Fear Of Relapse Builds Roadblocks, Not Bridges

Fearing Relapse Can Cause More Harm Than Good | Transcend Texas

Recovery isn’t a very linear process. Like life itself, there are going to be several ups and downs, times when you feel better and when you feel worse. There’s a saying that there are days like rocks and days like diamonds. And no matter what you do, the nature of addiction is that often enough we’re either left with emotional burdens that plague us for months and years after the fact, or they were with us all along, masked by the artificial highs.

On our best of days, we don’t even think about the times when feeling better meant clinging to a form of addiction. Perhaps it’s because of a good day at work, or time spent with family, or a new personal goal. But on the worst of days, fear is the best descriptor for what is dominating your brain. The fear of relapse. The fear that you’re not strong enough to withstand the temptation. The fear that you can’t handle life without the courage that your former addiction gives you. Fear that you’re inadequate, that you’re not deserving of all the good you’ve been getting, that you’re damned to some karmic fate of negativity and that you’re going to pay horribly for every ounce of enjoyment and positivity since rehab.

A big part of overcoming the need to go back to drugs isn’t just fighting the changes addiction perpetrates in the brain, but tackling the fact that for many addiction is a way to escape emotional pain and self-judgment. Yet addiction provably furthers a person’s emotional issues. It’s a short-term solution – like shooting yourself in the foot to overcome the pain of a headache. With time, you’ll have a brand new and bigger issue to worry about.

The fear of relapse is ultimately rooted in the fact that you feel there is still a need for drugs in your life. Beyond the grasp that addiction has on you physically – a grasp that is largely addressed by detoxification and post-detox rehabilitation – it’s the emotional and psychological with which so many struggle. To improve your chances of avoiding relapse, you’ll have to rob your addiction of its ability to help you in any way. Here’s where the fight against fear becomes real.

Address Your Emotional Needs Immediately

Rehabilitation will typically help you struggle through the first immediate hurdle in addressing addiction – the physical and emotional pain of withdrawal and detoxification. After that, rehab centers often work to provide you with the tools needed to continue your recovery far past your rehab experience. But many struggle to do so.

After rehab, everything will be different. If you had severe drug problems, then you’ll find yourself struggling with work, with maintaining a clean home, with finding new friends, with dealing with everyday tasks all while having to deal with the fact that every instance of emotional pain or discomfort reminds you of how much easier everything would be and how much better you’d feel if you decided to break sobriety. Just once more, for old times’ sake.

It’s a difficult learning curve, and the initial growing pains of getting out of the sheltered and healing environment of rehab and being thrust back into the real world with total sobriety can be, well. A massive challenge. Therefore, your priority needs to be to learn to deal with your feelings without invoking your addiction. Some people succeed best at this by learning with others, in a sober living environment, group therapy program, or within a community of recovering individuals. Others need a powerful motivator that forces them to reject any form of non-sobriety, and learn the hard way. It’s not on anybody to tell you how to best deal with this – but tools like meditation, exercise, comedy and creative expression are all provably helpful.

Learning How to Manage Your Fear

Stress management is a huge part of overcoming addiction, and mental illness as well. And because issues like anxiety and depression so often tie into examples of addiction, stress management and the therapeutic tools used by both patients and professionals can be a huge boon to struggling addicts looking to improve their chances at long-term recovery.

Fear is a form of anxiety. Many fear-based mental illnesses are on the spectrum of anxiety disorders. Now, that doesn’t mean fear is unnatural – it’s integral, even. Fear is a motivator. But the point of fear is also to eliminate the need for it. The longer you disprove your fear, the more it realizes it doesn’t have to exist, because the danger isn’t there. In other words, the best way to fight your fear of relapse is to spend your time eliminating the chances of relapse.

The Fight Goes On

They say that addiction is a long-term battle – but it would be more accurate to describe recovery as a long-term goal. You won’t ever just completely get rid of your chance to relapse. For some, struggling with addiction may be easier than for others. Now and again, there are success stories about people getting their life back in shape with few hurdles along the way, and then there are stories about people struggling with addiction for the rest of their lives. Whether you need group therapy, medication, meditation or half a dozen other treatment options is entirely individual, and some work better for you than they might for others.

But a universal part for all recovering addicts is that sobriety is something you must work to maintain. There simply is not a point in life where you become immune to addiction – rather, you can work towards increasingly improving your ability to process emotions, temper your feelings, and react measuredly to all situations. Some might say it is our obligation as people to continuously improve deep into our twilight years. We only have so much time, why not make the best of it?

 

Fighting Against The Stigma Of Addiction

Fighting Against The Stigma Of Addiction | Transcend Texas

Addiction is a chronic brain disease, which is often defined by its pathological inability to stop consuming drugs or alcohol. Even with certain dangers or health risks, people with a substance addiction continue to use. Numerous elements like psychological, social, and chemical components make addiction very difficult to permanently break.

Addiction and Shame

Substance abuse is often hidden in secrecy and shame and can become further enmeshed in denial, when a person is confronted. However, addiction becomes more severe the longer a person has it and the longer they deny it.

Cultural and societal factors often exacerbate addiction due to the shame surrounding it. According to psychologist Mary Lamias, Ph.D.:

“Shame informs you of an internal state of inadequacy, unworthiness, dishonor, or regret about which others may or may not be aware.”

Shame is a powerful emotion. And its influence matters a great deal, though most people won’t admit it. An individual’s sense of self can often be regulated (or harmed) by shame. The more culture creates a sense of shame and negativity about addiction, the more people will look at themselves as being unworthy or broken. They may hide their addiction and their need for help even more.

As the inner workings around addiction continue to be misunderstood, shame becomes stronger and buried deeper. The majority of addiction is rooted in shame, which is why many individuals fear to be vulnerable and ask for help. This is a major roadblock to recovery.

Typically, when addicts are at the cusp of seeking and starting treatment several things have happened. They have had huge conflicts with family and friends, they have been terminated from their job, or (on the more severe end) they have been caught committing a crime to support their habit. At this point, an intervention occurs – which is conducted by a licensed drug and alcohol counselor, and the individual often has no choice but to commit to treatment.

Even in the face of an intervention, addicts may have trouble admitting their addiction because of how they will be viewed or because they may feel ashamed of what they did while they were under the influence.

Understanding the Origins of Addiction

The origins of an addiction are based in toxic shame. Whether it is neglect, abandonment, or abuse of any kind, if it occurred for a prolonged period of time there are definite correlations between that trauma and addiction. Addicts need to understand those past factors as a way to understand the complete picture. For so long, they probably avoided or suppressed that pain. But in order to move on, they must face it head on.

The Stigma of Addiction

People who do not have experience with knowing someone with an addiction problem, have negative stereotypes of what addiction looks like. Sometimes people connect it with homelessness or abusive homes. While this may be true in certain instances, there is no definitive portrait for what a recovering substance abuser looks like or what their circumstances might be. Research shows that addiction may develop because of a combination of reasons like DNA, environmental factors, past history, and chemical imbalances to name a few. Addiction can affect anyone.

However, the stigma around people who turn to drugs or alcohol is negative and damaging. Most people don’t seek help because they are afraid of the stigma of being defined and labeled. It’s summarized best in the snippet below from this article by the The Fix:

“Stigma is what says your drug and alcohol use is a character flaw. It’s why you would rather lie than tell someone that you are not doing okay. It was why I would rather steal than let people know I needed help.”

People who do not any idea about what addiction entails may think that addicts have no self-control. Sometimes they are thought of as selfish or weak. For instance, if a celebrity appears in the news for entering a rehabilitation program, the public consensus is rarely, I wonder if he or she is okay?

The negativity around addiction is pervasive in today’s culture. One of the ways to fight that stigma is to talk frequently, openly, and honestly about personal struggles and stories about addiction and recovery. Non-profit outlets like Stigma Fighters, provide an outlet for people write it all down, either anonymously, with a pen name, or with your real name. They provide a safe place to release shame and fight stigma about mental illness. Writing or journaling has also been shown to have powerful healing effects.

People create a strong sense of understanding when they are forthcoming with their struggles. Discussing reasons for turning to substance abuse may shed light on interpersonal relationships and the origins of a serious mental illness.

Pushing Back Against Shame and Stigma

Addicts who feel shame from the stigma of addiction can do a lot to become more resilient in recovery. Connect with others. Create a circle of support. No one will understand your journey more than fellow peers in sober living. Growing a network of healthy and sober individuals will help you develop strength not only for when you leave recovery, but also for your work as an independently recovering addict in the future.

Your strength lies in your story and understanding. Empathy is an important lesson often learned in therapy and 12 Steps meetings. There you have the opportunity to listen, be heard, and share. Compassion and empathy from these experiences help eliminate personal shame and fight the stigma you may have buried beneath about what it means to be an addict. There should be no shame surrounding your experiences. Mistakes are part of being human, but so is the chance to rectify things and look towards the future.

Sharing Your Story

Confronting trauma is a way to heal from the inside out. In doing so, you get to the root cause of your disorder and you face the very origins that made you feel like you couldn’t handle it, when instead you had to turn to something else to numb the pain.

But that is in the past. Fight for your sobriety by sharing your story with others. Don’t waste a second in therapy. Speak openly and honestly with your therapist and in group sessions. By releasing your past pain, you fight the stigma of addiction by showing the resiliency of recovery. Fearlessly telling your story without hesitation, frees you and empowers others to do the same.

A Roadblock to Recovery: The Stigma of Addiction

A Roadblock to Recovery: The Stigma of Addiction | Transcend Texas

For many, stigma can be the one obstacle that keeps them from getting sober. And understandably so. Stigma is the judgment society places on people and behavior. In addition to judging addicts, society also tends to judge those with a mental illness. Yet, people tend to judge that which they do not understand.

Fortunately, there are those who are fighting to reduce the effects of stigma. They recognize that the stigma of addiction can prevent someone from calling for the help they need. They recognize that people might fear reaching out for support because they don’t want to be judged by family, friends, coworkers, or community members. For these reasons, there are many individuals and organizations who are working hard to break through stigma.

One way to reduce the effects of trauma is to send the message that the length and quality of life is much more important than what others think. Although it’s sometimes difficult to ignore the judgment of others, here are five actions you should consider taking for moving past stigma and getting the help you need.

Recognition

Recognize that you need help to get sober. Often, a stigma may not get in the way until you’re faced with the challenge of calling for help. It’s then you’ll have to admit that you’re struggling with an addiction. And once you’re getting the support you need, you might not like the idea of having to talk about the difficulties you’ve faced. Yet, despite the judgments and opinions of others, a recovering addict finds help by admitting that he or she needs assistance with breaking through the barrier of addiction.

Connection

Connect with others who once struggled with the stigma of addiction and moved through it. When you’re at the beginning of your journey, the stigma of addiction might feel the strongest. However, once you’re past that point and you’ve made connection with others, it’s likely that you’ll hear that the stigma is no longer an issue. Forming relationships with others can be a significant part of pushing through stigma and finding support for your sobriety.

Attention

Keep your attention on your recovery. If you’re past the beginning stages of recovery and you’re still feeling the stigma of addiction, place your focus on your sobriety and recovery goals. A common beginning goal to sobriety is 90 days sober. Staying focused on this goal can help you break through the effects that the stigma of addiction might have on your life.

Preparation

Make a plan for your recovery. Remember that the journey of recovery is about you and not anyone else. If the stigma of addiction continues to get in the way, shift your focus on where you are now in your recovery and where you want to be. Having a long-term plan can help plant the seed in your mind that at some point in the future you’ll be sober and free of the struggles of addiction.

Participation

Participate in community events aimed at breaking the stigma of substance use addictions. Frequently, there are community organizations holding events that help break down the stigmas of mental illness and substance abuse. Participating in these events can bring the company of those who have seen past the barrier of a stigma.

These are suggestions for moving past stigma. Although it can be hard to ignore what others think, it’s possible to move past that in order to save a life – your own or someone you love!