Moral Reconation Therapy in Jersey City, NJ (201) 492-6604

Addiction treatment in rehab centers involves clients attending individual and group therapy sessions. One type of therapy that is growing in popularity with treatment specialists and clients is Moral Reconation Therapy. Moral Reconation Therapy bears some similarity to the more widely used cognitive behavioral therapy.

Moral Reconation Therapy was devised originally to help juvenile offenders who wound up in jail to stop re-offending. It proved so successful in this field that addiction therapists began to try it with their clients. Moral Reconation Therapy has proved very beneficial in Jersey City as well.

The word ‘conation’ is not widely used, but it refers to people’s way of thinking when they are trying to make a decision. When people suffer from addiction, their way of thinking leads them to the conclusion that they should take drugs or alcohol. ‘Reconation’ is a coined term that relates quite well to addiction.

Since decision-making related to addiction is essentially flawed, the goal of therapy is to guide people with addictions to make better decisions. In other words, they need to change their way of thinking, or ‘reconate.’ One of the goals of MRT is to guide people to use better-thought processes to make the right decisions based on sound morals.

During MRT, clients are taught to accept responsibility for their own actions. If they try to blame others, which is something addicted people often do to justify their status as addicted individuals, they are challenged on this assertion. MRT also encourages clients to accept that their addictive behavior has negatively impacted on other people, and clients should try to compensate anybody they have hurt.

Setting goals in MRT

A core principle in MRT is that clients must set achievable goals and prepare a plan that will enable them to reach these goals. As clients reach each specified goal, this serves to boost their self-esteem, self-belief and self-confidence. Achieving each goal is a landmark that gives clients the incentive to carry on being positive and constructive. It is living proof that they are able to behave in a positive and healthy way, and that inspires them to continue doing so.

As with all kinds of therapy, implementations may vary slightly between different practitioners or facilitators, but the underlying principles are standard in every implementation. MRT is a step-based program of therapy during which clients build a high level of self-awareness, with honest assessment being key to the process.

The Importance of a Holistic Approach to Addiction Therapy

Some treatment centers focus solely on getting people with addictions to quit and then to learn relapse prevention techniques. However, this does not prepare clients for establishing themselves back in society as productive individuals. In a sense, their treatment is incomplete because nothing has been done to address external factors that may play an important part in an individual’s struggle to get and stay sober.

At Drug Detox Centers Jersey City, people receive the very best care and attention during medical detox, MRT, and other therapies. They also receive extended support to help them deal with any external issues such as poor education or lack of vocational training. This holistic approach yields the best outcomes in addiction treatment. Just give our recovery advocates a call at (201) 492-6604 for more information.