterns such as emotional withdrawal, drinking or substance misuse.

My work invites clients gently to explore the emotional and relational costs of distance and disconnection, and supports them as they begin to understand what they truly want and need, and how to communicate their most vulnerable feelings and longings, their hopes, fears and dreams, in ways that are calmer, more open and more real, creating safety and greater happiness both for their relationships and for themselves