Addiction Treatment Programs & Therapies - Massachusetts

When it comes to a variety of programs & treatments for substance use disorder, NEATC insures that every patient has an option that best fits their needs. Because you deserve the best.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

What is IFS therapy?

The Internal Family Systems Model (IFS) is an integrative approach to individual psychotherapy. It combines systems thinking with the view that mind is made up of relatively discrete sub-personalities each with its own viewpoint and qualities.

We are pleased to share with the community of IFS therapists and practitioners the exciting news that the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy is now posted on NREPP as an evidencebased practice.

IFS therapy is used throughout the continuum of treatment in individual therapy to help support individuals understand the dynamic part of themselves and how they affect the different aspects of a person’s recovery.

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)

What is EMDR and how does it work?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an interactive psychotherapy technique used to relieve psychological stress.

During EMDR therapy sessions, you relive traumatic or triggering experiences in brief doses while the therapist uses bilateral stimulation (BLS) (eye movements, handheld buzzers, headphone beeps, or tapping) to facilitate memory processing.

During stressful or traumatic experiences, memories get stuck in places in our mind where they are easily triggered and continue to stay in our present and create stress about the future. During EMDR therapy, memories that get stuck in our minds and bodies during stressful experiences are released and adapted into our understanding of the world allowing the past to stay in the past.

How many sessions does it take?

EMDR normally lasts between 6-12 sessions but can be vary in either direction.

EMDR in Recovery

As with any trauma resolution therapy, treating the underlying traumatic experiences that may have led to an addiction, does not cure the addiction.

Just because a person no longer experiences the previous symptoms, they still need to remain focused on recovery from their addiction and should continue for a goal of abstinence from all mind altering substances.

It is important to note, that using EMDR therapy is not typically recommended within the first month of a person in recovery due to the impact of the healing process of withdrawal on the brain’s ability to process information.

Agonist and Partial agonist medications assisted treatment options may affect the impact the efficacy of EMDR processing, benzodiazepine medications will highly complicate the efficacy of EMDR processing.

Is EMDR Evidenced Based?

EMDR Therapy is listed by the American Psychological Association as an evidencebased practice. EMDR therapy is used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan in individual therapy to focus on trauma resolution and addressing the symptoms of traumatic stress.

Transcranial Neurostimulation (TCNS)

What is TCNS?

Designed collaboratively by world-class engineers and doctors, the Fisher Wallace Stimulator® uses proprietary waveforms to gently stimulate the brain to produce serotonin and other neurochemicals responsible for healthy mood and sleep.

Proven safe and effective in multiple published studies, the device is cleared by the FDA to treat depression, anxiety and insomnia. The device has been shown to use the brains neural systems to reduce cortisol, a stress hormone, produced by the body.

Is Fisher Wallace effective?

The Fisher Wallace Stimulator been shown effective in many studies including one in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Twelve studies have been conducted using the Fisher Wallace Stimulator®, including a successful clinical trial for the treatment of depression at Mount Sinai Hospital (published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease in 2015).

The Fisher Wallace Stimulator® is also used by top substance use recovery clinics, to improve mood and sleep. A 392-subject study conducted in 2009 found the device increased 90-day rehab retention by 50% versus standard of care.

TCNS is utilized for individuals during their course of treatment and is integrated into part of the individual therapy component as an ancillary treatment to enhance the current treatment plan. Treatment with TCNS for duration and frequency is evaluated and determined by a trained clinician and is individualized to meet the needs of each individual patient.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

What is MBCT?

MBCT is an evidenced based therapeutic intervention designed to help people accept life on life’s terms and is specifically designed to deal with stress and traumatic experiences.

MBCT is based on the practice of mindfulness; the practice of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment, without judgment. MBCT helps people handle difficult life stress and experiences through practice of being mindful and engaging people in the present so that people are not caught in self-defeating thoughts from the depressions of the past or anxieties of the future.

MBCT uses, mindfulness practices like meditation, as well as, explorative discussion for dealing with powerful emotions. Mindfulness based cognitive therapy is used in both group sessions and individual counseling sessions. Patients will learn and practice MBCT skills in group and individual sessions.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

What is DBT?

DBT is an evidenced based therapeutic intervention designed to help people address negative and distorted thinking patterns and self-defeating thoughts and was specifically for people with extremely self-destructive behavior and personalities.

DBT is based on the theory of dialectics, two opposing ideas existing in harmony and acceptance (i.e. I really want to get high, but I do not have to).

DBT helps people become their own therapist by having the therapist guide the patient and engaging them to learn to objectively look at their own behavior and use their own cognition and behaviors to change destructive behaviors. This is done through psycho-education, written exercises, explorative discussion, and skill development for dealing with powerful emotions.

Dialectical behavioral therapy is used in both group sessions and individual counseling sessions. Patients will learn and practice DBT skills in group and individual sessions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

What is CBT?

CBT is an evidenced based therapeutic intervention designed to help people address negative and distorted thinking patterns and self-defeating thoughts.

CBT helps people become their own therapist by having the therapist guide the patient and engaging them to learn to objectively look at their own behavior and use their own cognition and behaviors to change destructive behaviors. This is done through psycho-education, written exercises and explorative discussion.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is used in both group sessions and individual counseling sessions. Patients will learn and practice CBT skills in group and individual sessions.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

What is MI?

MI is an evidenced based therapeutic intervention designed to engage and assist in motivating a person throughout the various stages of change in the recovery process.

MI is a style of intervention doe with a person and helps to overcome barriers by offering a collaborative, non-confrontational, and affirms a person’s autonomy in making healthy choices.

Motivational interviewing is used in both group sessions and individual counseling sessions. Patients will learn and practice MI skills in group and individual sessions.

12 Step Program

What is 12 Step?

A 12-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the first twelve-step fellowship, was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith.

The following are the original twelve steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous:

  • 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  • 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  • 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  • 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  • 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  • 6. We're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  • 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  • 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  • 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  • 10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
  • 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  • 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Written by
Northeast Addition Editorial Team

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This page does not provide medical advice.

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