Alternative Addiction Treatment: What You Should Know

When most people think about treating a substance abuse problem or addiction, they only consider the standard treatment protocols. However, what most people do not know is that standard treatments such as psychotherapy, the 12 steps of recovery, and support groups are not the only options available to them. In fact, there are a variety of alternative addiction treatment options that can help to enhance the addiction recovery process and can even help a person maintain their sobriety for the many years to come. So, get to know some of the alternative addiction treatment options that can help you or someone you love recover from addiction. 

Chiropractic Care

Many people do not think of chiropractic care as a useful option for addiction treatment. However, particularly during detox and the initial recovery process, regular visits to the chiropractor can help to ease anxiety, stress, and physical discomfort. 

When a recovering addict is going through withdrawals, they frequently feel aches and pains in their muscles and even in their bones. A spinal adjustment with a chiropractor can help to alleviate this pain. When the spine is misaligned, a person can experience more frequent pain and discomfort because the nerves that run along the spine get pinched or blocked.

Chiropractic care has also been shown to help reduce the rates of relapse in patients who get regular adjustments during recovery. In other words, patients in rehab who undergo chiropractic care are more likely to complete their recovery successfully. 

Equine Therapy

Alternative addiction treatments are not limited to physical treatments. Equine therapy is a treatment method that involves interactions between recovering addicts and horses. While this may seem a little far-fetched, this type of therapy has been shown to be quite effective. 

Horses are extremely intuitive creatures that are highly in-tune with the emotions and intentions of the people around them. If a person approaches them feeling anxious, angry, or aggressive, the horse will respond in kind and become twitchy or anxious. This helps recovering addicts to become better aware of their own emotions and to deal with those emotions rather than bottling them up or smothering them through substance abuse. 

Basic interactions with horses can also help patients to begin to build trust, and improve their communication skills. While horses cannot speak to communicate with people, they are highly communicative in a non-verbal sense. Recovering addicts who have become isolated by their substance abuse often find that equine therapy allows them to interact with another living being without having to speak, an important step towards full communications recovery. 

As you can see, in addition to the standard options, there are alternative addiction treatments that can help provide a holistic approach to addiction recovery. If you or a loved one is a recovering addict, try incorporating these therapies into the treatment program. The alternative treatments, such as chiropractics, will help a person get through recovery and get back to their lives healed and ready to face the challenges of sobriety.