Recovery

It’s 3 a.m. You’ve been soundly asleep, safely dreaming, when all of a sudden you’re woken up with a fright. A smoke alarm in your house is going off. A thousand thoughts run through your mind about your house burning down, the safety of others in the home, and your safety as well. You realize, you could die, but there isn’t much time for that thought. Your heart starts racing, your body goes into action, and you’re responding the emergency. Frantically, you find that there is no fire. All that reaction was for naught. After checking the house, you go back to bed and eventually fall back asleep. Panic attacks are a similar scenario, only, there’s no fire alarm. There’s not even a fire. Without a single trigger, the panic attack sets in, setting off all the same symptoms, and worse. Each day, people living with panic disorder fear the onset of a panic attack which is unpredictable and sometime unmanageable. Instead of worrying about everyone else, a panic attack has but one focus: the fear of dying. For about twenty minutes, the brain is convinced not that it is going to die, but that it is already dying. Increased heart rate, dizziness, stomach cramps, shortness of breath, and high emotions all accompany a panic attack. After twenty minutes, everything suddenly subsides, leaving the individual exhausted. Witnessing a panic attack as a loved one of someone with panic disorder can feel helpless. All help is not lost. Here are some suggestions for supporting a loved one through a panic attack.

Childhood is a critical time for self-development, as developmental psychology has pointed out. Our relationships experienced in childhood have a lasting impact on how we develop as a person and who we are as a person. If our childhood relationships are positive, supportive, and nurturing, that will be the effect. On the other hand, if our childhood relationships are negative, neglectful, abusive, or abandoning, there will be an ongoing sense of instability in people as they grow older. New research suggests that the impactful effects of childhood trauma could last well into one’s 50’s and beyond. The research also found that childhood trauma can increase risk of heart disease, stroke, depression, and diabetes as well as smoking, sexual promiscuity, and a lower life expectancy. Specifically, the study found, someone who experiences six or more ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, died 20 years earlier than those who did not. Childhood trauma hurts, in more ways than one. Why Children Are Traumatised Many parents aren’t ready to be parents. Often, they’ve been abused or traumatised into their own lives without ever going through therapy and working on their own issues. Consequently, a child triggers all of those issues within them. Following by the example they best knew as children themselves, parents often enact their pain upon their child; sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. Childhood trauma is not always direct in the form of sexual abuse or physical abuse. Divorce, separation, abandonment, or domestic altercation can traumatise a child. Additionally, emotional abuse from parents or bullies at school can be traumatising as well. Healing From Childhood Trauma Unfortunately, the study did not elaborate on the many people who find healing and hope despite their childhood traumas. Through treatment and ongoing therapy, people are able to process and heal the traumas of their past while learning necessary skills for engaging in happy and fulfilling relationships within their own lives. If you are experiencing the painful repercussions of childhood trauma and feel like you may never heal, have hope. You can release the past and move forward from it. Your traumatic childhood does not have to define who you are or how you participate in life. We understand the need to take time to work on issues from the past. Avalon By The Sea offers a private and comfortable residential treatment program focused on trauma treatment and healing. For a private consultation and more information on our programs, call 1 888-958-7511.

A study found that lies which get out of control primarily benefit the self. Meaning, when lying about something is going to help you benefit in some personal way, even at the expense of other people, you are going to run with it. If a lie is only beneficial to someone else, it is unlikely that the lie will be told enough time to get out of control. Lastly, if telling a lie meant both you and someone else would benefit, you are the most likely to tell that lie over and over again watching it get bigger and bigger. In conclusion, the study found, “dishonesty escalated over time when it was self-serving, showing that the simple act of repeated dishonesty by itself is not enough for escalation to take place…” Essentially, if we are going to tell a lie and stick to it even when it starts spiraling out of control, “—a self-benefiting motivation must also be present.” Addiction as a Motivator Addiction is often that kind of a motivator for those who have become chemically dependent on a harmful substance such as drugs or alcohol. Lying is one of the stereotyped, stigmatized parts of addiction contributing to the characterization that addiction is an issue of immorality. Unfortunately, it is true that over time chemically dependent individuals tend to tell more lies which can get astonishingly intricate, all to serve the selfish need to continue using substances. However, the lying associated with addiction fits the bill. When drugs and alcohol take over the brain, the neurotransmitter dopamine has rewired everyday processes. Dopamine, a brain chemical communicating pleasure, changes the brain to need to feel the pleasure derived from using drugs and alcohol- not want; need. The reason this happens is because a part of the brain called the Midbrain is heavily affected by substance abuse. Survival operations like eating and sleeping live in the midbrain. Too much dopamine, however, encourages the midbrain to believe that using drugs and alcohol is its most important operation of survival. Few things could be more powerful of a self-benefitting motivation than that. Addicts and alcoholics lie to protect their ability to get high or drunk. They have to protect their ability to get high or drunk because they have become completely dependent on it. For their brain, it feels like a matter of life or death. Family Heartbreak For the family members, loved ones, co-workers, and friends who know the individual who is suffering, it is heartbreaking and disappointing to watch them go through this cycle over and over again. Interestingly, the lying might have something more to do with them than they realize. As the study pointed out, the highest occurrence of lying was when a lie would benefit the self and another. Though it may not seem that way on the outside, people who are suffering truly don’t want other people to suffer. Addicts and alcoholics know they are letting everyone down when they lie and try to hide their using. Guilt and shame which prevail from this cycle can be debilitating. Many recovering addicts and alcoholics will attest that they did their best to hide their drinking and using to save their family from getting hurt, upset, and disappointed. Though the action is still self-serving, there is a certain level of consideration involved as well. Despite feeling completely out of control of their drinking and using, an addict or an alcoholic truly doesn’t want to keep hurting other people. Like a lie that escalates out of control, they simple can’t help it. Avalon By The Sea offers premiere luxury residential treatment for drug and alcohol abuse at an affordable cost. Our beautiful estate sits atop the iconic Malibu coastline providing privacy and serenity for holistic healing. Avalon offers regular family counseling, family intensive programs, and more to allow the whole family to heal. For a private consultation or more information on our programs, call 1 888-958-7511.

One of the most challenging parts about adopting a sober lifestyle is transitioning out of the old one to create a new one. Drinking and drug use becomes a major part of your life. After getting sober, many are surprised to realize just how significant of a role drugs and alcohol played. Here are a few suggestions for managing every day challenges for staying sober.

Relapse is a difficult part of recovery. It is a part of recovery but it does not have to be a part of recovery. Some say that relapse is part of the story. Not everyone relapses. If you are struggling with a drug addiction or alcoholism problem and are considering treatment know that you don’t have to relapse to stay sober forever. You just have to take things one day at a time. Understanding Relapse Understanding relapse is difficult for anyone on the outside of chemical dependency. Acting on impulse in spite of negative consequences is a characteristic of addiction. Drugs and alcohol overtake the brain in a very severe way. Many attribute the craving and desire for using to pleasure. Pleasure is only a small part of what really happened in the brain when the impulse to use arises. The pleasure which is derived from drugs and alcohol comes from the overproduction of a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine communicates feelings of pleasure to the reward center of the brain. From there, the substances causing pleasure are committed to memory. The memory channels feed into an area of the brain called the midbrain. Survival necessities like eating, sleep, and reproducing live in the midbrain. Overtime, the messages of pleasure and reward stored to memory inundate the midbrain. To say a relapse is born out of a need for pleasure is not to give the intricacy of addiction it’s fair due. Relapse is born out of a need to survive pain. Confronting Emotions Treatment and recovery can be painful. Dealing with emotions, confronting trauma, and living life each day without euphoria inducing substances can be hard. After a brain has become chemically dependent upon drugs or alcohol for providing pleasure, it is difficult to live without it. The brain has learned how to live off of drugs and alcohol. Problematically, it has learned to source all of its pleasurable sensations from it. The brain struggles to produce its own dopamine without the presence of drugs and alcohol. Essentially, when the brain feels a need for pleasure, and cannot create any on its own, it craves drugs and alcohol. When those cravings don’t get met, the brain becomes obsessive, causing more tension, stress, and chaos in the mind to which the only answer seems to be: drink or use, as soon as possible. It is true, people relapse because they want to get drunk or high. However, why it is they want to get drunk or high is more of the point. Relapse isn’t an episode , it's a process. Avalon By The Sea continuously evaluates and checks in with patients to gauge their recovery beyond the scope of clinical judgment. Your life is important to use. We know how precious this opportunity is to live it. For a private consultation or more information on our residential treatment programs, call 1 888-958-7511.

We know what lies ahead for you after treatment. Let Avalon By The Sea help you get there. We provide treatment to men and women at residential levels for both substance use disorders and mental health disorders. For a confidential assessment and more information on our programs, call 1 (888) 958-7511 today.

“Pink cloud” is the term used to describe the euphoric state of being sober. Pink clouds come and go. When a new person to sobriety is feeling good, optimistic, happy, grateful, and clear-minded, they are often told they are on a “pink cloud”. Unfortunately, at some point, the pink cloud evaporates and they are left with all the emotions from the other side of the spectrum. Not feeling good is not a favorite experience for people in recovery from both substance use disorders and mental health disorders. Especially those who have rewired their brain through substance abuse, not feeling any feelings which are pleasurable are especially triggering. After all, what is the point of staying sober if you can’t feel good all the time? It takes time to understand that “good” and “bad” are subjective experiences and that they are transitory. Each period of up will be followed by a period of down, or at least a little less up. This is the natural flow of life. As it is commonly said, “This too shall pass.”

Will life get better after treatment? The answer is unequivocally yes. Life gets better the minute you make the decision to get sober, seek treatment, or confront the presence of a mental illness in your life. From that moment forward life continues to get better on an exponential scale. There is, however, one catch: it takes work. Though the first step in solving any problem is admitting you have one, and the second step is realizing that you need help in solving it- this is not the full solution. Each day in recovery, there is work to be done. Popularly, people in recovery say “it works if you work it”. Part of that work includes recognizing that there will be obstacles and it will take some additional work to get over them. Mistakenly, people think that the work done in treatment is all the work that needs to be done. Life continues to happen as life does, whether we are sober, in recovery, or not. Coming across obstacles, or creating them ourselves, is a natural part of life. Our recovery and success is not defined by the lack of obstacles in our lives but the way in which we approach and overcome them.

Mindfulness is often confused with emptiness. Mindfulness is a practice rooted in buddhism which simply asks the practitioner to grow in their awareness of their surroundings. Noticing, paying attention, and becoming aware are all mindful practice that help separate one from their thoughts and grow in autonomy over what they are thinking. Zen is a particular form of Buddhist practice which seeks to help the follower create emptiness in their minds, detaching entirely from any emotional state. Mindfulness does not asks practitioners to do this. Instead, it simply suggest taking an honest look at what is feeling. Most people are unable to identify their feelings. Though they know they are feeling something, they are often lacking in the awareness, as well as the emotional articulation, to specifically identify what they are feeling. Consequently, mindfulness is not the absence of emotion, but the heightened awareness of it. For mindfulness, all emotions are equal.

Anxiety is a preoccupation with thoughts. When anxiety takes over in our minds, it floods our forethoughts with an unending and consistent stream of worry. Our worries can be relevant or irrelevant, but are most likely improbable. What separates anxious worry from normal worry is how likely it is. Anxious thinking tends to be catastrophic thinking, meaning it is obsessed with the worst case scenario and what that would mean. At the core, anxiety is a misfire of an ancient human response to danger. On a neurobiological scaled, when anxiety takes off, the brain goes into a fear response mode. Instead of confronting and reducing gear, however, anxiety creates more fear, then becomes afraid of that fear and so forth. Rather than read the thought process as a means of survival, the anxious mind picks up on each new thought as a brand new threat.

Need some new hobbies this year to occupy your time and invigorate your self-care repertoire? According to recent research this a host of crafty and culinary hobbies that will help boost your creativity and your mental health. In a social media world where perfectionist Instagram and Pinterest photos fuel the Do-It-Yourself drive, crafting and baking, in addition to other hobbies, bring people a lot of joy. That healthy joy is improving their mental health, as the research reveals. 658 students were surveyed for the study and found that the next day after crafting or creating in some way students had more energy, felt happier, and had a greater sense of calm the next day. Of the crafts and hobbies, these are some of the other activities included by the researchers in the study:

Avalon By The Sea offers transitional care and planning for each resident. Our certified dual diagnosis treatment center is eligible to treat both mental health conditions and substance use disorder conditions as well. For a private consultation of more information call 1 888-958-7511.