Try These Tips Tricks And Habits: How To Stop Being Addicted To Your Phone
It can be hard for a lot of people with a cell phone addiction, or an addiction to Facebook or other social media apps, to imagine being without their phone for even a few minutes. They devote a lot of time and energy into their social media apps. If you feel anxious when youre without your phone, there are a few options that could help reduce your dependence on your device.
Learn How To Help An Addict Today
Always remember that, while your loved one needs help, you need to focus on yourself too. If you dont, their situation will add up to the personal stress you already have. This can make your relationship with them strained.
Its hard for you to help them if you develop resentment towards them. Take care of yourself by getting some good sleep, exercising, and getting support. This will make you more ready to take care of your loved one get the assistance they need.
Lastly, its important to remember that you arent alone. A lot of people struggle to learn how to help an addict recover. Know that support isnt that far off.
Do you need to help a loved one detoxify? Contact us today and well help them get started.
Codependency Keeps The Addict Sick
The issue of enabling is a symptom of a bigger issue: codependency. Codependency is the term used to describe the highly dependent relationship between two people. The hallmark of codependency is when the actions of one person enable, support, or perpetuate the destructive, irresponsible behavior of the other.
At first, codependency masquerades as being helpful. No one wants to see their loved one in pain. Your actions are intended to help your loved one to avoid hurting themselves or others. This could be something like allowing your adult child to live in your home as they try to stop using substances. Maybe you cover for your inebriated spouse when their employer calls.
Codependency sets in as these behaviors shift from being a one-off or occasional thing into being the norm. The addict develops the expectation that you will cover for or save them whenever they get into a bad situation, and you step up to the plate every time.
You might think youre helping them by keeping them from falling on their face. The truth is youre only enabling their behavior and exacerbating the issue. They have no reason to stop doing what theyre doing because they know you will step in to take care of the problem every time something goes wrong.
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Avoiding Replacement Addictive Behaviors
Some people find that when they quit or change an addictive behavior, another comes along to replace it. Heavy drinkers and smokers often find themselves overeating and putting on weight. People struggling with sex addiction might find themselves obsessed with exercise.
Addictive behaviors have similar neurological and psychological processes and create rewarding feelings and sensations. So replacement addictive behaviors are common among those trying to overcome an addiction.
The trick to avoiding replacement addictions is to find satisfaction in the experiences of normal life. These experiences may lack the intensity and high of addictive behaviors, but getting to know and like them can introduce a new level of calm you may have never experienced before.
Many people feel they are more in touch with reality and that relationships are more authentic than when they were constantly seeking pleasure.
The other important aspect of avoiding replacement addictions is to address any underlying mental health problems. Addictions can cover up past trauma, or underlying feelings of emptiness, sadness, or fear. Psychological therapies, as well as medications, can provide long-term relief for these problems, which addictions tend to worsen over time.
Why You Should Avoid Detoxing From Meth At Home
Symptoms such as severe depression, hallucinations and psychosis can easily lead you to harm yourself, and even mild withdrawal symptoms are enough to push many recovering addicts to relapse. When you detox in an addiction treatment facility you can do so safely, with as much comfort as possible, while simultaneously working on your addiction issues in ways that support long-term success.
So how long does it take to recover from addiction to meth? Expect at least a month for the complete withdrawal process. Once you have successfully detoxed, pat yourself on the back, but continue to get counseling, attend meetings, and take good care of yourself physically and emotionally. Recovery needs to be nurtured to last.
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Controlling Behavior After An Addiction
Even if your goal was to quit completely, you may decide at some point in the future that you want to be able to occasionally indulge without doing so excessively. This is possible, but it is important to be very clear about what it is you want to do.
For example, if you want to be able to have an occasional drink with friends, then you need to be able to have one drink and then stop.
Many drinkers find it easier to stay completely abstinent than to drink occasionally. If you intend to have one drink and end up having several, you should reassess your goals and what is achievable for you at this time of your life. This might be a new experience for you, and it could be liberating. It could also seem boring and difficult.
What Does Enabling Someone Mean
Enabling behavior looks a lot like helping but it isnt. When you enable someone, you give them the authority or means to do something. Behavioral therapists describe enablement as doing things for an addict that they could do for themselves if they were sober. Think of it this way: when you pay for your addicted loved ones bills, youre enabling them because they would pay their own bills themselves if they were sober.
There are four types of enabling behavior:
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Why Do Some People Become Addicted To Drugs While Others Don’t
No one factor can predict if a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:
- Biology. The genes that people are born with account for about half of a person’s risk for addiction. Gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may also influence risk for drug use and addiction.
- Environment. A persons environment includes many different influences, from family and friends to economic status and general quality of life. Factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, early exposure to drugs, stress, and parental guidance can greatly affect a persons likelihood of drug use and addiction.
- Development. Genetic and environmental factors interact with critical developmental stages in a persons life to affect addiction risk. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it will progress to addiction. This is particularly problematic for teens. Because areas in their brains that control decision-making, judgment, and self-control are still developing, teens may be especially prone to risky behaviors, including trying drugs.
Making The Decision To Change
But sooner or later, most people who have an addiction decide a change needs to happen. Once the decision is made, most people have a specific goal in mind. It might be to quit entirely, to quit some addictive behaviors or substances , to reduce the amount of time or money spent on addictive behaviors, or to reduce the harm of an addictive behavior.
For example, many drug users decide to quit heroin or meth but continue to drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes or marijuana. Many heavy drinkers have the goal of just one drink a day, or only drinking socially.
Getting clear on your goal before putting it into practice is helpful for success in changing an addictive behavior.
Although quitting entirely is the best path to wellness, reducing or eliminating the most harmful substance use is a huge improvement and will greatly reduce the harm caused.
The same is true of behavioral addictions: Anyone who decides to quit eating entirely is putting themselves at serious risk for an eating disorder. But stopping overeating and embracing a healthy diet is a healthy decision to change.
Complete abstinence from sex can be another form of sex addiction, known as sexual anorexia, yet developing healthy intimacy after a sex addiction can be greatly fulfilling. And reducing obsessive exercise to healthy levels is likely to improve health and wellness more than quitting exercise entirely.
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Am I Addicted To Weed
- Do you feel a daily or regular need to smoke up?
- Do you experience any sort of withdrawal-like symptoms when you go without marijuana?
- Do you ever think maybe you should cut back on your marijuana consumption?
- Do you crave the act of getting high or being high?
- Do you often smoke alone?
- Do you turn to marijuana when you are feeling stressed, lonely, angry, depressed or sad?
- Have you tried quitting before?
What Is An Addiction
Recognizing an addiction problem in someone you know can be harder than it seems. The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as a chronic disease that affects the brains reward, motivation, and memory functions. Someone with an addiction will crave a substance or other behavioral habits. Theyll often ignore other areas of life to fulfill or support their desires.
General signs of addiction are:
- lack of control, or inability to stay away from a substance or behavior
- ignoring risk factors, like sharing needles despite potential consequences
- physical effects, like withdrawal symptoms or needing higher dosage for effect
These signs are commonly linked. The degree of intensity for each sign may depend on how long the addiction has been going on.
A healthy person can usually identify a negative behavior and get rid of it. This is not the case with someone with an addiction. Rather than admit the problem exists, theyll find ways to justify and continue the behavior.
The first step to getting help is being able to recognize the physical, mental, and emotional signs, like abrupt weight or personality changes in your friends or family members. If you or someone you know has an addiction, call 1-800-622-4357 for free and confidential treatment referral and information from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration .
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Ways To Make Your Smartphone Less Tempting To Use
This might be the hardest thing for someone with a smartphone addiction to do. But as alluring as your mobile phone might be, setting some limits may just help. For example, you could try taking your router offline on the weekend, or change to a smaller phone that doesnt have as many bells and whistles. Putting your phone in airplane mode will remove some of its functionality and might also remove a good bit of temptation.3
If you have a particular app you just cant live without, either delete the app or move it into a folder thats not so prominently displayed on your screen. Finally, there are a lot of smartphone usage apps you can download. If you try one and see just how much time you spend on your phone, that could be a motivating factor to stop using it so much.4
Gain Support From Peers
Peer support groups for families of addicts like Al-Anon can put family members in touch with others who know a great deal about addiction, and the information shared in these meetings can be transformative. In fact, according to a 2012 Al-Anon membership survey, 88 percent of people who came to meetings for the first time reported understanding the seriousness of the addiction only after theyd attended several meetings. In other words, people who go to these meetings may not know very much about the challenges their families are facing, but if they keep going to meetings, theyll learn.
Some families go to meetings just to listen. They come to understand that other families are also dealing with this problem, and they learn how these families are focusing on success. Others go to these meetings to network. They seek out peers who have overcome nasty addiction challenges, and they ask for advice on steps that really work. Either method could be helpful. The key is to get started.
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Explore Your Addiction Treatment Options
Once youve committed to recovery, its time to explore your treatment choices. While addiction treatment can vary according to the specific drug, a successful program often includes different elements, such as:
Detoxification. Usually the first step is to purge your body of drugs and manage withdrawal symptoms.
Behavioral counseling. Individual, group, and/or family therapy can help you identify the root causes of your drug use, repair your relationships, and learn healthier coping skills.
Medication may be used to manage withdrawal symptoms, prevent relapse, or treat any co-occurring mental health condition such as depression or anxiety.
Long-term follow-up can help to prevent relapse and maintain sobriety. This may include attending regular in-person support groups or online meetings to help keep your recovery on track.
Experience Emotions Instead Of Avoiding Them
Often when we engage in addictive behaviors, it is to escape uncomfortable feelings. To fully heal, we need to confront those feelings. Instead of hiding, face down those feelings head-on. Explore issues that you are trying to cover up to gain a better sense of self-awareness.
Sakichi Toyoda, the Japanese industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries, developed the 5 Whys technique in the 1930s. The goal of 5 Whys is to uncover the root cause of a problem by continually asking why like a curious four-year-old. Something like this:
Notice how this method helps me dig deeper into the root cause of my feelings? I start from being stressed about something that seems out of my control to something that I can manage. By using this technique youll begin to feel more empowered over your life. Believe it or not, many of lifes problems can be ironed out, but the first step is addressing the problem head-on. If you keep throwing them under the rug for them to pile up youll eventually trip and fall.
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How To Not Enable An Addict: Dont Ignore The Problem
One of the reasons why knowing what to say to someone in drug treatment can be so hard at times, is because most people have no experience with substance abuse treatment and recovery. Thats why the best advice we can give anyone trying to learn how to how to stop enabling an alcoholic or drug addict is to listen to their family member, try your best to empathize with them, and let them know that you understand their situation. By expressing an interest in learning about what they are going through, you are offering them a level of understanding that can help them feel less alone, less estranged, and less ashamed of their current situation. This type of mutual understanding can really help someone open up about their drug use, the state of their recovery, and overall it can really help them prevent relapses later on by promoting an open and honest dialogue between the recovering addict and their loved ones. The best thing you can do after placing healthy boundaries and stopping what you can initial construe as enabling, is to listen to them. Talk about their problem. Check on their progress. Helping someone with their recovery is not enabling them, but ignoring the problem and giving them the means to continue using is.
Helping A Friend With Addiction
If you’re worried about a friend who has an addiction, you can use these tips to help him or her. For example, let your friend know that you are available to talk or offer your support. If you notice a friend backsliding, talk about it openly and ask what you can do to help.
If your friend is going back to drugs or drinking and won’t accept your help, don’t be afraid to talk to a nonthreatening, understanding adult, like your parent or school counselor. It may seem like you’re ratting your friend out, but it’s the best support you can offer.
Above all, offer a friend who’s battling an addiction lots of encouragement and praise. It may seem corny, but hearing that you care is just the kind of motivation your friend needs.
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