Therapies Used in Behavioral Health Residential Treatment Centers

You or a loved one may have had to accept a difficult truth: you need some help to attain the mental health and stability you long for. Whether the issue be depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, or any other mental health diagnosis, it has become too big to manage on your own.

You may be considering a behavioral health residential treatment center but are uncertain what you’ll find there. Representations in pop culture and movies range from silly to frightening. What goes on behind the doors of a residential treatment center? Is it worth the investment of time and money? When is residential treatment necessary?

Behavioral Health Residential Treatment Centers: An Overview

Many kinds of residential treatment centers exist. A behavioral health center uses a variety of therapeutic modalities to help patients recover mental health. They provide around-the-clock care and support from a team of professionals focused on giving patients the tools they need to heal from trauma, mental illness, or substance abuse disorder.

The goal of behavioral health treatment centers is clear: help patients change their behavior by healing their minds.

While Hollywood might present a distorted view of behavioral health residential treatment centers, they started with the goal of compassionate healing in mind. According to the University of Pennsylvania, what were once called “psychiatric hospitals” began in the 19th century as efforts to provide rehabilitation to those suffering from addiction or mental illness. Often in idyllic rural settings, the focus was on compassionate care that would lead to recovery. Contemporary behavioral health residential treatment centers aim to follow in these noble footsteps, emphasizing healing and restoration and enabling patients to enjoy happy, healthy lives. 

Often, these treatment centers are separated by gender to better create a community of healing. Men’s mental health treatment centers offer behavioral health therapies focused on helping men heal, which might include TINSA (Trauma-Induced Sexual Addiction Therapy) specifically targeted for men. A women’s residential treatment center might also offer TINSA, but using language and methodologies aimed at women’s individual needs.

Types of Therapies

In their mission to effect the behavioral change patients so urgently seek, behavioral health residential treatment centers offer a variety of therapies.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The time-tested modality of cognitive behavioral therapy helps patients identify harmful habits of thinking and acting so that they can be actively changed for the better. Used for everything from depression to addiction behavior, CBT gives the patient lifelong strategies for combating unwanted thoughts and behaviors.

EMDR

A popular methodology when offering therapy through a trauma informed lens, Eye Movement Desensitization Processing (EMDR) aims to change how the brain stores traumatic memories, thus enabling healing and the removal of the painful emotional “block” inhibiting wellbeing. 

In EMDR sessions, a therapist helps the patient identify a traumatic memory having disastrous effects on current thoughts and actions. Then, the therapist will help the patient process–and, eventually, emotionally transform–the memory by focusing on the back-and-forth movement of the therapist’s hand across the patient’s field of vision. Thought by experts to be connected to the mind’s actions during REM sleep, this back-and-forth movement of the eyes enables the patient to face what they may have been too traumatized to face before.

Polyvagal Theory Therapy

An important component of holistic addiction treatment, as well as any holistic mental health treatment, polyvagal theory therapy relies on the idea that exposure to trauma or chronic stress can disregulate the autonomic nervous system, and that emotional and mental healing requires re-regulating that system. It gets its name from the vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that controls many automatic bodily functions such as digestion and breathing. 

When a person’s autonomic nervous system has been affected by trauma, it can exist in a permanent state of fight-or-flight, affecting everything from heart health to weight. A trauma informed therapist knows this and will help the patient attend to those seemingly unchangeable automatic responses so that wellbeing is established.

Motivational Interviewing

Many kinds of talk therapy are used in behavioral health residential treatment centers, but one that is particularly effective–especially in those seeking how to stop addictive behavior–is motivational interviewing. This kind of talk therapy follows one RULE: Resist telling patients what to do, Understand a patient’s current motivation for destructive thoughts or actions, Listen to a patient with empathy, Empower the patient to set goals for behavioral change. This patient-centered modality sees the therapist as a responsive guide rather than a teacher or instructor. It helps patients identify harmful motivations and strive to create healthier ones.

Behavioral Health Residential Treatment in Nashville, TN

If any of these therapies seem like a good fit for you, consider the Integrative Life Center in Nashville, TN. Our residential treatment facility offers a variety of therapies, from those described above to internal family systems, brainspotting, and more. Our trained clinicians will help you find the path to recovery that is right for you. 

We also offer dual diagnosis treatment, so those suffering from multiple mental health diagnoses can find the help they need.

We don’t forget that our patients are members of communities that extend beyond our walls. The family program at ILC equips family members and loved ones of our patients to support those in recovery while also dealing with their own trauma. If you or a loved one is ready to take the next step in your healing journey, consider the Integrative Life Center in Nashville, TN. Give us a call today at 615-891-2226.

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