Addiction recovery is easier than it sounds, but you must be fully committed to some unpleasant self-exploration if you want to get well. Modern psychiatry has determined that addictions are caused by a response to helplessness in one form or another, and that means you musty be willing to face down such unpleasant sensations. Thankfully, a good professional therapist can help loosen the various knots we tie around the things that scare us most.

It all comes down to responsible care, and that means finding credentialed psychologists who can devote their fullest attention to the cause. Too many treatment centers across the country maintain high client-to-staff ratios, all but eliminating the possibility of substantive one-on-one therapy. The good news is that there are indeed some facilities that get such numbers right, and their efficacy can be measured in comparatively higher success rates.

Of course, talk therapy is just one element of the picture. Collateral therapies such as spiritual care, massage and communal spaces can help ease your transition back into sobriety, so you may want to look for all these elements in your own treatment center. The point is to stick with a program that takes an emotional perspective on the addiction and folds powerful counseling into a pastoral locale.

Whatever you choose, it is essential to steel yourself for some difficult work. As one therapist famously said, “Change is not a hobby.” Get it right, however, and you could discover you have given yourself the gift of sobriety for many years to come.