A BRAIN REWIRED FOR RECOVERY: HOW NEUROTHERAPY CHANGES ADDICTION OUTCOMES (Podcast Episode 13)

by Heather Putney, PHD, LMFT, CSAT-S, QEEG-DL
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FOUNDER
Untethered Therapy and Transformative Neurotherapy

In our work with clients navigating addiction recovery, we often see the story reduced to habits and choices. But the nervous system tells a deeper, more complex story. When stress and reward circuits fire in rigid, repetitive patterns, cravings can feel inevitable. The brain narrows its focus to relief at any cost. That’s why we take a brain-first approach—one that aims to loosen those loops and restore flexibility where it’s been lost.

Neurotherapy allows us to read and gently train brain activity to rebalance arousal, improve sleep, and support the natural rhythm between focus and rest. That balance is especially critical during the early phases of recovery, when detox pain, anxiety, and insomnia can overwhelm even the most committed treatment plan. When physiological distress is reduced, clients are better able to access counseling, group work, and coping strategies that previously bounced off a raw and overloaded system.

One of the most important insights from our clinical work is the significant overlap between addiction and ADHD. When impulsivity, reward sensitivity, and inconsistent attention are layered on top of substance dependence, staying sober becomes far more difficult—even for individuals with strong motivation. We work with many clients who “do everything right” and still feel stuck, as though their brain refuses to cooperate. Neurotherapy helps by supporting the frontal networks responsible for inhibition and timing, while calming limbic overdrive that amplifies stress and threat. This dual action reduces the snap of impulsive decisions and creates space for intention.

Sleep is often the first thing to improve. As baseline arousal drops, cravings become more manageable. Clients report clearer thinking, steadier moods, and greater capacity to use therapeutic tools in real time. That’s when the real work begins to stick.

In higher-acuity settings, such as inpatient programs, we’ve seen how neurotherapy can accelerate measurable change. Facilities that integrate neurotherapy alongside talk therapy, EMDR, and group work often track outcomes using tools like the PHQ-9 for depression and GAD-7 for anxiety. The data consistently show that clients who add neurotherapy improve faster and further than those who don’t—across addictions including alcohol, benzodiazepines, opioids, and stimulants. Another key shift is treatment retention. When cravings and somatic agitation ease, people are more likely to tolerate the discomfort of detox and the emotional intensity of early recovery, rather than leaving prematurely to escape distress.

Why does this kind of physiological support matter so much? Detox can feel like living without a dimmer switch. Pain is constant, the body feels edgy, and attention locks onto discomfort. Neurotherapy targets the autonomic nervous system to promote parasympathetic tone and stabilizes networks that help the brain tune pain in and out. By reintroducing a kind of “volume knob,” clients experience relief that isn’t numbing—it’s regulating. As systems settle, therapy begins to land. Insight converts to action because the body is no longer fighting the brain’s attempts to learn. This can lead to fewer relapses, not because willpower has increased, but because the internal drivers to use have lost some of their force.

We also understand the skepticism. Many clients come to us after trying multiple medications and programs. The question we return to is simple: what is the risk versus the potential reward? Neurotherapy is noninvasive and designed to complement—not replace—standard care, including medical detox and evidence-based psychotherapy. Early wins are often tangible: better sleep, less physiological noise, a calmer baseline. Those shifts create momentum for the rest of the work. Recovery remains a practice, but when the brain’s hardware is steadier, the software of coping skills and community support can finally run. For many, that shift marks the difference between a plan they believe in and a life they can sustain.