Online Alcoholism & Addiction Counselling

A recent research study published in the Lancet has demonstrated the effectiveness of online psychological counselling for mental health problems. The study followed a group receiving therapy over typed internet chat (or instant messaging), and found it more than doubled their chance of successful recovery from depression when compared to a control group just taking anti-depressants.

The study director Dr David Kessler said these results are comparable with those seen in face to face therapies. Clearly, some people find it useful to write down their thoughts as a way of talking through them.

If you think you might want to give it a try to help with your alcohol problems, get in touch with us here.

The UK National Health Service has officially recognised the effectiveness of online therapy.

Cognitive Therapy is now being offered via private chatroom as part of the NHS services, in an attempt to provide for people who find it difficult to come to a clinic for conventional counselling.

An online chatroom can be used as a private space where a person can get support and therapeutic help from a professional. This is especially useful for people with alcohol or addiction problems, who may be too embarrassed to see a therapist or counsellor face to face. You don’t have to take time to get to someone’s clinic, they can come to you via your computer.

In all other respects, the nature of online therapy or counselling is the same – the same techniques are used, the same issues dealt with. If you’re not sure how this would actually help, read more about how online therapy works.

The cognitive therapy approach to addiction counselling is not concerned with analysing your childhood, or finding out if you have an ‘addictive personality‘, nor does it force you into a one-size-fits-all step by step solution, like Alcoholics Anonymous does.

An alcohol problem is not just a habitual behaviour, but also a habitual way of thinking. So the cognitive approach to counselling offers you a way of understanding how your thoughts influence your feelings, and how both of these might cause your problems. You can begin to see what the individual elements are which make up your addiction.

Once you’re more informed about yourself (rather than just acting on auto-pilot – the ‘habit’), then you can make changes in the way you think about your life, about yourself, about alcohol. But only the changes that you choose to make, you will not be instructed what to change, because at the end of the day you know yourself better than any counsellor or therapist does.

Of course there are some techniques and tricks which have been found to help – ways of changing your habits, and you may be given some suggestions if you ask for them. But counselling is about helping you to redevelop your strengths so you can solve your own problems. It’s not about being given a set of answers, it’s about discovering your own.

You will probably want to make changes to your behaviour too – modifications to your lifestyle so that you can deal with anxiety, ease your depression, or cope with stress a bit more easily. So that you can relax without a drink, so you can find healthier, more productive ways to spend your time.

As a combined approach, counselling and cognitive therapy cover the internal aspects of your addiction and will help you to change your behaviour too.

Get in touch with us now.

The process of changing your habits towards alcohol is not something that happens overnight. You are learning new skills to replace your old behaviours, and this will take some time. How long it takes of course varies from person to person.

Firstly you have to decide how you will know when you have changed? What will be the signs that you have been successful? These are questions that most people find difficult to answer. Ok, so you don’t drink so much any more, you feel a bit more clear-headed and happier – but have you made the changes in your life that you really wanted at the start?

So, to answer the main question another way – you might well see reductions in your level of consumption within a week or two, but that may not mean you have made enough changes to sustain that improvement.

Usually when people decide to seek help for their alcohol problems, it is not just the actual level of their drinking that bothers them, it’s their emotional problems, their ability to cope with the stress in their lives, the number of crises they create. So reducing consumption is only one part of the overall changes someone might be hoping for.

So perhaps the initial question is a little too vague to be answered accurately. Being more specific in your expectations will lead to more informative answers. So maybe ask some questions like these instead:

“How long will it take me to learn other ways to relax?”
“How soon can I expect to communicate better with my family?”
“When will I be able to get through a whole day without even thinking about a drink?”
“Will I feel that I’m a good person again soon?”