Meditative Therapy

If your loved one is struggling with a mental health concern, substance use disorder, or both, it’s natural to wonder whether conventional treatment alone will be effective. A meditative therapy program can be nothing short of transformative when combined with traditional treatments. These unique programs build empowerment, acknowledge the body-mind connection, and provide skills that serve clients in the long term. 

If you’re looking for mental health treatment, substance abuse recovery, or meditative therapy in Massachusetts, consider NuLife Behavioral Health. Our caring team is standing by to answer your questions about our array of programs, including meditative therapy. Call 888.568.2057 or reach out online to learn more. 

How Can Meditative Therapy Augment Addiction Treatment? 

Meditative therapy offers many benefits for those in addiction treatment. This is because of its ability to make withdrawal symptoms more manageable. Through meditative practice, clients early in their substance abuse recovery protocol often experience: 

• Lower stress
• Better concentration
• Increased quality and quantity of sleep
• Better physical health
• Decreased chance of relapse
• Heightened sense of well-being and happiness

Especially in working with addiction to opioids or alcohol, the recovery journey can take time. Meditation can help in the long term as well as the short term. Many clients experience Post Acute Withdrawal Symptoms (PAWS) following the first leg of the recovery journey. These can include fatigue and mental fog, urges and cravings, stress and anxiety, irritability, and inability to focus. Meditation is a game-changer in managing symptoms of this kind. This is true because it provides a regular practice to center the mind and re-engage with the body.

How Can Meditative Therapy Work with Mental Health Treatment? 

In mental health treatment, meditative therapy also provides major advantages to clients. While many are the same as those found in addiction recovery, here are some unique benefits clients with mental health concerns enjoy: 

• Greater ability to manage depression and anxiety by cultivating emotional equanimity
• The ability to observe their own thoughts with less attachment 
• The ability to work with trauma flashbacks by focusing on the present

Scientifically, it makes sense that meditation serves clients with mental health concerns because of its effects on the brain. It increases feel-good chemicals like serotonin and dopamine while reducing stress hormones like cortisol. Meditators experience actual changes in their brainwaves. These can increase activity in the frontal cortex, regulating their ability to think and plan. The more instinctual amygdala also benefits, reducing fear and overactive fight-or-flight response. 

What to Expect from a Meditative Therapy Program

Meditation therapy can take many forms. That said, here are a few approaches that a qualified practitioner in an addiction therapy or mental health program is likely to employ: 

• Mindfulness meditation: This style often focuses on the breath or a mantra, cultivating clients’ ability to focus on the present. 
• Guided meditation: Widespread in popular culture, this form gives clients the structure of an outside narrative. Practitioners verbally guide clients through visualizations or breathwork. These create peace, relaxation, or other beneficial states.
• Somatic meditation: This body-centered approach can be especially effective for clients working with trauma. Yoga, dance, massage, exercise, vocal work or any number of other body practices fall into this category. Somatic meditation helps reset clients’ nervous systems and process emotional and psychological harm being stored in the body.