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Addiction
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Addiction can be characterized as either chemical or behavioral addictions.
Chemical addictions can include addiction to substances such as alcohol, cocaine, or marijuana. Behavioral addictions can include addiction to pornography/sex, gambling, food, or even shopping. When addressing addictions, it is important to identify areas of resistance to change and work towards resolving them.
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Therapy for addiction can be approached through either complete abstinence or harm reduction. With complete abstinence, the goal is to stop completely using a particular substance or behavior. With harm reduction, the goal is to identify the relationship that someone has with a particular substance or behavior and work towards regulating its usage.
Harm reduction is very flexible in that you will work with your therapist to gauge what is an appropriate level of usage.
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In addition, an approach that explores the past and present can be helpful in identifying a core reason for use, and helps in the building of trust and the development of coping mechanisms. Therapy would further include an introduction to structured approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, or rational-emotive therapy.
These approaches will help in identifying specific thought patterns that are leading to use and work towards helping to limit or eliminate use altogether.