Treatment centers are implementing an extremely helpful resource in their work with addicts – recovery coaches. Many treatment centers across the country employ, and were founded by, people who are in recovery themselves, who have successfully worked to heal from their addictions and who are uniquely qualified to be able to help other people do […]
Category: Therapy
Why Do We Fear Treatment?
When we’re facing recovery, there are many things we’re afraid of. We fear abstaining from our drug of choice. We fear withdrawal. Why do so many of us fear getting help? When it could help us succeed in our recovery, why are we so resistant to seeking out support? Many of us have been conditioned […]
How Is Treatment Beneficial?
When addiction has become our way of life, we can be hesitant to consider getting professional help. Treatment can be extremely beneficial to our recovery, though, when we are open to it. Many of us have been in denial for years, trying to convince ourselves and others that we don’t have a problem. We might […]
The Benefits of Therapy
When we’re approaching the recovery process, one of the things we fear most is having to commit to the self-reflection we know will help us heal on a deeper level. We’re afraid of feeling the emotional pain that comes with healing. We’re afraid of having to do this with a stranger, in therapy, which can […]
Allowing Ourselves to be Supported
Learning how to allow ourselves to receive help and support can be a real challenge for many of us. We’re often used to doing things alone and have become fiercely independent. We might be prideful and think of accepting help as a sign of weakness. We might feel so alone and isolated that we’ve come […]
Changing Our Self-Talk to Be More Self-Loving
A powerful self-love practice we can implement in our lives is to start monitoring our self-talk. Very often the ways in which we think, feel and speak about ourselves is unconscious. We aren’t aware of just how self-hating we’ve become. Sometimes a concerned loved one will tell us to stop talking about ourselves in such […]
Learning to Feel Our Emotions
The ways in which we handle our emotions are often extremely toxic for our mental, emotional and physical health. Many of us have a very bad habit of suppressing our emotions. We avoid wanting to feel them, so we bury them, distract ourselves from them and deny them. When we suppress our emotions, often it’s […]
Handling Feelings of Hopelessness
Addiction, just like depression, can rob us of our hopefulness, our joy and our optimism. We can feel totally stripped of our faith and depleted of our energy. We might have had plans for the future, ambitions we held close to our hearts, things we felt hopeful about. Addiction can take all of that away. […]
Healing our Inner Demons
The term “inner demons” refers to the issues and worries in our lives, the troubling and distressing thoughts we find ourselves most plagued by. Our inner demons often cause a tremendous amount of anxiety and stress. Sometimes we obsess about them and experience recurring thoughts that we feel consumed by. Our thought patterns can become […]
Holding onto Shame
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Living with addiction means we’re often holding onto many years’ worth of suppressed emotions. One of the most destructive and debilitating emotions that we hold onto is shame. We all make mistakes and have regrets that we […]