What is outpatient treatment like for behavioral addiction?

What is outpatient treatment like for behavioral addiction?

Marc Kern (Addiction Expert, Director of Addiction Alternatives) gives expert video advice on: What is "outpatient care" for behavioral addiction?; What is outpatient treatment like for behavioral addiction?; How can recovering behavioral addicts reduce the risks in their environment? and more...

A typical week, if a behavioural addict were involved in a structured outpatient program, would be very structured and monotonous. Let's say you joined a program three days a week, three days a week you would be going to the facility, you'd be having a group, maybe what's called a process group where you just talk about feelings and your experiences, followed by an educational group where there's a new topic discussed, followed by a third activity, and that would happen three times a week. Traditionally, outpatient treatment centers for behavioural addicts have one component, one night a week, where you bring your family in, and the family is involved in some part of your treatment. They're often separated groups; you're generally not in the same group as your family member. Some people integrate them as well. But for the course of three months, this what you're going to do the same amount of hours the same night for three months. Following that, or in addition to that, they always recommend a support group to adjunct, to fill in the spaces between the time the formal educational treatment is provided to the behavioural addict.