Quitting drugs or alcohol can aggravate the emotional turmoil that leads to addiction. Withdrawal symptoms can have you feeling worse before you start to find relief on the other side of detox. Thankfully, you do not need to feel like a victim of stress and anxiety as you work toward a sober future. An anxiety treatment program at Serenity House Detox & Recovery Florida can teach you the best strategies for dealing with stress in addiction recovery so that you can stick to your path.
Call us at 866.294.5306 to learn how we can help you manage the emotional challenges that arise in recovery.
The Relationship Between Stress and Addiction
Stress and addiction work together to create a vicious cycle that deteriorates your mental and physical health. It can look something like this:
- Your boss mistreats you at work, and your customers are rude to you.
- You feel powerless to do anything because you don’t want to lose your job.
- Being at the mercy of other people’s mistreatment leaves you feeling stuck, frustrated, and depressed.
- You need relief from these negative emotions, so you turn to drugs or alcohol to numb the feelings and lift your mood.
- Substance use does not resolve the problem, so you go back to work the next day, continue to experience unhappiness at your job, and the cycle continues.
If nothing changes, your self-medication will turn into dependence, then addiction. Drugs and alcohol interact with neurotransmitters in the brain responsible for positive feelings. Your brain will depend on substances to create good feelings since they aren’t coming from other sources in your life. Over time, your brain will lose its capacity to create positive emotions naturally, making it even more challenging for you to cope with stress in your life.
Practicing healthy stress management techniques is one of the best ways to reduce your chances of misusing drugs or alcohol and developing an addiction. However, what can you do once you are already in the grips of addiction? Enrolling in an addiction treatment program is the first step to overcoming substance use disorders. Learning how to manage stress and anxiety in addiction recovery is the next step to help you maintain sobriety.
Managing Anxiety in Addiction Recovery
Since stress is one of the top contributors to substance use, managing it effectively is critical to maintaining sobriety. Stress can make you vulnerable to relapse, especially early in your recovery. As drugs or alcohol leave your body, you will experience withdrawal symptoms, and, most likely, anxiety will be among them.
To help you stay on track, here are some tips for managing stress and anxiety in addiction recovery:
- Understand what is happening in your brain during recovery. Your brain neurotransmitters are no longer stimulated by drugs or alcohol, so you may initially feel pretty lousy. Knowing this, try to be patient with the process and have faith that your brain will gradually regain its capacity to produce its own dopamine and serotonin from healthy activities.
- Take medication and speak with a therapist to address mental health disorders if needed. Managing these conditions can help alleviate stress and anxiety.
- Take time to move your body every day. Exercise relieves stress and boosts dopamine levels, which can help elevate your mood.
- Get plenty of sleep. Lack of sleep can raise levels of cortisol, your stress hormone.
- Try stress-reduction techniques like breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, and tai chi. These practices promote a calm, focused mind, making you more resilient to stress.
Anything that makes you feel good without causing harm can be a part of your addiction recovery plan. You can also incorporate other activities that bring you joy, such as spending time with loved ones, watching comedies on TV, going to the beach, or volunteering at an animal shelter or soup kitchen.
Learn How to Handle Stress in Addiction Recovery at Serenity House Detox & Recovery Florida
Stress can derail your recovery efforts, but with the help of Serenity House Detox & Recovery Florida, you can stay on track. Our anxiety treatment program provides you with the support and resources you need to enjoy emotional strength and balance as you embark on your journey to sobriety. Call us today at 866.294.5306 to enroll.
