Therapy Establishes Reliable Motivation

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It is understandable that people have some ambivalence about giving up their addictive behaviour. 

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For starters, they don’t really know why they do it and why they can’t stop – it just feels like a need.  So they find it hard to imagine how they might possibly live without it.  Also, it does serve some, perhaps unknown, purpose and gives a short term benefit – often in the form of a changed feeling or emotion.  Some people find it hard to imagine, or frightening, not having that facility to change their feelings in that way.

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Many doubt that they ‘have what it takes’ to stop their addictive behaviour and this makes it difficult to put their energy fully into making the changes necessary.  Of course, some people tell themselves that they could stop if they really wanted – but never quite get around to testing that out.

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For others, someone important to them has given them an ultimatum – “Stop – or else …..” .  Or, they can see the harm that it is causing in their lives but they hadn’t quite got to the point of definitely wanting to stop completely.

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Whatever the case, therapy can explore with you what your current motivation is and help you to grow and maintain motivation towards the life that you want away from the addictive behaviour.