Thursday, April 25, 2024

Steps To Getting Over An Addiction

How Divine Love Can Heal Addictions

How to Break Your Social Media Addiction

My good friend and colleague, Robert Fritchie, Founder of The World Service Institute, has helped many people overcome addictions using Divine Love healing energy. In fact, he helped a well-known rock star who had a cocaine addiction and didnt want to risk media exposure by entering rehab!

Divine Love healing uses the Creators Love to facilitate healing. Using a Divine Love petition in which you direct your energy toward your healing, you are able to bring the Creators Love to you. It works for everyone because we are all made of energy that is influenced by our experiences and our thoughts. So just as our energy can manifest as disease, including addiction, it can be influenced to heal. Divine Love petitions give you the power to readjust your energy to maximize your health.

Set Specific Goals For Yourself

It can also be useful for you to set specific and measurable goals for yourself along your road to recovery. An example might be managing to save a certain amount of money due to not buying alcohol or spending it on gambling apps. When you reach these goals, it can provide a handy boost to your self-esteem and encourage you to keep going.

In Need Of Substance Abuse Treatment

If you or someone you love is currently battling a fight against addiction, Brookdale Addiction Recovery can help.

Through a patient-centric approach to treatment, our program will provide you or your loved with the individualized care you need to begin your liferecovered. With various treatment options and modalities, including detoxification, residential treatment, 12-Step integration, family therapy, holistic approaches and comprehensive aftercare planning, each patient receives the necessary tools to overcome substance abuse and begin living a life full of meaning and purpose.

To learn more about our program or to speak with an Admissions Specialist today, please call us at

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How Mental Health Issues Make It Harder To Quit

In many cases, individuals start using drugs and alcohol to cope with mental illness symptoms. For example, a person with bipolar disorder might use alcohol to calm down when theyre in a manic state and then use stimulants to counteract a depressive episode. In this way, mental illness and substance abuse can become tied together over time, which clinicians call co-occurring disorders. And when you decide to learn how to stop an addiction to drugs or alcohol, this can make the quitting process more complicated.

A large part of the issue is that solely quitting drugs or alcohol does not solve the problem. With an untreated mental health issue below the surface, there will always be a reason to relapse. Since drugs and alcohol serve as substitutes for coping mechanisms, removing them can make mental illness symptoms feel even worse. This is especially true if you do not have any mental health support in place when you decide to quit.

Why Is Quitting Drugs And Alcohol So Hard

How to Overcome an Addiction Using a Six Step Formula

When people first try to quit and cant, its easy to feel like theres some kind of personal failing. People may ask themselves Why arent I strong enough to quit? or Whats wrong with me? But the truth is that its normal to not know how to stop an addiction. In fact, there are many complex biological and psychological factors that make quitting so challenging.

Over time, addictive substances make gradual changes to your brains neural pathways that control feelings of success and accomplishment. This happens because each time you take these substances, they activate your brains reward system. So when you try to quit using, your brain remembers these feelings of accomplishment and starts to crave them. This can be partially responsible for the intense cravings that people receive when they try to stop an addiction.

Another major cause of trouble stopping an addiction is related to your bodys tolerance. The more you use over a long period of time, the more your body gets used to it. This is why chronic drug and alcohol users need so much of their chosen substance to get as drunk or high as they used to when they started.

Of course, continually increasing amounts used is a recipe for overdose, which is part of why substance abuse can be deadly. But lowering your tolerance can be challenging, since quitting cold turkey can lead to withdrawal symptoms. And the issues that withdrawals create can be a variety of things, including:

  • Anxiety and paranoia

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Tips For Finding The Best Drug Addiction Treatment For You

Remember that no treatment works for everyone. Everyones needs are different. Whether you have a problem with illegal or prescription drugs, addiction treatment should be customized to your unique situation. Its important that you find a program that feels right.

Treatment should address more than just your drug abuse. Addiction affects your whole life, including your relationships, career, health, and psychological well-being. Treatment success depends on developing a new way of living and addressing the reasons why you turned to drugs in the first place. For example, your drug dependency may have developed from a desire to manage pain or to cope with stress, in which case youll need to find a healthier way to relieve pain or to handle stressful situations.

Commitment and follow-through are key. Drug addiction treatment is not a quick and easy process. In general, the longer and more intense the drug use, the longer and more intense the treatment youll need. And in all cases, long-term follow-up care is crucial to recovery.

There are many places to turn for help. Not everybody requires medically supervised detox or an extended stint in rehab. The care you need depends on a variety of factors, including your age, drug-use history, medical or psychiatric conditions. In addition to doctors and psychologists, many clergy members, social workers, and counselors offer addiction treatment services.

What Is The 12 Step Program For Recovery

The following is an example of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:

  • Admit powerlessness: Admit we are powerless over alcohol, that our lives have become unmanageable.
  • Find hope: Believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  • Surrender: Decide to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him to be.
  • Take inventory: Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  • Admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human beings the exact nature of our wrongs.
  • Become ready: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  • Ask God: Humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings.
  • List amends: Make a list of all those we have harmed and make amends to them all.
  • Make amends: Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  • Continue inventory: Take a personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
  • Pray and meditate: Through prayer and meditation, we improve our conscious and connect with God. We do this to understand Him, praying only for His knowledge to give us the power to carry that out.
  • Help others: Having a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles.
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    Who Would Benefit From A 12

    Anyone motivated to recover and maintain sobriety can benefit from a 12-step program. If you regularly attend, participate and engage in meetings, youre more likely to experience success with the program. Staying involved with a 12-step group on a long-term basis helps ensure the program works for you.

    Support: Getting Help From Those Nearest You

    Get Over Phone Addiction in 4 Simple Steps (Practical Solution)

    Human beings are social animals. Our peers and intimates have an enormous impact on our perspectives and our behavior. We learn much from our parents and the groups we grow up among we act consistently with the people we associate with we respondin both positive and negative waysto those we are intimate and live with. This is true about drugs and alcohol, eating and fitness, and other addictive behaviors as much as it is in any other area of our lives.

    The process of learning from others is called social learning, or social influence. Its critical importance is one of the fundamental realities that contradict the disease view of addiction. That is, accepting the social sources of control and excess means that peoples biological reactions are not the root of addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, or food. And if social influence is the most powerful determinant of reactions to drugs and other addictive sensations or experiences, then it can also be the most powerful tool for preventing or recovering from these addictions.

    There are many ways in which people can help you to beat addiction and change behavior. You can enlist others to help motivate and support change. You may choose to associate with people who dont engage in the activity or who do so in a moderate way.

    6.1. Using Support Groups for Sobriety
    6.2. Creating Support Networks
    6.3. Family as a Support Group

    Those Closest to You Are Your Biggest Help, and Your Greatest Burden

    6.4. Codependency

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    Stage : Active Recovery And Maintenance

    As addiction is a chronic and progressive brain disease, there is no way to completely cure it. Instead, the most that can be done is to help a person overcome their substance abuse and provide them with the necessary tools to maintain abstinence on a daily basis. Up until this point, the addict and staff at a rehab facility have been working towards this goal. By the time Stage 5 begins, the individual will have put in much effort to overcome their substance use disorder and have received the necessary tools to begin recovery.

    Recovery is an active process however, which means that it will be ongoing for the rest of the individuals life. The temptation to use drugs or drink alcohol may always be a possibility and recovering individuals must learn how to address their thoughts and behaviors that influence their addiction. This can sound like a daunting task, but thankfully over time and with the help they received during rehab, they will be better prepared to manage it than ever before.

    Stay Away From Temptations That Help Feed Your Addiction Or Bad Habits

    Staying away from temptations is a lot easier than you think. You contribute to your addiction or bad habits when you put yourself in familiar places where your triggers are present. The world is full of fun activities you dont have to be limited to a bar or a pill to have a good time. If your friends try forcing you to come out and drink or do drugs with them while you are attempting to get sober, then be honest and upfront with them. Good friends will help you achieve your goal, not set you backwards.

    How bad do you want to be successful at breaking a bad habit and forming a positive one? Use that strength to remove temptations from your life. Certain people also trigger giving into our habits. Avoiding these people and their influence is the best solution to getting away from any triggers they may cause. Out of sight, out of mind.

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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.

    Affordable Online Therapy

    Nearly 3 Million people have turned to BetterHelp for professional online therapy. Take the quiz and get matched with a therapist that fits your needs.

    Need urgent help? .

    Start Breaking A Bad Habit And Forming A New One

    Prevent Overdose

    Shaping our everyday activities and even how we feel about ourselves, habits can either make you or break you. New Years resolutions are similar to trying to break a habit. We have a goal in mind, we prepare tools to help us succeed, and we make an effort to keep up the goal. So why do most New Years resolutions and attempts at breaking a bad habit fail?

    Willpower and strength to stay away from temptations decreases. As a result, motivation generally decreases, leaving us caving into our past and forgetting all about our goals.

    Dreams of reaching the finish line are also given up so easily. Say you want to start eating healthier. You start to eat fruits and vegetable every day for two days. On the third day, someone brings donuts into the office. Can you have one? You have been doing so good so one donut wont hurt, right? All it takes is being okay with that one donut for you to be okay with ice-cream later on and then pizza for a midnight snack. Considering you are eating vegetables, you are okay with having the donut because you are still eating healthy at other times.

    Achieving goals and forming new habits dont work this way.

    Caving in is all too easy when you are comfortable where you are. You give up trying to reach a goal because it seems unreachable or you are satisfied with something in-between where you are at the moment and the goal you are trying to reach.

    Try Online Therapy

    Take the quiz and get matched with a therapist.

    • Access to Therapy 24/7

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    Tips For Cutting Down Or Stopping Your Drug Use

    If youre worried about your drug use, and want to make some positive changes, were here to help.

    Addressing your drug use can help you to be happier, safer and healthier. Here are some steps you can take.

    It can be hard to take that first step and take a look at your drug use, but it can have a big impact on how healthy and happy you are.

    Any drug can become problematic, whether its cocaine, prescription painkillers or cannabis. You dont have to be taking drugs every day for it to be an issue, either. Dependence on a drug can be physical, psychological or both.

    You might have noticed that you cant do everyday things without using first, or maybe you have experienced some kind of withdrawal when youre not using.

    Other people might have seen a change in your behaviour, or you might have started taking risks that put your health or safety in danger.

    Whatever the reason, change is possible with the right support.

    Set Goals And Prepare For Change

    Once youve made the decision to change, the next step is establishing clear drinking goals. The more specific, realistic, and clear your goals, the better.

    Example #1: My drinking goal

    • I will stop drinking alcohol.
    • My quit date is __________.

    Example #2: My drinking goal

    • I will stop drinking on weekdays, starting as of __________.
    • I will limit my Saturday and Sunday drinking to no more than three drinks per day or five drinks per weekend.
    • After three months, I will cut back my weekend drinking even more to a maximum of two drinks per day and three drinks per weekend.

    Do you want to stop drinking altogether or just cut back? If your goal is to reduce your drinking, decide which days you will drink alcohol and how many drinks you will allow yourself per day. Try to commit to at least two days each week when you wont drink at all.

    When do you want to stop drinking or start drinking less? Tomorrow? In a week? Next month? Within six months? If youre trying to stop drinking, set a specific quit date.

    Affordable Online Therapy

    Nearly 3 Million people have turned to BetterHelp for professional online therapy. Take the quiz and get matched with a therapist that fits your needs.

    Need urgent help? .

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    Replace Your Old Habits With New Similar Ones

    Finding something similar to your bad habit can help you easily replace it. If you only have the choice to give into your habit or stay at an equilibrium, your habit will likely influence your choosing. If you have two choices, one new choice and one old choice, you have a better chance at picking the new choice that will help you form a positive habit since it puts you at an elevated level compared to where you were before.

    For example, when someone who uses drugs feel stressed, they are more inclined to use the drugs than to not use the drugs and deal with stress on their own. Using the drugs puts them at a higher point than before but not using keeps them at the same stressful level. Instead, if you have the option to use drugs or go for a walk to get rid of stress you might pick going for a walk since the walk will likely de-stress your mind and body and put you at a better state than before.

    If you drink alcohol when going out with friends and want to get sober, try a new non-alcoholic drink. You will still enjoy having something in your hand and tasting a good drink , but this time it wont be giving into your bad habit. As you start to replace your bad choices with better choices, you will likely reach for the better choice first, without even contemplating it!

    How To Break An Addiction: A Guide To Overcoming Addiction

    How to Get Over a Drug Addiction

    If you are struggling with addiction, its crucial to remember that addiction to drugs or alcohol is not a character flaw, a weakness, or a moral failing substance use disorders are chronic mental health conditions characterized by an inability to control your drug or alcohol use. While the decision to first use drugs or alcohol is often voluntary, repeated problematic use may be accompanied by brain changes that ultimately make it very difficult for some people to quit using the substance. Fighting addiction is not a matter of willpower or desire its a matter of recognizing a problem and seeking help.1

    Just as every person is unique, the manner in which you go about recovering from addiction must be unique and tailored to your specific needs to be optimally effective. If you want to know how to heal from substance abuse issues, and co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety, you should understand that it may take time and persistence to recover, but recovery is well worth the effort. Taking back control of your life and starting the path to recovery is one of the best things you can do for your overall health and wellbeing. If youve chosen to recover from substance abuse issues, weve prepared various methods and tips to assist you in your decision.

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