THERAPIES OVERVIEW
The official 12 Step service offices have not officially endorsed any therapies apart from step meetings and working the 12 steps. However, many of those in 12 step programs have used different types of therapeutic approaches along with working the 12 steps in their journey of recovery. This section covers some of those approaches that people use in their recovery. We emphasize especially those therapies that are inexpensive or free.
Grief Therapy
When working through any of the 12 steps, there can often be times of appropriate sadness and grief. This can be for lost or damaged relationships, loss of dreams, loss of material comforts, loss of health, or a host of other losses. There are some evidence based approaches that have been used for healing by many people who are dealing with the grief. We also provide some worksheets that help you in working through the grief process.
Deep Relaxation
Deep relaxation occurs when we bring about the relaxation response in our nervous system. This is the scientific basis of many of the benefits of meditation, yogic breathing, and mindfulness. Many spiritual and religious traditions have made use of the relaxation response in various forms.
Regular practice of bringing about the relaxation response has also been an effective therapy for addiction recovery. We now have a better understanding of how the relaxation response works. We have well researched techniques for reliably bringing about the relaxation response. So, the benefits of regularly bringing about the relaxation response is open to all, independent of any spiritual or religious tradition or lack of tradition. We cover some simple, easy, free, and open techniques for bringing about the relaxation response.