Behavioral & Process Addictions

Process addiction care, built around you.

Outpatient treatment for process addictions, phone and social media overuse, compulsive behaviors, and disordered eating in Lakeway, Texas. Every plan is written from a 2 to 3 day comprehensive assessment, then delivered across four levels of care. Same-day or next-day admission.

Find your program 512.743.9285
Same-day or next-day admission Comprehensive assessment Most insurance accepted
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The Prescribed Care Model

When habits become compulsions.

Process addictions are pattern problems first. The Prescribed Care Model meets each one by name, then assigns the right level of care from there.

Behavioral and process addictions are real, treatable conditions defined by compulsive engagement with a behavior despite mounting harm. A 2024 review in the American Journal of Psychiatry confirms that the brain circuits involved overlap meaningfully with substance use disorders, supporting the use of the same evidence-based treatment frameworks. The Stepwell Center treats four of the most common presentations in adult outpatient care, delivered across four levels of care in Lakeway, Texas: PHP, IOP, Evening IOP, and Outpatient.

Process addictions look very different in daily life; the trigger may be a phone, a behavior loop, or a meal, but the underlying mechanism is similar, a reward pattern that resists ordinary willpower. Recent systematic reviews estimate that roughly 37 percent of adults worldwide show signs of problematic smartphone use (NIH PMC), and an estimated 9 percent of Americans will experience an eating disorder in their lifetime (NIMH). Stepwell's response to that range is the Prescribed Care Model. Every plan begins with a 2 to 3 day comprehensive assessment that integrates clinical interview, qEEG brain mapping, pharmacogenetic testing where indicated, and standardized psychological testing. The output is a written plan matched to your specific pattern, not slotted into a curriculum.

From there, your care moves along the standard outpatient continuum (ASAM Criteria). PHP is the most structured, then IOP, then Evening IOP for working adults, then Outpatient for maintenance and step-down. Many process-addiction presentations carry co-occurring anxiety, depression, or trauma, so integrated dual-diagnosis care is built into every plan rather than referred out. All four levels are delivered at our Lakeway, Texas facility, just off Ranch Road 620 in the Lake Travis corridor.

What We Treat

Four conditions, one approach.

Each card opens onto the way Stepwell approaches that condition specifically. The shared frame is the prescribed care plan; what changes is the modality mix, the level of care, and the day-to-day.

Inside Stepwell

The modalities we combine.

Specific evidence-based modalities, named in your prescribed plan rather than left implicit. Your combination is selected from these and others based on your assessment.

  1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

    CBT is the most-studied modality for behavioral and process addictions. Sessions identify the thought-feeling-behavior loops that drive the compulsion, then rehearse different ones in structured exercises with measurable outcomes.

  2. Motivational Interviewing

    A collaborative, change-focused conversation that strengthens internal motivation. Used early in process-addiction plans to align the work to your own reasons for change rather than imposed ones.

  3. Habit Reversal Training

    A structured approach with strong evidence for compulsive and repetitive behaviors. Identifies the triggers and the action sequence, then trains a competing response that breaks the loop in the moment.

  4. Dialectical Behavior Therapy

    DBT skills support emotion regulation when the addictive behavior has become a coping strategy. Mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation are the four module pillars.

  5. Group & Family Therapy

    Process and skills groups complete the weekly mix in PHP and IOP. Family sessions are integrated when the prescribed plan calls for them, often when household patterns reinforce the behavior.

  6. Coordinated Aftercare

    Medication review, nutrition coordination, and step-up or step-down planning are handled by your care team across the four levels of care. Aftercare is structured from day one rather than handed off at discharge.

Admission Journey

From inquiry to your first day.

Most patients move from first call to first day of programming within a week.

  1. Step 01

    Reach out

    Call us or submit an inquiry. We respond within business hours and screen briefly by phone so we can match you to the right starting point.

  2. Step 02

    Comprehensive assessment

    Same-day or next-day scheduling for our two to three day assessment, covering clinical, diagnostic, and medical context across multiple instruments.

  3. Step 03

    Your prescribed plan

    Your care team builds an individualized treatment plan from the assessment, including the right starting level of care and the modality mix that fits your clinical profile.

  4. Step 04

    Begin care

    You start the level of care your plan prescribes. As your needs change, you step between PHP, IOP, Evening IOP, and Outpatient with the same clinical team.

Common Questions

Questions readers usually have.

Pulled from the questions families and prospective patients ask most often when considering outpatient process addiction treatment.