Developed as it was in the 1970s, experiential therapy is a very, very therapeutic approach that encourages patients and clients to identify and address hidden or subconscious issues through activities such as role playing, guided imagery, the use of props, and a range of other active experiences to achieve certain and key results set forth at the inception of treatment.
Experiential therapy is actually a category of sorts, rather than one specific type of therapy or counseling method. Examples of experiential therapy include recreation therapy, equine therapy, expressive arts therapy, music therapy, wilderness therapy, adventure therapy, and psychodrama. There are many others too, and in fact more are being tested and worked out every year.
One of the many advantages of experiential therapy is that the various experiences and activities that form the core of the process itself provide opportunities and abilities for the therapist to observe patients in situations where the patients are not focused on the therapy itself, but instead are focused on whatever it is that they are doing within the therapy activity.
To shed some light on the above, during an equine therapy session, the patient will likely be focused on completing an assigned task with a horse, and will be more likely to let his/her guard down than he or she would during a traditional individual or group talk therapy session instead.
Experiential Therapy is Helping Arlington Heights Addicts: Using this Technique to Help
One can only imagine the intensity and the adrenaline that would be felt while dangling from a rock wall with only a tiny harness keeping one from plummeting thirty feet down to the ground. While this might seem like a description of how one would feel while climbing a rock face, it is also an analog to how an addict would feel at the prospect of beating addiction and his or her very same feelings on the matter. This is a great way to relate the feelings of the addict with activities that make them feel some sort of way. Experiential therapy is available at any drug rehab Chicago since they are the city that is in need of help the most.
However to combat this though, an approach called, “experiential therapy”, aims essentially to try and combat that by taking the principles from traditional addiction treatment: communication, trust, team building and others and bringing them outdoors for recreational activities like rock climbing and kayaking, horseback riding and hiking, and other activities all with the shared purpose to help individuals cope with difficult emotions and build confidence for themselves and for their loved ones.
Finally, Arlington Heights and the Chicago area in general are starting to enforce programs and treatments just like this. For example, the Chicago-based A’vue Adventure Therapy is a great example of a program that operates in this way. The treatment center’s founder said fear is the number one deterrent for people in addiction recovery that basically stops them from being able to get clean and to stay clean. “People don’t advance in their recovery because of fear. Clients tend to want to get out of the hot seat of traditional therapy and into the tranquility of nature.”
Experiential therapy is nothing new, but it is new to the Chicago area. If you are seeking a experiential therapy center and don’t know where to look, referred yourself or your loved one to a drug rehabilitation referral is a great way to start the opportunity of one to recover from drug addiction once and for all. Other places have benefited from it greatly though. For example, Cupertino, a Calif.-based CRC Health Group, (which has 145 locations around the country), says the style of therapy developed in the ’70s and “is a therapeutic approach that encourages patients to identify and address hidden or subconscious issues through activities such as role playing, guided imagery, the use of props and a range of other active experiences.” All in all, it would seem that Chicago and Arlington Heights in particular are finally making positive and good changes to their systems and programs that will be able to make a big difference for all who are addicted and afflicted especially when having a drug rehab Arlington Heights in place now.