an other way
Addiction Counselling Dublin
Therapy for all forms of addiction, dependency, and the symptom that refuses to let go
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many shapes and forms
Addiction Can Take Many Forms
Addiction is not limited to substances. It can take shape around alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, food, relationships, work, or digital life. Some describe it as a compulsion they can’t stop; others as a gap they can’t leave unfilled. Guilt, secrecy, or confusion often follow.
We don’t moralise or offer quick corrections. Instead, we listen to what the addiction is doing — and why it became necessary. In psychoanalytic terms, addiction is not a failure of willpower but a formation — one with its own logic that can be worked through.
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transforming addiction & dependency
What Causes Addiciton?
Addiction can sometimes feel like the only structure holding things together — a way of coping, avoiding, or surviving. But what is being avoided? What is the repetition trying to cover, or keep alive?
Addiction may be a way of coping with being. In other words, the symptom isn’t just a behaviour — it’s a response to existence itself. To suffering, to desire, to what it means to be human.
At the Other clinic, we don’t offer step-based programmes or behavioural contracts. Instead, our counselling & therapy makes space for the question: What role does this play in your life?
When addiction is treated as a message to be intepreted, something begins to shift.
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transforming addiction & dependency
How Can Addiction Counselling Help?
You don’t need a diagnosis, a referral, or a rock-bottom moment to begin.
You may be unsure if what you’re dealing with “counts” as addiction. You may have tried to stop — or not want to stop at all. You may feel caught between relief and regret, or afraid of what might come up if the symptom is taken away.
Therapy offers a space not to be told what to do — but to be heard. To begin speaking what hasn’t yet been said. And through that, to loosen what has until now felt unmovable.
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Our Approach to Addiction Counselling
Addiction is rarely only about the substance or behaviour itself. It can become bound up with relief, repetition, dependence, shame, self-soothing, escape, or ways of managing anxiety that feel difficult to interrupt.
We offer addiction counselling that is grounded in careful attention to the singularity of each person’s experience. Rather than applying a standard formula, we aim to understand the particular place that addiction has come to hold in a person’s life.
Psychoanalytically informed therapy in Dublin.
100%
Masters level therapists
333+
Combined years of experience
1
Singular approach to addiction
Evidence Based Approach
2021 — Psychodynamic/ Psychoanalytic) psychotherapy in opioid dependence (Gottdiener) [1]
In a meta analysis, long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy showed better outcomes than shorter treatments on overall improvement, target problems, and personality functioning in complex mental disorders (long-standing, multi-layered presentations).
2023 — Psychodynamic therapies perform similarly to other psychological treatments across addictions (Zuccon et al.,) [2]
A meta-analysis comparing psychodynamic therapy with other psychological treatments across alcohol, cocaine and opioid samples found that psychodynamic approaches were as effective as other treatments on key recovery outcomes overall.
2019 — Brief psychodynamic therapy in an NHS gambling clinic (Mooney et al.) [3]
A pilot in an NHS problem gambling clinic offered 12 sessions of a brief relational psychodynamic protocol to “difficult-to-treat” clients (many with complex histories and prior CBT that hadn’t helped). Across routine measures, clients showed significant reductions in gambling severity, alongside lower anxiety and depression scores after treatment.
2023 — Psychological intervention for gambling disorder (Eriksen et al.) [4]
A review summarising controlled research concludes that psychological interventions are efficacious overall for gambling disorder, while noting variability between studies and the need for stronger long-term evidence.
Research Summary
These studies were chosen because they give a clear snapshot of what the wider research suggests.
Overall, psychotherapy can help reduce addictive behaviours and the distress that often sits underneath them.
Many people do best with a combined approach – for example, structured support such as a rehabilitation programme or peer support (including 12-step) alongside therapy.
Results vary from person to person, but overall the research points in a consistently positive direction.
Counselling
Eating Disorders & Body Dysmorphia