Addictions Treatment

REBT addiction counseling generally is conducted in-person or by phone. The average course of treatment involves 8-10 sessions, beginning with sessions weekly. As the client masters the REBT concepts and tools, and gets in control of the addictive behavior, sessions tend to get spread out over a few weeks, then monthly.

REBT follows an educational teacher-student, rather than a medical doctor-patient, model with sessions resembling a tutorial. After the initial assessment process described above, the therapist teaches the client concepts and strategies immediately applicable to the client's problem. Each session concludes with specific collaboratively-devised exercises for the client to practice daily between sessions. The following session begins by reviewing the homework, with modifications added based on the client's successes and failures with it during the week. If the client has immediate questions or concerns, addressing these would take precedence over the usual structure, with the homework reviewed after this.

The bulk of each session consists of reviewing tools and strategies the client may use in overcoming the addiction. These include: vividly reading a disadvantages list, refuting rationalizations, Three Minute Exercises, setting goals with rewards and penalties, and bibliotherapy. The client is encouraged to experiment with a variety of these to discover which ones prove most effective.

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