Group therapy is effective in the treatment of drug addiction as it helps address various factors associated with substance abuse such as anxiety, depression, isolation, temporary cognitive impairment, shame, denial, and character pathology that respond better to group therapy than individual therapy. Group therapy is also effective as human beings are relational creatures.
The benefits of group therapy include getting education about the recovery process, developing skills essential to break free of the addiction pattern, help in challenging and replacing thought and behaviour patterns that contribute to addiction, getting encouragement, support, and feedback from other members of the group for constructive change, and learning ways to cope with life problems that the person with addiction has previously avoided and perhaps is using the substance as a method to cope with.
The number of sessions depends on the type of group. The group can be time-limited, which will consist of a fixed number of sessions, or can be ongoing which members can attend indefinitely based on their progress and presence of symptoms.
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