Addiction Therapy in Madrid

Therapy, not just stopping use

When someone looks for help with an addiction, almost everything they find in Madrid talks about "detox": getting the substance out of the body. It's a necessary step in some cases, but it's only the beginning. The substance is gone in days; the reasons you were using are still there — the anxiety you were covering up, the relationship falling apart, the pressure at work, the boredom of Sundays. If no one works on that part, relapse isn't a possibility: it's a matter of time.

That is exactly what addiction therapydoes: sustained psychological work, with a method and with support, to understand what role using played in your life and build a way of living in which you no longer need it. According to the Spanish Observatory on Drugs and Addictions (OEDA), hundreds of thousands of people in Spain meet the criteria for problematic use of alcohol, cocaine or cannabis — and the vast majority don't need an inpatient stay: they need a serious, consistent therapeutic process.

At Charlas Adictivas we carry out that process on an outpatient basis, in person in Chamberí (Madrid) and online throughout Spain, with a team that combines psychiatry, therapy and day-to-day support. The first conversation is free and with no obligation.

How we work: a four-phase process

1. Initial assessment (free)

A first confidential conversation, in person or by video call, to understand your situation: what you're using or which behavior has gotten out of control, since when, what you've already tried and how it's affecting your health, your work and the people around you. You leave with a concrete plan proposal — and if we think your case needs a different kind of resource, we'll tell you just as clearly.

2. Personalized plan

No two addictions are alike. Depending on your case, the plan combines individual therapy, group therapy, psychiatric assessment and support between sessions, at a frequency that's realistic for your life. From the start you'll know what we'll work on, with whom and how much it costs.

3. The therapeutic work

The core phase: individual and group sessions working on craving, triggers, high-risk situations, the skills to say no and — above all — what lay beneath the using. This is where recovery stops being "holding out without using" and starts becoming a life that doesn't ask for anesthesia.

4. Consolidation and relapse prevention

Sessions become less frequent as you gain stability, but follow-up continues: relapse prevention is part of the process, not an extra. If there's a slip, we work on it — quickly and without drama, because a slip addressed in time doesn't have to turn into a full relapse.

Individual therapy

The backbone of the process. We work with evidence-based approaches for addiction — cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing y relapse prevention — tailored to your specific case. Individual sessions address the things you don't tell anyone else: the shame, the double life, the fear that life without the substance will be worse. Your therapist is always the same person, knows your story and adjusts the work as you progress.

Group therapy: what only a group can give you

Addiction isolates; the group does the opposite. In groups you meet people who are where you are — or where you'll be six months from now — and you discover that what you thought only happened to you happens to almost everyone. The evidence is consistent: people who combine individual therapy with group therapy sustain their recovery better. At our center in Chamberí we have two rooms dedicated to group therapy.

Psychiatry and dual diagnosis

More than half of people with an addiction also live with anxiety, depression, insomnia or another mental health problem. This is known as dual diagnosis, and it's the great blind spot of many treatments: the addiction is treated and the rest ignored, or the other way around — and whatever goes untreated ends up sabotaging everything else.

Our medical director, Dr. Alfonso Martínez, is a psychiatrist subspecialized in dual diagnosis and addictions, and Dra. María Robles, a psychiatrist focused on addictions, dual diagnosis and ADHD, together with the rest of the team's psychiatrists, handles the assessment and follow-up of every case that needs it. Therapy and psychiatry work in coordination within the same plan — you won't have to tell your story twice in two offices that don't talk to each other.

Therapy and guidance for families

Addiction is never lived by just one person. Partners, parents, children — everyone gets pulled in: watching, covering up, arguing, wearing themselves out. We also work with families: understanding what's going on, learning to set limits that truly help, stopping unintentionally enabling the use, and taking care of themselves while they care for someone else. Sometimes the family joins the patient's process; sometimes it needs its own space. There's room for both here.

Outpatient therapy or inpatient rehab?

It's the first question almost every family asks, so we answer with the honesty we'd want to find ourselves: most people don't need inpatient treatment. Outpatient treatment — sessions while you carry on with your life — works, costs a fraction of a residential program and has a huge therapeutic advantage: you practice recovery in the real world from day one, not in a bubble.

When does inpatient treatment make sense? When there's a severe physical dependence that requires medically supervised detox, when your immediate environment makes stopping unworkable, or when several serious outpatient attempts haven't worked. If that's your case, we'll tell you at the initial assessment and help you coordinate the resource — and we'll be here for what comes after, which is where the real work continues.

In person in Chamberí and online throughout Spain

Our center is at Glorieta de Bilbao 4 (Chamberí, 28004 Madrid), one minute from Bilbao metro station — 180 m² designed for calm conversation, no white coats or cold offices. You can see it on this page or come and visit in person.

If you're not in Madrid, or your schedule doesn't allow it, the entire process can be done online with the same professionals and the same method. Many people combine both: online sessions during the week and occasional in-person ones.

Addictions we treat

Every substance and every behavior has its own clinical features. We have specific programs for each:

• Alcohol — the most normalized addiction and one of those that most requires professional help to quit safely.
• Cocaine — intense cravings and rapid relapses: working on triggers is key.
• Cannabis — a direct impact on motivation, anxiety and sleep, especially in young people.
• Anxiolytics and benzodiazepines — gradual tapering under supervision: never cold turkey.
• Behavioral addictions — gambling, pornography, shopping, technology: addictions without a substance, driven by the same brain machinery.

The team behind the therapy

Behind every plan there's a team of real people with real names: Alfonso Martínez (psychiatrist, Medical Director, subspecialist in Dual Diagnosis), Eduardo Prades y Paloma (psychiatrists), Rocío León (addiction prevention and intervention therapist), Simón Hernangómez (Higher Technician in Social Integration, day-to-day support) and the founders Ruy Arroyo y Salva Rivero, both with a Master's in Substance Dependence from the University of Barcelona.

Content reviewed by Alfonso Martínez, psychiatrist, Medical Director of Charlas Adictivas and subspecialist in Dual Diagnosis and Addictions. Last reviewed: September 2026.