Counseling for Opioid Addiction in Birmingham, Alabama: The Importance of Counseling
It is safe to say that anyone reading this has likely been affected by the opioid epidemic in some way. Either you are someone who struggles with opioid addiction yourself or know of someone who is battling addiction themselves, or worse someone who has lost that battle. While there have been many advances in medication to help those suffering from opioid addiction there is an important tool that can greatly help that is often overlooked: counseling. Counseling for opioid dependence in Birmingham can make a huge difference, increasing the odds of success an addict may have in beating their dependence and living a happy life again; but it is often underutilized by those fighting to get their life back to normal.
The Dangers of Opioid Dependence
Opioid addiction has continued to be one of the most prevalent forms of addiction in the last decades and continues to increase, both in numbers of addicts in active addiction and in fatal overdoses. The CDC has released statistics showing that opioids make up more than half of the over 100k overdose deaths in 2021. Opioids overdoses are more than double the number of overdoses of the next highest substances, cocaine and methamphetamine. This should be a cause of alarm for anyone who is in active addiction using opiates, as often it is seen as only a matter of time until anyone continuing to abuse opioids has an overdose. I myself have had the misfortune to see multiple opioid overdoses. Some individuals who overdosed were lucky to be revived, but not all. With the rise of synthetic opioids such as Fentanyl we have seen a further increase in OD’s as users who are used to a certain dosage are unaware of what has been given to them. This has also led to an increase in fatal OD’s as Fentanyl can require much more Narcan to bring someone back from the brink. While this is anecdotal evidence, I have seen OD’s where it took over six rounds of Narcan before the individual could even be stabilized. The point being that opioid addiction is much more likely than any other form of addiction to be fatal, and if you or someone you know is struggling with it then time is of the essence to get help before it is too late!
Counseling For Opioid Addiction in Birmingham, Alabama: How it Can Help
As mentioned above, counseling for substance dependence is a vital tool in helping addicts recover, but often adicts forgo counseling and instead focus on Medication Assisted Therapies (MAT). While medications like Bupenorphine and Methadone can make a significant difference in dealing with one’s cravings and withdrawals, they do not address the underlying causes that lead someone to become addicted in the first place. This is where counseling comes in. It is not enough to just treat the symptoms as the deeper issues are going to just send a person right back to their drug of choice.
Counseling for opiod addiction in Birmingham, Alabama with Empower Counseling can help one be better at identifying what those underlying issues might be, so that one can better understand the hole one is trying to fill with opioids. Having someone you can trust to talk with about these issues can help you open up to making better decisions and making a positive path forward in your life. Counseling can also help you identify negative behaviors and thoughts that often lead to making negative choices. This is something that Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Empower Counseling excels in! ACT counseling can also help identify co-occuring mental health disorders that addicts often suffer from in order to address those issues as well. One of the parts I have found most helpful for addicts I have worked with is learning about the science behind addiction and how to view it as a disease we are fighting instead of a moral failing, as it is often portrayed.
I have found that clients who understand with what they are struggling have a much easier time of fighting it because they can see it for what it really is.
About the Author
Adam Elliott is an Associate Licensed Counselor who has worked in inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation in Birmingham for 5 years before joining Empower Counseling as a practitioner of ACT. He has spent years working with recovering addicts during the hardest parts of their battle and has experience helping them both with the mental health side of recovery as well as the legal, occupational, and financial struggles that often coincide with addiction. He recommends working with a counselor that has experience working with addiction as it can be such a different fight from other mental health concerns, and is not always taught in as much detail as other mental health concerns. While all counseling can be beneficial to someone in recovery, having someone who understands what you are going through and what to expect from you as you work your road to recovery can make a huge difference in your comfort with them as y’all work together to get your life back on track!
It is easy to get started with counseling for Opioid addiction in Birmingham, Alabama with Empower Counseling.
- Email Adam at aelliott@empowercounselingllc.com
- Schedule your first appointment.
- Show up!
Adam knows what to do from there!
Counseling for opioid addiction in Birmingham, Alabama is not the only service Empower Counseling provides at our Birmingham area counseling practice. Kathryn, Adam, and Kristine offer Acceptance Commitment Therapy for anxiety, depression, and difficult life transitions. ACT is a scientifically proven effective method of counseling for anxiety and counseling for depression. We offer counseling for teens, counseling for college students, therapy for young adults, and counseling for professionals.
Reach out to Empower Counseling today and begin living a better life! 205-730-6570