Recovery

If you have spent a great deal of your life living in fear, expecting the worst to happen, and doubting that you can achieve your goals, beginning to shift your mindset can be tricky. While you may sometimes doubt yourself during your recovery process, the journey can also help you build self-esteem, self-trust, and inner hope.

For those who suffer from a mental health condition or emotional sources of pain, neurofeedback therapy— a type of biofeedback  — can be used to train your brain to self-regulate, helping you to stay calm and focussed. This type of therapy can be used to ease the symptoms of several mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, substance abuse disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Creativity is vital to your holistic wellness and being creative can help you during your recovery. Popular to contrary belief, there are many ways to be creative outside of traditional drawing, coloring, and painting. Whether you consider yourself to be an artist or not, there are several ways you can be creative. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Writing can be an excellent practice during your recovery journey. It provides time for introspection and self-reflection, cultivating self-awareness and self-honesty. One of the best parts of writing is that you do not have to actually be a writer to experience its benefits. There is no wrong way to write and you can do it anywhere, even with a therapist. While writing helps to release tension and reduce anxiety, it can also help you process situations and create peace for yourself.

It is quite common for loved ones to feel the need to provide support during the recovery process. While many inquiries and remarks are helpful, others might harm the rehabilitation process. Although you are concerned for that person, you should avoid questions that may reopen an injury that is still healing.

Overcoming addiction is a complicated internal battle that requires great emotional fortitude to effectively address. However, even the act of confronting one’s deeper feelings and behaviors can be an incredibly difficult barrier to overcome. Presenting those in recovery with an outside perspective of their thoughts, feelings, and actions can add the perspective needed to strengthen one’s understanding of their own situation, creating effective and personal recovery routes. Psychodrama is one option to explore these perspectives, and its implementation can help each individual confront their own emotions and behaviors all while learning about peers, deepening trust, and developing meaningful relationships with those on a similar journey.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the plethora of changes throughout your recovery journey. Tackling all facets of addiction and recovery at once can be intimidating. Doing so can lead to stress and may even cause feelings of resistance and self-doubt to become prevalent.  Breaking down your journey into clearly defined steps can help you manage this stress while setting reasonable expectations for yourself throughout your journey. Putting one foot in front of the next is a testament to dedication and perseverance. Understanding the stages of change that will occur throughout your recovery can help motivate you to continue working on the next step in your sober goals with a healthy mindset of success.

If you are suffering from a substance use disorder and have opted to get healthy, you should be proud of yourself for making such a difficult and courageous decision. However, many people report feeling bored, uninspired, or sad after quitting drugs. This is a trying situation, and you might be questioning your sobriety. A time of sorrow or despair, on the other hand, is a common side effect of substance withdrawal. It is important to consider why this happens and what you can do to improve your situation.

Addiction is a complicated disease, and those that suffer from addiction are faced with challenges on a daily basis. However,  one’s family, friends, and loved ones can also be profoundly affected. While it is tempting for supports to jump in and help in any way possible, it is important to do so in an educated way to ensure that one’s actions aren’t having an adverse effect than intended. Helping a loved one through addiction is a noble effort, but one’s efforts to help can also mask enabling practices. Learning the forms that enabling can take and how to properly help a loved one is essential in overcoming addiction as an effective unit.

Every year, many people miss work to attend addiction recovery therapies. However, post-treatment, they are expected to return to work. This is important for them as well, not just for a source of income but for their social standing and to build their identity.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that effective treatment addresses the person's needs, including vocational. It may not be easy to forge a new career path, but if done properly, it can be a means to a new, healthy life.

One of the most difficult aspects of recovery is overcoming cravings. These are strong desires that seem to appear out of nowhere and are difficult to resist. They are, however, not uncontrollable.  Learning to control urges is a crucial skill for long-term recovery. Here are a few ways to deal with cravings when they strike.

Addiction and substance abuse disorders quickly engulf your life and everything you value. During active addiction, drugs and alcohol take precedence over your physical and mental health, work, and family.  One of the reasons why this may happen is that self-care is being neglected. In this article, we will cover why self-care is important during recovery.