Anxiety & PTSD Therapy
Addiction Treatment Center in Oregon
Anxiety & PTSD Therapy
Addiction Treatment Center in Oregon
Powerful Trauma-Informed Treatment:
Anxiety & PTSD Therapy
Anxiety and triggering past traumas are major risk factors in substance abuse and relapse. It is very important that we address anxiety, fear, and past traumas to prepare you for successful recovery and provide you with powerful tools to live a sober life.
A large part of our program focuses on managing the body’s biological fight-or-flight stress response. Our program is unique in that our clients become well-trained in navigating the physical discomfort of the fight-or-flight response. This skill is a key tool that helps clients to deal with anxiety and prevent relapse.
As part of our comprehensive and integrated treatment at Avive la Vie, we specifically use additional modalities to manage anxiety and address trauma, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and nature therapy.
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• Resolve Past Trauma
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• Release Years of Pent-Up Anxiety
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Release the Anxiety That Binds You
Many of our clients don’t realize how much anxiety they are under constantly. They’ve been in a high state of anxiety for so long that they think it’s normal. They’ve trained themselves to function at this high level of anxiety and stress.
But what happens when their anxiety is triggered even more? Like when they miss a deadline at work or have a fight with their spouse? Suddenly, they feel overwhelmed by this feeling. They need to numb anxiety right away. This is when they use, drink, purge, gamble, or whatever addictive behavior they’ve developed to cope with their anxiety.
Until they address the issue driving the anxiety, they’ll keep using, because they don’t know any other way to deal with their anxiety.
To effectively overcome severe anxiety, you have to learn how to self-regulate the nervous system back into the present moment. When you’re feeling high levels of anxiety, you’re re-experiencing a past experience in the present moment.
At Avive la Vie, we teach you many skills of self-regulation to let go of the anxiety surrounding those old experiences. For past trauma, we do this through trauma-informed therapy, like EMDR. For other issues (after a trauma has been addressed), we use Core Belief Restructuring and Mindful Inquiry to get to the bottom of the belief that is triggering this anxiety.
We show you how this anxiety-triggering belief is the behind-the-scenes producer of your anxiety. Once you become aware of the beliefs that are creating your anxiety, you can shift those beliefs, releasing huge amounts of anxiety from your body.
Allowing yourself to feel this shift in your cells helps you to remain in the present moment more and more when you’re triggered. Staying connected with your body’s signals and emotions will help you self-regulate, and achieve the ultimate safety and clarity you want in your life.
Resolve PTSD & Substance Abuse through EMDR
Recovering from a dual diagnosis of PTSD and an addictive disorder demands an intensive treatment protocol. Our clinical team may incorporate EMDR more in the treatment plan of a person struggling with PTSD, to heal the past trauma the person has experienced.
Our programs are highly customized for each individual and adapted during treatment to further accommodate the reality that is unfolding for you. Since PTSD is a risk factor for substance abuse, bringing repressed memories to the surface for processing and integration is imperative.
Our trained and highly experienced EMDR counselor will guide and assist you to resolution and relief from haunting memories. This shift will naturally bring less yearning for substances to escape these memories.
Release Anxiety through EFT/Neural Tapping
Neural tapping, or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is a type of energy psychology that is very effective in managing stress. It involves rhythmic finger tapping on acupressure points. This has the ability to reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. It’s called tapping because you’re literally tapping on end points of meridians of the body.
Meridians are energy pathways that flow within the body in corresponding pairs on the left and right sides of the body. Each meridian has many acupuncture points along its path.
When we tap on the end points of the meridians, we send a calming signal to the amygdala in the brain. The amygdala is the fight-or-flight center, the stress part, of the brain.
During a tapping session, you identify a problem or issue you want to work on. Then you focus on this issue in your mind and talk about the issue. During this intentional exposure to the issue, you will stimulate (or the EFT therapist will stimulate) the end points of your body’s energy meridians through tapping. The 12 EFT tapping points are mostly on the face, head, hands, wrists, upper arms, and shoulders. As you can see, EFT combines elements of Cognitive Therapy and Exposure Therapy with acupressure.
At our program, EFT is often done in a small group setting, led by a skilled EFT therapist. Through practice, EFT is a technique that can be acquired as a skill to be used when stress arises in the future.
How Managing Expectations Can Impact Sobriety
Are any of us really aware of how many expectations we put on ourselves? How much stress do you accumulate from a simple conversation, when you start criticizing yourself for making a mistake or not being someone “better.”
With the heavy weight of expectations comes shame and anxiety; and with shame and anxiety comes the feeling of wanting to escape by drinking or using. Becoming conscious of your expectations through experiential therapy allows you to start to unhook from this never-ending cycle.
Experience the Power of Tranquility through Nature Therapy
With nature therapy, we use outdoor and adventure therapy practices to connect clients to the healing benefits of nature. In its most basic sense, nature therapy is about the healing and psychological benefits of being in nature. The focus is promoting good mental and physical well-being through outdoor activity in a green environment.
Avive la Vie’s location and picturesque setting makes the immersion in nature immediately accessible. Counselors often offer walking-counseling sessions around the property, allowing nature to become your classroom.
Outside our property, the Oregon countryside provides innumerable places of natural beauty to explore during excursions.