Massachusetts Center for Addiction

Alcohol
Using alcohol as a coping mechanism, or drinking excessively throughout the week, signals an alcohol use disorder.

Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines are prescribed to treat anxiety and sleep issues. They are highly habit forming, and their abuse can cause mood changes and poor judgement.

Co-Occurring Disorders
A person with multiple mental health diagnoses, such as addiction and depression, has co-occurring disorders also called dual diagnosis.

Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is the excessive and repetitive use of substances, despite harmful consequences to a person’s life, health, and relationships.

Opioids
Opioids produce pain-relief and euphoria, which can lead to addiction. This class of drugs includes prescribed medication and the illegal drug heroin.

Prescription Drugs
It’s possible to abuse any drug, even prescribed ones. If you crave a medication, or regularly take it more than directed, you may have an addiction.

Trauma
Some traumatic events are so disturbing that they cause long-term mental health problems. Those ongoing issues can also be referred to as ‘trauma.’

Day Treatment
In a PHP, patients live at home but follow an intensive schedule of treatment. Most programs require you to be on-site for about 40 hours per week.

Intensive Outpatient Program
In an IOP, patients live at home, but attend treatment for up to 30 hours a week. Most programs include talk therapy, support groups, and other methods.

Outpatient Program
During outpatient rehab, patients attend a structured treatment program while continuing to live at home.

Sober Living
These structured living environments help people transition out of rehab. Residents have more freedom than they do during rehab, but still follow certain rules.

1-on-1 Counseling
Patient and therapist meet 1-on-1 to work through difficult emotions and behavioral challenges in a personal, private setting.

Meditation & Mindfulness
A practiced state of mind that brings patients to the present. It allows them to become fully aware of themselves, their feelings, and the present moment.

Trauma-Specific Therapy
This form of talk therapy addresses any childhood trauma at the root of a patient’s current diagnosis.

Online Therapy
Patients can connect with a therapist via videochat, messaging, email, or phone. Remote therapy makes treatment more accessible.

Attachment-Based Family Therapy
ABFT is a trauma-focused therapy that teaches you to form healthy relationships by rebuilding trust and healing attachment issues formed in childhood.

Animal Therapy
Animals can inspire trust and self-worth. In this experiential therapy, guided interactions are used to improve social skills and emotion regulation.

Aromatherapy
Inhaling or topically applying essential oils can help relieve stress, soothe pains, and relieve emotional distress.

Art Therapy
Visual art invites patients to examine the emotions within their work, focusing on the process of creativity and its gentle therapeutic power.

Body Image Therapy
Therapists use cognitive behavior techniques to challenge how patients perceive their body and their worth, rewriting negative thoughts and attitudes.

Experiential Therapy
With this approach, patients heal by doing. Therapists help patients process difficult emotions to speak, using guided activities like art or dance.

Expressive Arts
Creative processes like art, writing, or dance use inner creative desires to help boost confidence, emotional growth, and initiate change.

Family Therapy
Family therapy addresses group dynamics within a family system, with a focus on improving communication and interrupting unhealthy relationship patterns.

Life Skills
Teaching life skills like cooking, cleaning, clear communication, and even basic math provides a strong foundation for continued recovery.

Massage Therapy
Massage therapy relieves physical and emotional tension, reduces pain, promotes relaxation, and improves emotion regulation.

Medication-Assisted Treatment
Combined with behavioral therapy, prescribed medications can enhance treatment by relieving withdrawal symptoms and focus patients on their recovery.

Motivational Interviewing and Enhancement Therapy (MET)
This approach is based on idea that motivation to change comes from within. Providers use a conversational framework that may help you commit to recovery.

Psychoeducation
This method combines treatment with education, teaching patients about different paths toward recovery. This empowers them to make more effective decisions.

Recreation Therapy
In recreation therapy, recovery can be joyful. Patients practice social skills and work through emotional triggers by engaging in fun activities.

Relapse Prevention Counseling
Relapse prevention counselors teach patients to recognize the signs of relapse and reduce their risk.

Solution Focused, Goal-Oriented Therapy
A quick goal-oriented therapy that helps patients identify their current and future goals, find out how to achieve them, and empower future problem-solving.

Spiritual Care
Tending to spiritual health helps treatment become more effective, allowing patients to better cope with their emotions and rebuild their spiritual wellbeing.

Stress Management
Patients learn specific stress management techniques, like breathing exercises and how to safely anticipate triggers.

Twelve Step Facilitation
12-Step groups offer a framework for addiction recovery. Members commit to a higher power, recognize their issues, and support each other in the healing process.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
This cognitive behavioral therapy teaches patients to accept challenging feelings and make the appropriate changes to reach personal goals.

Yoga
Yoga is both a physical and spiritual practice. It includes a flow of movement, breathing techniques, and meditation.

Grief and Loss
Grief is a natural reaction to loss, but severe grief can interfere with your ability to function. You can get treatment for this condition.

Personality Disorders
Personality disorders destabilize the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. If untreated, they can undermine relationships and lead to severe distress.

ADHD, ADD
ADHD is a common mental health condition caused by dopamine imbalance. Common symptoms include inattention, hyperactivitiy, and impulsivity.

Alcohol
Using alcohol as a coping mechanism, or drinking excessively throughout the week, signals an alcohol use disorder.

Anger
Although anger itself isn’t a disorder, it can get out of hand. If this feeling interferes with your relationships and daily functioning, treatment can help.

Anxiety
Anxiety is a common mental health condition that can include excessive worry, panic attacks, physical tension, and increased blood pressure.

Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines are prescribed to treat anxiety and sleep issues. They are highly habit forming, and their abuse can cause mood changes and poor judgement.

Bipolar
This mental health condition is characterized by extreme mood swings between depression, mania, and remission.

Chronic Relapse
Consistent relapse occurs repeatedly, after partial recovery from addiction. This condition requires long-term treatment.

Co-Occurring Disorders
A person with multiple mental health diagnoses, such as addiction and depression, has co-occurring disorders also called dual diagnosis.

Cocaine
Cocaine is a stimulant with euphoric effects. Agitation, muscle ticks, psychosis, and heart issues are common symptoms of cocaine abuse.

Depression
Symptoms of depression may include fatigue, a sense of numbness, and loss of interest in activities. This condition can range from mild to severe.

Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is the excessive and repetitive use of substances, despite harmful consequences to a person’s life, health, and relationships.

Ecstasy
Ecstasy is a stimulant that causes intense euphoria and heightened awareness. Abuse of this drug can trigger depression, insomnia, and memory problems.

Heroin
Heroin is a highly addictive and illegal opioid. It can cause insomnia, collapsed veins, heart issues, and additional mental health issues.

Psychedelics
Hallucinogenic drugs—like LSD—cause euphoria and increased sensory experiences. When abused, they can lead to depression and psychosis.

Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine, or meth, increases energy, agitation, and paranoia. Long-term use can result in severe physical and mental health issues.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
OCD is characterized by intrusive and distressing thoughts that drive repetitive behaviors. This pattern disrupts daily life and relationships.

Opioids
Opioids produce pain-relief and euphoria, which can lead to addiction. This class of drugs includes prescribed medication and the illegal drug heroin.

Prescription Drugs
It’s possible to abuse any drug, even prescribed ones. If you crave a medication, or regularly take it more than directed, you may have an addiction.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD is a long-term mental health issue caused by a disturbing event or events. Symptoms include anxiety, dissociation, flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts.

Smoking Cessation
Quitting smoking—i.e., ceasing to smoke—means giving up smoking nicotine and tobacco products. This process has very important health benefits.

Stress
Stress is a natural reaction to challenges, and it can even help you adapt. However, chronic stress can cause physical and mental health issues.

Suicidality
With suicidality, a person fantasizes about suicide, or makes a plan to carry it out. This is a serious mental health symptom.

Synthetic Drugs
Synthetic drugs are made in a lab, unlike plant-based drugs like mushrooms. Most synthetic drugs are either stimulants or synthetic cannabinoids.

Trauma
Some traumatic events are so disturbing that they cause long-term mental health problems. Those ongoing issues can also be referred to as ‘trauma.’

Sober Living
These structured living environments help people transition out of rehab. Residents have more freedom than they do during rehab, but still follow certain rules.