Stress in recovery from addiction can be dangerous. Many of those who relapse after a period of abstinence blame stress for their actions. This is easy to understand as many addicts became that way in the first place because they were attempting to escape their problems. Alcoholics and drug addicts learn to deal with stress through substance abuse and when this is taken away it can be hard to cope with stressors. Life for almost everyone will involve at least a bit of stress so ex-addicts need to develop new tools to deal with it. Just ignoring the stress might well lead to cravings for alcohol or drugs and a return to self destructive behavior.
How to Deal With Stress in Recovery from Addiction
It would probably not be possible to eradicate all the stress from a recovering addict’s life but there are things they can do to improve their ability to handle it. Sometimes the best approach will be to use a variety of different stress relief tools.
Support Groups are a great help to many of those who have found their way in recovery. The ability to discuss problems with a group of people can help relieve a lot of the stress. As well as the availability of support groups directed specifically at addicts there are also groups that focus just on stress management.
Counselling may be a good choice for individuals in recovery from addiction. Here they will be able to get expert advice and more importantly have somebody to listen to their problems. A counsellor should be able to offer concrete advice to help the newly (or not so newly) sober/clean person cope better.
Relaxation techniques are a great way for improving people’s ability to handle stress and for removing tension from the body. Many ex-addicts can find it hard to do sitting meditation in early recovery but there are other options. Yoga and Tai-Chi may also be very effective for stress relief. Aerobic exercise is also praised for its ability to help people unwind.
Mindfulness techniques have been shown to help people manage stress a lot better and many addicts find this great help.
Any activity that a person enjoys can help them unwind and better handle stress. Recovery is a great time for trying new things and many individuals will return old hobbies or find new ones.
The Dangers of Failing to Deal With Stress in Recovery
Failing to deal with stress in recovery could easily lead back to alcohol and drugs; a return to addiction can mean a return to misery or even death. Removing stress completely does not seem a realistic possibility for anyone so learning to deal with it better seems the wisest option. Luckily there are many tools that those in recovery can use to help them deal with stress more effectively.
