Holistic therapy incorporates elements of both traditional therapy and non-traditional treatments to help the person experience healing on all levels. While conventional therapy focuses primarily on mental and emotional well-being, holistic therapy treats physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. It is also known as holistic psychotherapy and body-centered therapy.
Holistic Medicine: The Base of Holistic Therapy
Holistic medicine practitioners believe that interdependent parts make up a person and that all parts are affected if one part is not working correctly. Therefore, if a person has an emotional, physical, or spiritual imbalance in their life, their overall health is negatively affected. The goal of holistic therapy is to bring all parts into balance to achieve optimal health and wellness.
What Can Holistic Therapy Help?
Holistic therapy is an effective treatment for many psychological conditions, such as addiction, trauma, anxiety, depression, stress, and sexual abuse. It has also been found effective in treating family problems, emotional difficulties, emotional instabilities, physical illness and disease, stage of life issues, and work-related issues. Holistic therapy is not meant to take the place of traditional therapies but to work with them to facilitate the healing process.
Four Benefits of Holistic Therapy
1 – Different methods of holistic therapy help people understand their symptoms and thus promote a deep sense of self-awareness. Self-awareness means that a person can better understand the link between their mind, body, and relationships and the role each part plays in their mental health.
2 – Holistic therapies are an effective way of dealing with stress and tension while promoting an overall sense of well-being.
3 – Many types of holistic therapies are helpful outside of therapy sessions. In addition to being holistic therapies, they are strategies the person can perform on their own that can be especially helpful if they are in situations that cause anxiety, stress, mood changes, or trigger a relapse.
4 – Often, holistic therapies focus on prevention as well as treatment. Learning and using holistic techniques can prevent problems that can harm a person’s physical, emotional, spiritual, or social well-being.
Types of Holistic Therapy
Holistic therapy is often rooted in mindfulness practices and bodywork. The types of holistic therapies are numerous, and many are very helpful in treating drug and alcohol addiction.
Below are some of the holistic therapies used in addiction recovery.
Meditation
There are many different meditation methods. At the core of each meditation technique is mindfulness. By practicing mindfulness, the person has full awareness of themselves at that moment. They calmly acknowledge and accept their thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment. Meditation helps the individual have mental clarity and emotional stability. It alleviates feelings of anxiety and stress, fosters feelings of calmness, and helps regulate emotions. Focused, mindfulness, mantra, loving-kindness, transcendental, movement, and spiritual are popular forms of meditation.
Recreational Therapy
Recreational therapies help people develop healthy connections to others, improve mood, and boost self-esteem. Physical activity helps reduce stress levels, restore cognitive processes, and heal medical conditions faster. Swimming, dance therapy, yoga, gardening, music therapy, art therapy, sports, and working out are a few forms of recreational therapies.
Equine Therapy
Caring for, feeding, and grooming horses provides the opportunity to develop assertiveness, self-confidence, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and leadership skills. It helps the person become focused and fosters emotional growth. In equine-assisted therapy, specialized licensed clinicians help the person work with the horse to process their feelings and thoughts.
Additional types of holistic therapy include:
- Experiential Therapy
- Breathwork
- Nutrition Therapy
- Guided Imagery
- Hypnotherapy
- Relaxation therapy
If You Need Help
Holistic therapies are an essential part of the recovery process from drug or alcohol addiction. At Canyon Vista Recovery Center, located in Mesa, Arizona, caring professionals use a combination of evidence-based therapeutic modalities, psychiatric and medical treatment, and holistic therapies to treat all aspects of addiction. Addiction is a chronic brain disease that can be helped. Get the help you need. Call Canyon Vista Recovery Center and take the first step on the path to recovery.