Addictive behaviors and substance use disorder (SUD) can lead to relationship conflicts or other interpersonal conflict. Behavior modification therapy (BMT) helps you make healthier choices and develop positive habits. Bright Mission Recovery uses BMT and other therapeutic modalities to treat SUD and dual diagnosis. Clinicians collaborate with clients to create tailored therapy sessions, addressing maladaptive behaviors impacting sobriety. BMT reduces the risk of relapse by helping you avoid falling back into old patterns of behavior.
What Is Behavior Modification?
BMT teaches essential life skills and improves self-awareness, allowing you to make connections between behaviors and consequences. If you struggle to identify and change unhealthy behaviors, BMT can help you discover how specific behavioral patterns impact your sobriety and overall mental health. Studies have shown that “[w]hile some therapies focus on changing thought processes that can affect behavior, behavior modification focuses on changing specific behaviors with little consideration of a person’s thoughts or feelings.” You can develop positive habits without needing to go into great detail about your thoughts and feelings in therapy. Positive behaviors are rewarded to encourage the development of healthier routines and habits.
BMT sessions generally involve the following:
- Identifying and discussing negative behaviors
- Establishing specific and achievable goals for modifying maladaptive behaviors
- Learning essential life skills
- Rewarding progress
- Challenging and reframing negative beliefs or thoughts related to behaviors
- Exploring responses to triggers
- Using mindfulness techniques to increase self-awareness
- Building accountability through regular check-ins with the clinical team
- Encouraging self-reflection
Everyone has different areas they benefit from focusing on during BMT sessions. You can collaborate with the care team at Bright Mission Recovery to determine what approach will most effectively support your sobriety.
Why Is It So Hard to Change Addictive Behaviors?
Chronic substance abuse can affect the regions of your brain related to self-control, decision-making, and processing rewards. According to Physiological Reviews, “[T]he reward circuit’s capacity to respond to reward and motivate actions that are not drug related is decreased, the sensitivity of the emotional circuits to stress is enhanced, and the capacity to self-regulate is impaired.” You may struggle to develop healthier routines due to the physical changes to the brain caused by chronic alcohol or drug abuse. BMT directly addresses this issue by retraining the brain with positive reinforcement.
What Is Positive Reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is a technique used to encourage healthy behaviors. In BMT, you can receive a preplanned reward whenever you achieve a specific goal. Over time, your brain will begin to associate the behavior with a positive experience, and it will become more automatic. Rebuilding healthy behaviors after a significant period of substance abuse may be difficult and require time. However, the brain is highly adaptable and can be retrained to focus on positive thoughts and behaviors. Positive reinforcement causes physical changes to the brain and affects how you respond to certain stimuli. By learning to control your behaviors, you reduce the harmful effects of chronic substance abuse and increase your stress tolerance.
Most Common Methods of Behavior Modification
Some of the most common methods of behavior modification used in addiction treatment include:
- Using rewards and positive reinforcement to support sobriety
- Improving self-control using motion regulation skills to manage how the body reacts to various triggers
- Using mindfulness techniques to gain self-awareness and identify triggers for various behaviors
- Self-monitoring techniques
- Focusing on and rewarding progress with achievable and realistic treatment goals
You can discuss the various options for monitoring and modifying behavior with your care team. Collaborating with clinicians ensures therapy sessions are tailored to your unique needs while providing comprehensive support.
Health Benefits of Behavior Modification for Individuals With SUD
Learning to control your actions reduces risk-taking behaviors and makes overcoming challenges during treatment or aftercare easier. Therapy sessions also reduce the risk of certain health conditions.
Some of the primary health benefits of BMT include:
- Making it easier to address symptoms and side effects of co-occurring mental health disorders
- Developing healthy strategies for managing stress and avoiding relapse
- Improving sleep quality by reducing stress and other factors affecting sleep
- Building a positive self-image to increase self-confidence and reduce self-harming behaviors
- Strengthening social relationships to avoid loneliness and self-isolating behaviors
- Enhancing quality of life by building healthy routines and habits
Individuals who successfully manage stress have a lower risk of experiencing preventable health issues, including heart disease and mental health disorders.
Utilizing Behavior Modification Alongside Evidence-Based Treatments
The clinical team provides context for how your behaviors impact your treatment and healing journey. You can speak with the care team about any potentially disruptive behaviors you may have developed while engaging in chronic substance abuse. Identifying and addressing these behaviors will allow you to grow and make healthy lifestyle choices.
Behavior modification works best when used alongside other evidence-based treatments, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and motivational interviewing (MI). Bright Mission Recovery offers many therapeutic modalities to support your emotional healing. BMT can give you back control over your mind and body by removing lingering intrusive thoughts or behaviors related to substance abuse and other maladaptive behaviors.
BMT gives you the knowledge and tools to replace negative behaviors with positive alternatives. The rewards for achieving specific goals and maintaining sobriety reinforce positive behaviors and decrease the risk of relapse. Learning to control your behavioral responses consciously allows you to stop and redirect your focus to something healthier if you begin to backslide into maladaptive behaviors. Bright Mission Recovery uses behavior modification and other therapeutic modalities to address factors impacting clients and their mental health. To learn more about how we can help you address addictive behaviors, call our office today at (747) 444-3284. We can give you the support and guidance you need to regain control of your life