Voice Therapy for the effective treatment of addictiion

Voice Therapy to Treat Addictions
By Joyce Catlett, MA

Drug and alcohol abuse continue to profoundly affect the lives of millions of Americans, and the problem of addiction is especially detrimental to the lives of young people. Why do so many people turn to drugs, alcohol, and other addictive substances? Why do clients find it so difficult to give up an addictive habit despite being aware of the havoc it is wreaking in their lives? The answers may lie in the fact that addictive behaviors have these things in common: (1) they help people cut off painful feelings and (2) they are strongly influenced or controlled by a destructive thought process. People who engage in drug or alcohol abuse, who have an eating disorder, or who compulsively work to the point of exhaustion, are acting according to a pattern of self-destructive thoughts or a critical inner voice. The behaviors they engage in represent a direct assault against their physical health and emotional well-being and restrict their ability to pursue important goals and priorities in life. Therefore, it is important that counselors help their clients identify the patterns of negative thinking that govern their addictive behaviors and challenge them through pursuing other, more constructive ways of dealing with stress and emotional pain.

The “Inner Voice” in Addictive Behavior
The voice has been defined as a systematic pattern of destructive thoughts and attitudes, accompanied by varying degrees of angry affect that strongly influence or control all forms of maladaptive behavior, including addictive behaviors and lifestyles. The voice is an overlay on the personality that is not natural or harmonious, but is learned or imposed from without. The voice originates in childhood and represents the incorporation of parents= negative traits, behaviors and patterns of defense. The source of the critical inner voice seems to lie in an identification with, and imitation of, the methods by which one=s parents defended or numbed themselves. For example, if a client=s father drank when under stress, it is likely that the client will adopt this particular method of relieving stress.

To varying degrees, all people suffer from internal conflict and a sense of alienation from themselves. On the one hand, each individual has a point of view that reflects his or her natural wants, aspirations, and desires for affiliation with others, his or her drive to be sexual, to procreate, and to be creative; while on the other hand, each individual has another point of view that reflects tendencies for self-limitation, self-destruction and hostility toward other persons. This alien point of view is made up of a series of thoughts, antithetical toward self and cynical toward others, which we refer to as the “voice.” It takes the form of an internal communication, ranging from minor self-criticisms to major self-attacks, that sometimes includes suicidal ideation. The voice encourages self-soothing, addictive behaviors and promotes isolation, self-denial, self-destructive lifestyles, and at the extreme end, suicide.

Self-critical thoughts are sometimes experienced consciously, but more often than not, they are only partially conscious or even totally unconscious. Many people are aware of having self-critical thoughts, but are generally unaware of how much they are living their lives according to the dictates of these thoughts.

The destructive voice that controls addictive behavior takes two contradictory forms. First it encourages the client to engage in the behavior and to indulge in his or her drug of choice. For example, clients who drink too much have reported that they often tell themselves things like, “You’ve had a rough week. You deserve to relax and have a drink.” They often act according to the urging of this voice and drink too much. At this point, the destructive thoughts switch in their tone and become intensely punishing and angry, which makes it clear that the voice is not a conscience or a moral guilt B it plays both sides of the coin. The voice maliciously punishes the person for having engaged in the very behavior it had encouraged. “You weak-willed jerk. You said you weren’t going to drink anymore, and there you go, drinking again!” After such a barrage of self-attacks, people feel worse and experience considerable emotional pain, turmoil and distress. In this state, the critical voice is more likely to influence an individual to again engage in the addictive behavior to numb the pain, ease the agitation, or get rid of the upset feelings, which completes the cycle. “You’ve already broken your resolution, you’d just as well have another drink.” It is clear that the process of listening to this type of punishing voice would not inspire clients to try to change their behavior in a positive direction. Hating oneself for a behavior and running oneself down never lead to constructive changes in behavior. People have strong tendencies to feel justified in attacking themselves because they have the “goods on themselves@ so to speak; yet this self-attacking process is simply one part of the destructive cycle of addiction.

Voice Therapy in the Treatment of Addiction

The methods of voice therapy were developed to bring destructive thoughts or voices to the surface, together with their accompanying emotions, so that clients could challenge them and change the behaviors that are regulated by them. The method is called voice therapy because it is a process of giving spoken words to negative thought patterns that govern people=s self-limiting, addictive, self-destructive behaviors.

Voice Therapy is a cognitive-affective-behavioral therapy. The emphasis on exposing negative thought processes in this methodology overlaps cognitive theories and therapies to a certain extent. However, the voice therapy approach is substantially different in that the methods deal more with the expression of feeling than analysis of logic or illogic. The expression of emotions that often accompanies the verbalization of the voice leads to unusual insights.

When applied in a counseling situation, the techniques of voice therapy consist of three steps: (I) the process of eliciting and identifying negative thought patterns, and releasing the accompanying emotions of anger and/or sadness; (II) discussing insights and reactions to verbalizing the voice; and (III) counteracting behaviors regulated by the voice through the collaborative planning and application of appropriate corrective experiences.

The principal technique of Voice Therapy consists of verbalizing negative thoughts in the second person format, as though someone else were speaking the thoughts; “You’re worthless and stupid,” rather than “I feel like I’m a worthless person.@ This particular format is important for three reasons: (1) this is the form in which most people think critically about themselves or experience internal dialogue (the voice is a kind of intrapsychic communication wherein people carry on silent conversations or dialogues with themselves as though another person were talking to them, advising, accusing, and enticing them in ways that are self-defeating and often self-destructive), (2) this technique usually brings out considerable affect, leading to important emotional and intellectual insight, and (3) it helps clients separate their real point of view, which is life-affirming and goal-directed, from the destructive point of view of the voice. This in turn strengthens the person’s sense of self and adds impetus to his or her motivation to abstain.

All people suffer from some degree of addiction that interferes with their living fully. The primary goal of our therapy has been to help people come to terms with the painful feelings and frustrations that caused them to revert to the use of addictive substances. When people are willing to take a chance and sweat through the anxiety and fear aroused when they give up these addictions, they find that they are living with dignity and self-respect, and are coping more effectively with the stresses of everyday life.

Visit the Glendon Associate website at www.glendon.org.

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