If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, you may have heard of Natural Healing Centers. These are recovery centers that promise a natural holistic approach to addiction treatment. Are natural healing centers capable of treating addiction? Here’s what you need to know.
What are Natural Healing Centers?
Natural healing centers take the approach that the body knows what it needs in order to heal. Instead of using modern medication, natural healing centers use homeopathic means to provide treatment, as well as techniques such as visualization.
Not all natural healing centers are the same, and many provide a range of different methods for treating addiction, including modern therapeutic techniques. There are many excellent addiction treatment centers that use a combination of modern and homeopathic medication, as well as Western therapies and ancient Eastern therapies.
Natural healing centers promise a non-toxic approach to treating addiction and other ailments. But do they work?
Do Natural Healing Centers work?
Over the past few years, there has been a cultural move towards natural healing. Especially in America, with the capitalistic ambitions of big pharmaceutical corporations, people are turning towards natural solutions to health problems. This comes through particularly strongly in natural healing centers for certain physical and mental illnesses.
But should you trust a natural healing center for drug and alcohol addiction? Addiction treatment centers have spent decades on the development of treatment programs, with modern medical and therapeutic solutions. Is it possible that natural healing has more to offer?
The reality is that you will not find many treatment centers that use entirely natural means. The better question is whether natural treatments work. There is no simple answer to this. Firstly, defining what is and is not natural is difficult. Secondly, more research is needed to say whether or not certain treatments work.
Let’s speak about the first issue. While many naturalists will differentiate between natural and non-natural medications, the reality is that all medications are constructed from natural substances. Many of the most effective pharmaceutical medications are made up entirely of natural chemicals extracted from plants and other matter. Penicillin was discovered through mould that grew naturally on food.
The second issue refers to peer-reviewed research articles. While there is anecdotal evidence supporting natural means of healing, some of those methods rejected from traditional recovery centers have been studied and found wanting. This is not to say that they were not effective, but that on their own they were not proven to provide value.
This is why natural treatment methods are best used in conjunction with methods that are not considered natural.
Addiction Treatment vs Natural Healing:
Addiction treatment centers take a number of approaches to treating substance abuse. They prescribe medication when the doctors feel it is necessary and poses few dangers. They offer modern therapeutic treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic therapy.
Natural healing centers eschew traditional medical techniques. This means they tend to avoid the use of modern medications like antidepressants. Rather, they place a particular focus on healing therapies, lifestyle changes, and nutritional guidance. Most significantly, they avoid using a medical model to determine health and wellness.
In particular, for people who prefer eating organic food and avoiding man-made chemicals in what they consume, natural healing may be particularly attractive. But can you trust natural healing centers to provide competent treatment for substance abuse?
Integrative Substance Abuse Treatment:
Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the mental health field progressively discovered that alternative healing had value even in a medical model. This is why practices like mindfulness became so popular. The field of psychology began to recognize that this ancient Eastern tradition had more to offer than many modern Western techniques.
The best mental health treatment centers have integrated mindfulness into their treatment programs. The same is true of other natural healing techniques. They haven’t simply been offered as alternatives to those interested – rather, they have become key to healing.
Addiction treatment centers have also discovered that a holistic, integrative approach to substance abuse treatment is more effective. They see the great leaps modern substance abuse treatment has taken over the past few decades, but understand that it should not be mutually exclusive to natural healing.
The reality is that most natural healing centers are not equipped to treat substance abuse issues. They do not necessarily have the medical expertise to safely manage a recovering addict’s detox. They may not have the training in helping recovering addicts manage cravings.
On the other hand, addiction treatment centers that integrate natural healing have the best of both worlds. They offer programs designed to bring the two worlds together, giving recovering addicts the best chance of recovery.
Where do I find a Natural Healing Center?
The best addiction treatment centers offer a range of treatment modules so as to provide a holistic experience. They will use medication to help people detox from alcohol and drugs. They will use certain medicines to treat depression and other mental illnesses. They will provide Western therapy as well as Eastern mindfulness, drawing on the best of both worlds to help every person who comes through the doors.
For this reason, all good treatment programs incorporate natural healing centers. They use natural means of healing as supplemental treatment to give residents the opportunity to heal in the direction their own journey leads them.
