Addiction touches the lives of everyone, including young children. In fact, it’s estimated that about 25% of children under 18 will experience the effects of a family member’s drug or alcohol addiction at some point.
Parents and caregivers often avoid talking about substance abuse with young children in an attempt to protect them, but this approach can backfire. When a child doesn’t understand why a parent, grandparent, older sibling, or loved one can’t simply stop using drugs or alcohol, this can lead to feelings of fear, guilt, anxiety, and shame. These feelings can cause problems in school, social isolation, and an increased risk of developing a substance use disorder as a teen or young adult.
Marriage is never easy, but living with a spouse’s addiction can be extremely difficult. Your spouse may be acting like an entirely different person, and you may feel lost with nowhere to turn.
Although there’s no quick fix for addiction, there’s always hope for recovery. Whether you’re trying to convince your spouse to seek treatment or you’re adjusting to life after he or she has completed residential care, there are several things you can do to support the recovery process.
Thanksgiving may be all about showing gratitude for the blessings you’ve been given, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be grateful all year long. Cultivating an attitude of gratitude can play a vital role in the recovery process.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, serenity and gratitude are viewed as the two most important ingredients for success in the 12-Step program. Although everyone’s experience is different, some of the reasons to be grateful for your newfound sobriety include:
Addiction is considered a chronic illness, which means there is always a potential for relapse. Complacency puts at risk everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve. To stay on the right track, you need to always put your sobriety first.
Making the decision to put your sobriety first doesn’t only mean abstaining from drugs or alcohol, however. At Waypoint Recovery Center’s South Carolina drug and alcohol addiction treatment center, we urge clients to take a holistic view of their recovery. With this approach, every decision you make helps support your desire to stay sober and lead a wellness-focused lifestyle.
Making any major life change can be scary, and deciding to seek treatment for drug or alcohol addiction is one of the biggest changes around. Being afraid to take the first step toward recovery is normal, but you can’t let fear hold you back. Here, we outline some of the most common fears people experience when deciding to seek treatment and explain how you can move past these fears to continue on your recovery journey.
Fear of failure is perhaps the biggest obstacle people face when deciding whether or not to seek treatment. Substance use disorders are considered chronic illnesses. Relapse is considered a normal part of the recovery process.
Support from caring friends and family is crucial in helping individuals in recovery stay sober, but knowing how to approach a friend’s drinking problem isn’t always easy. If you’re worried about your friend’s alcohol use, this article offers tips to help you express your concerns and encourage your friend to seek treatment.
Addiction is a biologically based brain disease and not the result of a lack of willpower. Someone with a substance use disorder will continue to abuse alcohol despite experiencing negative consequences. The compulsion to drink overcomes all other desires.
Essentially, mindfulness is the opposite of addiction. Mindfulness relies on a focused effort to limit the negative impact of painful feelings, while addiction simply offers a temporary escape from your problems. Mindfulness promotes accountability and personal responsibility, while addiction leads to denial and dishonesty.
Focusing on the present moment without worrying about past mistakes or what the future holds is an excellent way to lower stress, reduce anxiety, and ease depression. However, it takes time to develop this skill. We are all so used to multi-tasking and trying to be as efficient as possible that mindfulness requires a dramatic change in our way of life.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) puts patients in control of their recovery by helping them to modify dysfunctional thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. For men and women suffering from substance use disorders, CBT often plays a vital role in building the foundation for a lasting recovery.
In CBT, the therapist is part teacher and part teammate. He or she provides education to help you better understand how your thoughts affect your behaviors and emotions, then works with you to create action plans that help you achieve your recovery goals.