Where should you go for help with a behavioral addiction?
The unfortunate thing is that in this country there are very few treatment resources for behavioural addiction. There are some, but there are not a lot. If you had a chemical addiction you'd find a treatment resource, probably, on every corner. However, for behaviour addictions, they're quite difficult to find. If you're going to go about finding a recovery programme and a more cognitive behavioural one, probably the easiest one to identify is a private clinician, private psychologist, social worker, or mental health professional in your community. The best place to find that is in your phone book or information. You call up and you ask your local psychological association as well as call up the National Organization of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapists or go online and look for a professional within your community. Beyond doing private one on one or private group, there are a few inpatient facilities (not a lot) around the country. There are some outpatient facilities; that means that you don't go in, you don't check yourself in, and you don't sleep there. There are support groups, although not a lot. There's smart recovery, where the individual wants an abstinence goal. There's moderation management, which is for harm reduction goal, but there are not a lot of support groups on that level. However, there are Internet chat rooms and there are Internet resources that aren't exactly formalised support groups but you can get some accurate and solid information on approaching it from a cognitive behavioural standpoint.
