Addiction: A deadly, progressive, self destructive illness that renders one helpless and systematically deteriorates all aspects of one’s life. More and more people are falling prey to the disease of addiction to various drugs or alcohol, or in today’s day and age even behavioral addictions such as gambling. But a small percentage of those people get into treatment for addiction. An even smaller percentage of people recover and go on to lead healthy lives. Addiction recovery requires a person to detox their body from their substance and through the help of psychological and pharmacological interventions, improve their quality of lives in all areas. It is not an easy journey and certainly not a pleasant one.
Many people mistakenly believe that recovery from addiction is like a destination. Once reached, it will sustain itself. People think that if they only remove their alcohol or drug from their lives, they will completely okay. But that is usually not the case. Addiction is the tip of the iceberg, underneath the waters lie a lot of psychological- emotional and cognitive factors that lead one to addiction. And until those are not worked upon, the addiction, the tip of the iceberg returns, maybe not in the form of substance dependence, but as depression, emotional issues, impulsivity and so on.
Addiction is a coping mechanism for many people. They are not okay with reality in some or the other way and do not wish to face it. Even if people say that “I drink or use to just relax or enjoy”, any compulsive intake of substance is to escape emotions, monotony, anxiety, negative thoughts or situations. So until the things that they used the substance to cope with are not resolved, the mental disturbance will continue in some or the other form. In this article, we have outlines some of the common mental health issues that creep up in recovery from addiction. Note that these are just a few of them, out here very briefly. In reality, each person faces a complicated set of issues at different times in their recovery.
- Depression
Depression is one of the most common mental health issues, not just in addiction or it’s recovery but overall. Low mood, low energy, loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities, are the hallmarks of depression. Apart from them, negative thoughts, loss of confidence, feeling worthless, helpless or hopeless, poor attention span, are some of the other symptoms of depression. Giving up a substance leaves a lot of people with a gaping void in them, which if not filled with positive and productive activities and meaning in life, can be a source of depression. De addiction breaks ones reward system down, forcing people to face life without a crutch of a substance. Hence low mood is a very common, but yet manageable mental health issue that crops up.
- Anxiety
For a lot of people, a substance becomes an escape from their own minds. Without it, the mind becomes active again, bringing to the surface a lot of ruminations, negative thoughts, predictions about the future. Addicts stop Dealing with emotions and hence they all come flooding back in when they stop consuming substance, making the mind overwhelmed and anxious. For many substances, paradoxically, anxiety itself is a long term effect of the substances. Anxiety for some can be obvious, recognisable and crippling, for some it may be an almost steady undercurrent. Anxiety comes from the need of wanting to control the future, or from wanting to change the past. Learning to deal with it may be difficult but is very vital to the recovery of the individual.
- Emotional Instability
An important part of recovery is to learn to deal with difficult emotions and process them. Anger, loneliness, shame, guilt, insecurity, resentment, fear, sadness, hurt are some of the emotions that surface during recovery, presumably after years or months of emotional suppression and avoidance. Mood swings and emotional imbalance are common and it is in fact necessary for the addict in recovery to face them and learn to process or let them go in a safe environment. Learning to regulate one’s physiological feelings, emotionally coloured thoughts, learning to be aware of subtle shifts in mood and how to navigate them, are skills to learn in recovery.
- Impulsivity
A typical trait of the disease of addiction is the impulsive or compulsive behavior that comes in drinking or using. This does not magically disappear when a person comes into recovery. Impulsive actions, reckless decisions, self centered actions without thinking of consequences, thrill seeking and risk taking behaviors, giving in to random urges, and basing your daily behavior on how ones mood is or what one feels, are all manifestations of impulsivity. A mind that is not at rest and is always in seeking mode, always feeling like its never enough is drawn towards impulsivity very easily. Learning impulse control is a major part of treatment, especially for addicts who are admitted to rehabilitation centers for alcohol or drug addiction.
- Boredom/ Lack of stimulation
The monotony of life gets to everyone at some point. Now imagine the state of an addict in recovery who has no substance to turn to. Boredom is something that can lead one to impulsivity, craving and a sense of incompleteness which can influence a lot of thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Getting used to the monotony is one aspect where we learn to accept our life the way it is. The other aspect of course is to intersperse our life with activities that keep boredom at bay or at a manageable level. Hence it is highly recommended that a person in recovery start a new hobby that serves to stimulate one’s mind. It is important to retrain our reward system and have our brain release dopamine by engaging in recreation or creative activities from time to time.
Apart from these five, there are many other issues that people face in addiction recovery such as low self esteem, pessimistic worldview, procrastination, poor work life balance, poor communication, inability to handle interpersonal relations, and many more. This is why, at ZorbaWellness Rehabilitation Center, India, we focus on psychological intervention that helps people figure out what they need to work on and how. Drug and Alcohol Addiction is a debilitating illness and it’s treatment requires professional guidance and psychotherapy, along with medical support. Clients are made to work on their negative thoughts, emotions, and to find a balanced lifestyle in which they can work on their present and even past issues. It a process that works through one’s motivation, determination, and consistency. It is useful to remember, Recovery is hard, but regret is harder!