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Forgiveness is a term we hear often in our society. It is a necessary step toward healing wrongs and repairing relationships. Forgiveness plays a huge role in addiction recovery as well. There are many others that have been hurt by your addiction-controlled actions and it is important to find forgiveness among those you have wronged. It is also important for you to forgive those that have wronged you, and let go of past mistakes that might have led to your addiction. Another type of forgiveness that is imperative is self-forgiveness in addiction recovery. You will always have to live with yourself, and true recovery will not come until you are ready to forgive yourself for your addiction.

Overcoming Guilt will Help You Forgive Yourself

Anyone who has suffered with addiction feels a deep sense of guilt and shame. This is normal. You are embarrassed and ashamed of your actions. You know you have hurt others by your words, broken promises, and lies. It might be difficult for you to ask for forgiveness. In fact, you might not think you deserve it because of the chaos you have caused, but you will not be able to heal broken relationships or achieve recovery until you forgive yourself.

Self-forgiveness in addiction recovery comes through understanding of addiction and getting to the heart of the substance use. You need to face the thoughts and emotions that led to addiction, and learn how to change them when necessary. Admit what you have done wrong, but then let those guilty thoughts go and don’t dwell on them. Overcoming guilt means allowing yourself to put those wrongs in the past and only look toward reshaping the future.

Self-forgiveness takes time, but it is a necessary part of your recovery. You don’t have to carry the weight of your guilt on your own. Find self-forgiveness through residential treatment, support groups or faith-based programs which will help you find peace and the hope of a new life.

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If you have been struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction and are ready to make a change in your life, you first need to give up your substance, and then commit to a life of sobriety. Staying sober is not always easy, but with the right kind of help, you can accomplish this worthy goal.

Withdrawal is the first step toward recovery, but withdrawing from a substance is not enough. You must also develop the skills to lead a sober life. A treatment program designed to help you get to the heart of your addiction and help you heal all areas of your life is the best way to achieve sobriety. There are many types of therapies that can help you understand your addiction and work through the emotional and psychological areas of your life in which you struggle. Therapy is the foundation for a life free from substances, and by continuing to apply what you learn in treatment, you can learn how to stay sober.

Three Tips to Stay Sober

 Staying sober is definitely possible with some hard work and planning. Below are some tips to help you stay sober.

1. Stay connected to others. One of the fastest ways to relapse is to pull away from family, friends, and the recovery community. In order to stay sober and avoid relapse, continue with therapy sessions, participate in support group meetings, and accept the encouragement of family and friends. These people all want to see you succeed and can provide you with reasons to stay sober when you are feeling low.
2. Focus on your health. Once you’ve kicked your addiction, you should continue to focus on your health. Living a sober life is easier when you make wellness a priority. Eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and develop stress-management techniques to help maintain your sobriety.
3. Take it one day at a time. You will have days that are a struggle. Going from a life of addiction to a sober life is not always an easy transition, but by knowing this and by being willing to take it one step at a time, you will find that a sober life is fun and fulfilling.

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When looking for a treatment facility, many individuals and families feel overwhelmed, and this often leads people to either get the wrong kind of help or not get help at all. If you need treatment for alcoholism, be sure to know your needs and options so you can find the right facility. Alcohol detox can be dangerous, and it is important to find a detox center that is qualified and experienced in treating alcohol withdrawal.

Withdrawal from drugs or alcohol is never an easy process, but substances like alcohol can cause life-threatening complications in certain patients. Normal side effects of alcohol withdrawal include:

• Anxiety
• Nausea
• Headache
• Irritability
• Sweating
• Increased heart rate

Sometimes a more serious condition occurs, called delirium tremens, which is characterized by:

• Extreme confusion
• Hallucinations
• Seizure
• Tremors

Inpatient Alcohol Detox is the Safest Method for Alcohol Withdrawal

The best method for treating alcohol withdrawal is through an inpatient alcohol detox program. An inpatient program will provide supportive care to manage your pain, discomfort, and insomnia, but it also puts skilled medical staff in place in case there are complications to your withdrawal. Safety should be the number one concern when looking for an alcohol detox facility.

Also important is a program that can provide support and healing as you begin to rebuild your life without addiction. Even as withdrawal is being completed, you should be focusing on your determination to live without alcohol. You will need to develop certain skills that will help you manage cravings and triggers to drink, and this can and should happen as detox is finishing up. Look for a detox program that can help you transition into therapy right after withdrawal.

There are certain things you don’t want to do alone, and detoxing from alcohol is one of those things. Leave it to the experts to ensure your safety, and for your best chance at success.

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Prevention Works, Treatment Works, People Do Recover

A variety of government agencies have come together to bring public awareness to the importance of treatment and prevention for mental and substance abuse disorders during the month of September, which is National Recovery Month. The message: prevention works, treatment works and people do recover. National Recovery Month calls for the visibility of those who have found recovery and are willing to talk about it.

While mental and substance abuse disorders have been cause for shame and cover-up in the past, today SAMHSA encourages recovered individuals to come forward and speak up for recovery. To get in on the action around National Recovery Month and boost personal recovery through service to others, here are some suggestions for those who have experienced recovery first-hand and who can pass along viable information and genuine encouragement.

10 Ways to Celebrate National Recovery Month

• Make sure family and friends are aware of the extent of mental illness and substance abuse within their communities. Talk about what it means to recover.
• Ask to do a presentation at a local PTA group, making sure that parents are aware, that recovery is possible and that they know the options for finding help.
• Get together with a few friends and put on a National Recovery Month event – a movie, a short community walk, a party or something bigger – maybe local sponsors would be willing to support the event. Publicize it.
• Write a press release or op-ed piece and send it to the right person at a local news outlet.
• Attend and support National Recovery Center activities in the community.
• Make an announcement on Sunday morning at church. Ask to put the announcement in the church bulletin.
• Use social media to publicize National Recovery Month.
• Pass out fliers and brochures; ask if you can leave them in doctor’s offices, the church lobby, or on the community bulletin boards of local retailers.
• Sponsor a recovery night at your home with a couple of recovering individuals and a video that highlights the possibilities for recovery.

Most important:

• Go to https://recoverymonth.gov/ for a Recovery Month tool kit that will provide everything needed for making the above activities happen.

Self-pity plays a part in the negative thinking patterns of substance abusers, and their family members tend to pick up the habit right along with them. As the grip of addiction takes hold, it sets a downward spiral of self-pity and depression in motion. Alcohol and many other drugs are depressants, which not only contribute to but also compound the problem. Self-pity often presents itself in the form of blame. Alcoholics and drug addicts who feel sorry for themselves because of the mess they are making of their lives blame everything and everyone outside of themselves.

• “If you had a (wife, husband, mother, father) like mine, you would drink, too.”
• “If your boss treated you like mine does, you would drink, too.”
• “It’s too hard for me to make friends unless I go out drinking with people.”
• “I can’t face the stress of my day without some wine to calm me down.”

With this kind of negative thinking in place, addicts and alcoholics not only refuse to take responsibility for their actions, they build up a storehouse of excuses in order to give themselves permission to continue drinking and using.

Families Not Immune To Negative Thinking And Self-Pity

Families of addicts and alcoholics are caught in an emotional whirlwind. They often believe the lies their loved ones tell them when they are under the influence. They fall into despair because they cannot fix the problem for the one they love. They make themselves sick with worry. This turmoil affects the self-esteem of every individual in the family. Low self-esteem breeds even more negativity. When family members feel victimized, they cannot see their way clear of the situation they are in. They cannot seem to find a solution, and their despair mounts. Only when family members detach themselves emotionally from the addict’s behavior can they begin to recover.

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Everyone experiences fear in facing the unknown. Alcoholics and addicts, however, have the general tendency and uncanny ability to take that fear to a whole new level. They can go from zero to 60 in a heartbeat when it comes to projecting the worst possible scenario in any situation.

The depths of those fears may be subconscious and not verbalized, but fear can trigger the urge to drink or use drugs. This kind of impulsive negative thinking can happen in everyday situations, such as misplaced keys. Addictive thinking goes almost immediately to visions of someone stealing the car and, along with it, our wallet and every piece of identification, which we left on the seat. Thinking in fear can send an alcoholic or addict into a tailspin.

The popular recording star Macklemore, who recently shared his journey into relapse in a Celebrity News article, said fear began to overwhelm him, which led him back into negative thinking and destructive habits. Fortunately, he has returned to a program of recovery, but not everyone makes it back. The best relapse prevention is learning how to stay in the moment and avoid projecting fear into unknown situations.

Managing Feelings Of Fear Helps Prevent Relapse

People in recovery soon come to learn and accept that they have no control over other people and over life situations. No one goes through life without difficult decisions, loss of loved ones and other tragedies.

The gift of recovery is learning how to face those circumstances and the fear that accompanies them. Recovery gives alcoholics and addicts the tools to stop seeing themselves as victims and to choose how they are going to react to people and situations.

By staying in the present and by giving up the irrational desire to control other people and life situations, we actually gain power. We gain the power to choose our actions and let the outcome be what it will. Call us today, and our professional staff will be happy to talk with you about the process of letting go of fear.

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Heroin use increased 63% over the past decade. Correspondingly, there has been a rapid increase in heroin overdose deaths. The number of heroin overdose deaths nearly doubled between 2011 and 2013, and in 2013 more than 8,200 people died from the narcotic. Overdoses have nearly quadrupled since 2002, the officials said.

These findings were published in the July 7 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surprisingly, the biggest increases in heroin use in recent years were found in groups that typically aren’t expected to go near the drug, including women, people with private insurance and higher-income individuals, the report said.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said, “Heroin use is increasing at an alarming rate in many parts of society. And the problem is being driven by both the prescription opioid epidemic and cheaper, more available heroin.” “It’s really a one-two punch,” Frieden said during a media briefing. “Those two factors are driving the increase, and will drive the strategies we need to pursue to turn this around.”

“This expansion of heroin use can be largely chalked up to an earlier wave of prescription opioid drug abuse, including such drugs as Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet”, said Brad Lander, an addiction medicine specialist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The majority of opioid prescriptions have been prescribed to women and wealthy with private insurance.

CDC officials stated that states can play a leading role in reversing the heroin epidemic, by increasing access to substance-abuse treatment services. The CDC urged states to also make prescription-monitoring programs easier for doctors and pharmacists to use. States also should review their Medicaid and workers’ compensation programs to identify trends of inappropriate prescribing, the CDC said.

“In the meantime, addiction treatment — rather than law enforcement or new legislation — will be the best way to minimize the harm from heroin abuse”, Lander said.

At Above it All Treatment Center our alcohol and drug addiction treatment approach empowers individuals to immerse themselves in life, and overcome their addictions in the process. Counselors are standing by at [phone].

Professional athletes handle many pressures such as being in the spotlight, the pressures of performance, and huge pressures from sponsors and advertisers. It’s no wonder they think they are immune to the dangers of alcohol and drug addiction. The “I can handle it” attitude has brought many an athlete to addiction. This attitude coupled with the immediate availability of nearly anything they could think of is a dangerous combination.

As these players carry the burdens of the game, the dangers and pressures of the party atmosphere might seem quite minor. Truth be told, addiction has affected many athletes. Athletes such as, Thomas (Hollywood) Henderson, Lawrence Taylor, Jennifer Capriati, Darryl Strawberry, Diego Maradona, Andre Agassi, Jon Daly, Len Bias, and Theo Fleury.  More recently Johnny Manziel, Michael Phelps and Randy Gregory’s have had drug and alcohol issues.  Each of these athletes has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to their addiction.

One thing that these athletes have in common is their competitive streak, which can keep them from asking for help. They look at asking for help as a weakness. Alcoholics and addicts are plagued with the thinking that they are unique and special and that they can handle it. Asking for help isn’t part of the identity athletes construct for themselves and have others build around them.

These athletes could benefit from a shift in thinking. Addiction is a health issue, not a moral issue. Elite athletes have to take great care with their bodies, as their bodies are their instruments and their source of income. They spend many hours each week in training, practice, fine-tuning, and caring for their instrument. If they can lessen the odds, there’s a greater chance of actually enjoying the success that they’ve worked so hard for. After all, addiction is a not a game that can be won.

Above it All is a comprehensive addiction rehabilitation center committed to helping individuals and their loved ones understand addiction and gain mastery over it. Intake counselors are available right now. Call us today [phone].

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