Addiction Recovery: Action Steps Part III

In parts one and two, I wrote about asking for help, then taking the actions to learn about addiction and addiction recovery and accepting the severity of the problem. This preliminary process hopefully leads to some level of commitment. There are basically three motivators to change: the weakest motivator is submission to pressure; a stronger motivator is calculation that a person can save money, advance at work, improve a relationship, etc.; the strongest motivator is commitment. Commitment is the desire to recover no matter if things get worse before they get better. 

The ultimate goal is commitment, but the idea is to get started whether the motivation is strong or not. Developing a plan consists of identifying the obstacles to recovery, such as breakdown in communication with significant others, psychologically craving the drug, anger issues, anxiety, depression, frightening legal problems, etc. Once the problems are identified, there are objectives to develop and interventions with flexible time frames to make sure actions are taken to deal with each problem.

If anxiety, for instance, is something that’ll likely lead to relapse, if not dealt with, then a plan of action is developed to deal with the problem. With anxiety, using this example, first a professional needs to determine if the anxiety is situational or biological. Most people in recovery experience anxiety in the beginning and have had anxiety problems for a long time, but it’s usually because the consequences of addiction are anxiety producing. When a person is on the verge of a major life change such as early recovery, not knowing what to expect and feeling anxious is normal. But, if the anxiety is biological and a co-existing condition with addiction, then it might need medication-assisted treatment and long term therapy. Let’s say the anxiety is caused by addiction, then the person will learn meditation techniques and will talk about their feelings in individual and group sessions until recovery has created more self-esteem, confidence that recovery is real and, consequently, peace of mind.

The point, though, is to develop a plan of action to start dealing with each identified problem through therapeutic interventions. Some problems are determined to be short term, and others are long term, so the interventions should be timed to appropriately deal with the problem. If you try to deal with some problems too soon, it can overwhelm you and become too stressful. This is where professional help is very useful, timing — knowing how to deal with problems in a way that doesn’t become too overwhelming or counter-productive. Learning coping skills and establishing a foundation in recovery would likely come before fully addressing a deep-rooted, traumatic experience.

The early part of treatment is about identifying problems which untreated will lead to mental or emotional, or physical, discomfort, pain, confusion, frustration, etc., and could trigger the desire to drink or use and escape the problem. Recovery is about facing the problems, staying sober and clean and growing as a person so that dependence on alcohol or some other drug(s) is broken. Then it’s about Recovery Management.