While a person is in treatment it is usually important they take charge and try to grow as they receive help with their substance abuse or mental health issue. Especially during inpatient programs, the time spent in treatment gives a break from outside responsibilities and concerns. Any time spent in treatment should be entirely focused on self-reflection and self-improvement. Specifically, there are certain aspects of recovery and self-growth that can be especially beneficial during the recovery process.
Coping Strategies
Different people may find varying results in many coping strategies. Not every person will have the same success with one strategy. The key is for an individual to find the strategy that works best for them.
Coping strategies are designed for a person to be able to disuse or manage stressful events or situations that may have previously caused them to turn towards drugs or alcohol as a result. Any method that can calm or diffuse negative thoughts or emotions for a person can be used as a beneficial coping strategy.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a method that relies heavily on building these coping strategies and focusing on how to avoid the events that may have caused a person to turn to substance use.
Examples of coping strategies include meditation, breathing exercises, physical or mental tasks to keep busy, healthy eating or lifestyle, journaling, or attending support meetings.
Patience
It should quickly become clear during the recovery process the importance patience plays in sobriety. Self-improvement and treatment is not an overnight journey and something that takes a lot of time. It may take many weeks of treatment to even find the best methods that work for a person.
Like anything, recovery takes a lot of time and effort. A month-long stay in a treatment facility is not a cure for a substance abuse disorder. Sobriety is a fight that a person needs to be engaged with every day of their lives.
While that can be frustrating at times, it is vital to not lose hope and to keep steady and calm at every turn for those in recovery from an addiction issue.
Self-Care
When a person is suffering from addiction and substance abuse, they often experience a variety of negative symptoms that affect their mood and emotional well-being. This could include feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, or worthlessness. During recovery, improving these feelings can directly lead to better chances of long-term sobriety. While therapy can be beneficial in this aspect, it is also essential for an individual to take responsibility for their well-being as well.
Meditation, physical exercise, and better eating habits have all been proven to lead to a better and happier feeling. Anytime we can do something to improve our mental health, we also make it easier to improve in other areas as well.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage your own emotions and perceive and understand the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is a crucial aspect of personal mental well-being and also beneficial in the success of one’s relationships with others.
Emotional intelligence directly relates to one’s own ability to be aware of and regulate their emotions. This is vital in the recovery process as it helps a person understand the triggers that cause their substance abuse, recognize these emotions, and find ways to cope with or avoid these situations.
People with poor emotional intelligence have difficulty understanding why they feel the way they do and therefore struggle to learn from their mistakes and may more often put themselves in troubling situations as a result.
Conflict Management
In much the same way coping mechanisms help a person deal with events that may have previously been triggering and led to substance use, conflict management is vital in avoiding certain stressors. While avoiding these stressors may be beneficial in the early stages, long-term avoidance suggests a lack of growth and inability to manage these events. This is problematic for anyone ever placed in a triggering situation that they are unable to avoid.
In these cases, it is best to learn how to deal with conflict in healthy ways. Methods of conflict resolution include emotional regulation, understanding the feelings of others, and mindful meditation.
The better an individual learns how to deal with conflict in a healthy way, the more likely they are to achieve and maintain long-term sobriety. Relapse often occurs when a sober individual is placed in a situation or experiences feelings that they are unprepared to deal with or manage in healthy ways, so they turn to substance abuse as a result. The more coping strategies a person learns and the better they become at conflict management, the less likely relapse is to occur.
At Warner Park Recovery, we’re here to help individuals and families by providing exceptional addiction treatment options. We’re a dual diagnosis (mental health combined with substance abuse treatment) program that offers partial day, intensive outpatient, and traditional outpatient levels of care. We regularly treat patients from the Woodland Hills, Calabasas, Topanga Canyon, The Valley, and Thousand Oaks areas. If you are looking for help with addiction treatment, please give us a call to learn more about our professional services!
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