Addiction Counseling Tucson
Tucson Addiction Counseling
If you’re here, something likely feels stuck or scary. Maybe you’re worried about your own relationship with a substance or behavior. Maybe someone you love is caught in addiction and you’re trying to find help.
Addiction can lead to isolation, strained relationships, physical and emotional distress, financial pressure, and increased risk of accidental death or suicide. You’re not alone in this, and support exists.
There are several ways to understand addiction, and no single framework fits everyone.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine (2019) describes addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.” This medical/disease model is widely recognized and informs many treatment approaches. Alcoholics Anonymous also reflects this framework; in Step One, members acknowledge powerlessness over alcohol.
Another framework is the trauma model. Psychiatrist Colin A. Ross, M.D., developer of Trauma Model Therapy, describes addiction as an attempt to escape what feels intolerable in the present moment. In his view, “here” is painful (fear, anger, anxiety, emptiness, boredom, sadness), and the addictive behavior is a way to get “over there” — numb, distracted, relieved, or otherwise removed from that pain (The Trauma Model, 2007). Dr. Ross suggests that many behaviors can become addictive if they reliably move someone from “here” to “over there.”
Things You Can Be Addicted To
Addiction can involve substances or behaviors. The examples below describe common areas where people can develop compulsive patterns that continue despite negative consequences:
- Alcohol
- Illegal drugs (heroin, meth, cocaine)
- Legal drugs (marijuana, tobacco, prescription pills)
- Eating (overeating, restricting, binging, purging)
- Sugar
- Caffeine
- Gambling
- Gaming
- Social Media
- Electronics
- Sex/masturbation
- Pornography
- Work
- Shopping
- Exercise
- Dieting
- Unhealthy relationships
- Perfectionism
- Rage
- Road rage
- Codependency
- Self-harm
- Sleeping
Indicators and Symptoms of Addiction
According to the DSM-5, widely used as a guide for diagnosis, substance use becomes a disorder when it escapes your control and begins to interfere with daily functioning. Substance use disorder is marked by patterns of behavior related to use that continue despite negative consequences (as summarized by Psychology Today).
- Denial that you have a problem when others have told you that you do
- You feel powerless to not use a substance or engage in a behavior
- A loved one has given you an ultimatum of ‘get help or we’re done’
- Life feels unmanageable
- Problems at work, school, or in relationships
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Agitation
- Preoccupation of your time/thoughts fixated on a substance or behavior
- Excessive worry
- Loneliness
- Isolation/social withdrawal
- Hiding your use or behavior
- Lying about your use or behavior
- Decreased energy/motivation
- Increased tolerance of a substance or behavior requiring you to use/do more to stay high
- Rationalization of why your use/behavior is not as bad as someone else’s
- Using/engaging despite negative consequences (including legal consequences)
- Cravings you can’t exert will power over
- You’ve tried to cut back or stop and fall back into using/engaging
- Engaging in risky behaviors you wouldn’t otherwise find yourself doing
- Experiencing physical withdrawal symptoms if you stop using/engaging
“One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.”
What to Expect at Joshua Tree
At Joshua Tree, we believe there is healing and freedom from addiction and from the pain and wreckage it can leave behind.
It is easy to assume that turning from addiction, alcohol for example, is mainly a set of behavior changes. Stop drinking. Go to meetings. Avoid triggers. Those steps can matter. But many people get stuck on the question: how do I actually change?
Lasting change usually requires understanding what is happening inside you, especially the connection between events, thoughts, emotions, and actions.
We often assume our behavior is simply the result of how we feel. That is true in part. But our thoughts shape our feelings in the small space between something happening and how we respond.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a therapy model that focuses on the connection between our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. In CBT, our thoughts and core beliefs, which are the deep things we believe to be true about ourselves, other people, and the world, shape our emotions. Those emotions then influence what we do.
When we learn to notice and change unhelpful thoughts, we can change our behaviors. When we identify core beliefs and begin to challenge them, it can create life changing change.
Dana Denney uses this model to address addiction and other problematic urges and behaviors. As people work on addiction, it is common for deeper issues to surface, including unresolved trauma, grief, or significant losses. When there is extensive trauma, Dana may recommend working with one of our trauma specialists to address the roots of the addiction.
From a Trauma Model Therapy perspective, addiction is often understood as a solution to a problem. The work of therapy is to identify what problem the addiction is solving and to address that problem directly. In this view, addictive behaviors are avoidance strategies. To a trauma therapist, what matters most is not the specific avoidance strategy, but what the person is trying to avoid.
A trauma therapist may also use approaches like EMDR, Deep Brain Reorienting, or Internal Family Systems to help address the roots of addiction.
If you are struggling with addiction, we want to help.
Sometimes psychotherapy is the best fit for healing. Other times, medical detox or a rehab program may be the safest next step. We will help you figure out a plan that you are ready for and comfortable with, and that is safe and effective.
For Loved Ones
If you are the loved one of a friend or family member who is struggling, we are here for you too.
You may need help with healthy boundaries and clear limits. There are times you may be grieving the loss of the person you used to know. You may be trying to decide when to help, how to help, and how much is too much. You may also want to wrestle with addiction from a Biblical perspective.
Addiction often creates wounds that do not disappear just because someone stops using or stops a problematic behavior. You are worthy of help, support, guidance, and healing too.