7 Ways To Overcome Substance Use Disorders

Are you having a hard time dealing with the drawbacks of addiction? Bear in mind that getting addicted to alcohol and drugs can be a challenge. A substance use disorder is a chronic mental disorder that leads to uncontrollable use of substances. 

Drugs and alcohol may control your mind and force you into using them repeatedly. That’s why it’s extremely difficult to quit. But don’t worry; overcoming addiction is possible. 

However, overcoming addiction is much more difficult than you think. Why? Substances can alter many of your brain functions. For example, certain drugs may force your brain to release dopamine—a chemical associated with feelings of pleasure, making substance use irresistible. 

The key to overcoming addiction doesn’t depend on a strong spirit or willpower; it’s about admitting the problem and asking for help. If you or a loved one wants to recover from addiction, visit https://www.jacksonhouserehab.com/ or any local rehab facility in your area.  

Below are the ways that will help you take control of your life once more from substance use disorder. Read on to learn more.

1. Recognize Your Problem

If you’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol, admitting that there’s a problem will never be an option. Substances will force your brain to deny your addiction by creating excuses, even if your family and friends notice a significant drop in your quality of life. 

But if you want to take your life back from the grip of addiction, you have to recognize that there’s a problem you have to solve. It will help you gather the courage to fight back against your addiction and those that caused it. 

Once you recognize the problem, turn to your loved ones for support. Their presence would be a great help throughout your recovery journey to sobriety. If you’re not ready to talk to your family about your addiction, seek professional advice from mental health experts like psychiatrists. 

2. Seek Help From Mental Health Experts

Substance use disorder is a chronic, long-term mental health disorder. Self-care won’t be enough to recover from it, no matter how hard you try. You’ll only increase your cravings as well as the risk of relapse, which can be fatal if left ignored.

If that’s the case, your best option would be to ask for help from mental health professionals, particularly psychiatrists and psychotherapists. But first, what is the difference between the two?

• Psychiatrists: They are mental health experts who have a degree in medicine. In other words, they are doctors. It permits them to diagnose conditions, offer treatment options, and prescribe medications to address mental health illnesses.
• Psychotherapists: They, on the other hand, are not doctors. Instead of prescribing medications, they’re focused on providing a wide range of psychotherapies to address mental health conditions.

So, should you choose between psychiatrists and psychotherapists? No, you don’t have to. These mental health experts often collaborate to come up with the most effective treatment plan best suited for their patients.  

The treatment plan may include the following treatment options:

• Detoxification: Also known as withdrawal treatment, detoxification is the initial phase of addiction recovery. It’s the process where traces of substances are expelled from your body. Detox has two types: cold turkey and tapering method.
• Cold Turkey Method: When your doctor tells you to ‘quit cold turkey,’ you must stop using substances at once. However, certain drugs, such as heroin, opioids, and fentanyl, are too dangerous for the cold turkey method. Instead, your doctor may advise you of the tapering method.
• Tapering Method: When your doctor advises you to undergo tapering, it means to wean off the substances slowly. It’s crucial for dangerous drugs like those mentioned earlier to avoid serious withdrawal symptoms.
• Medication: By taking your meds properly, you’ll be able to manage your symptoms and overall condition effectively. So, talk to your psychiatrist as soon as possible to determine the right medication for your type of addiction.
• Psychotherapy: The main goal of psychotherapy is to help people modify thought patterns, develop healthy behavior, and cope with their condition. It includes:
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): It helps people determine and modify the destructive thinking patterns contributing to their addiction. However, CBT is not for everyone. Talk to your therapist to determine if CBT is right for you.
• Motivational Interviewing (MI): It focuses on encouraging people to change for the better. It helps them appreciate the benefits of overcoming addiction and motivates them to stay committed to recovery.
• Family Therapy (FT): It aims to teach family members the ways to support the recovery of their loved ones. It’s especially helpful for teenagers and young adults who need their families the most in these trying times.
• Mindfulness Therapy: It allows people to dive deeper into their inner selves to address underlying mental health issues. These often include depression, anxiety, and other disorders.
• Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT): It helps people manage their emotions to prevent devastating behaviors due to an intense surge of emotions. It also helps reduce cravings, prevent relapse, and cope with addiction healthily.
• Contingency Management (CM): It focuses on encouraging people to achieve lasting sobriety with the help of material incentives as a motivational tool. It reduces the likelihood of a patient quitting the treatment process.

After completing the treatment process, the next thing to do is to maintain a healthy lifestyle which is crucial to overcoming addiction. It helps prevent relapse and decreases cravings, allowing your body to heal properly over time.

3. Identify And Manage The Addiction Triggers

Triggers are elements that remind people of their painful past and disturbing emotions. These may cause them to feel a strong surge of intense emotions, such as anger, grief, regret, pain, and frustration.  

When it comes to addiction recovery, triggers can be stimulus (external and internal) that urges the former user to consume substances again. That’s why knowing your triggers is extremely important when overcoming addiction.  

Examples of triggers are as follows:

• Grief (e.g., death of a loved one, job loss, chronic illness, and breakups)
• Inconsistent mood and behavior
• Anger and fear
• Guilt
• Shame
• Mental illness, particularly anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Stress
• Specific locations (e.g., office, school, home, cities, etc.)
• Feeling attacked, unsafe, judged, misunderstood, and invalidated

On the other hand, here are some healthy ways that will help you manage and deal with your triggers:

• Attend support groups (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous).
• Spend your free time doing physical activities and exercises.
• Rest when you need.
• Practice mindfulness meditation to focus on the present and leave the past behind.
• Engage in conversation and activities with positive people.
• Hydrate yourself with plenty of water.
• Drink tea to relax and soothe your mind.
• Distract yourself from positive distractions (e.g., listening to calming music, cuddling with pets, reading magazines and books, taking a walk, and learning how to cook).

4. Participate In Peer-Support Groups

Peer-support groups consist of participants who have experienced or are experiencing similar circumstances. When you attend peer-support groups, you’ll be able to:

• Meet people who are also trying to overcome addiction.
• Improve coping skills to fight cravings.
• Receive the support you need during an intense emotional crisis.
• Have people who can join you in this fight.

Below are the peer-support groups where you can participate, hear inspiring stories, and share your experiences to inspire others:

• 12-Step Groups: Participants in these groups have 12 simple tasks to complete. These tasks will help in your battle against addiction and maintain lasting sobriety. Examples of 12-step groups are Narcotics Anonymous and Alcohol Anonymous.
• SMART Recovery: SMART stands for ‘self-management and recovery training.’ In this group, a counselor will lead you through a program based on cognitive behavior and motivational enhancement therapies to recover from your addiction.
• Celebrate Recovery: This Christian-based group uses sacred scriptures to find courage in overcoming addiction. It also uses a bible in its programs to guide and help users realize that there’s a higher power they can turn to in these trying times.
• Secular Organizations For Sobriety: Also known as SOS, this support group focuses on self-empowerment to fully overcome addiction. It encourages people to be honest to themselves by overcoming denial and destructive actions.

5. Build A Balanced And Healthy Diet

A balanced, healthy diet is crucial to overcoming substance use disorder. With the right supply of nutrients, your body can heal properly over time and repair the substantial damage caused by drugs and alcohol. 

In most cases, a balanced and healthy diet includes:

• A Meal Schedule: Make sure to consume three meals per day to optimize your digestive health and blood sugar levels. Here’s an example of a meal schedule: 7:00 a.m. breakfast, noon lunch, and 6:00 p.m. dinner.
• Healthy Fats: Some fats are good for your recovery, and you should consider adding them to your diet. These include salmon (and other fatty fish), nuts, chia seeds, olive oil, avocados, and dark chocolate.
• Complex Carbohydrates: Complex carbs are not easy to break down, keeping you safe from chronic diseases like diabetes. These can be acquired from oatmeal, barley, quinoa, whole-wheat bread, sweet potatoes, etc.
• Reduced Coffee Intake: Coffee may offer great benefits for your body, but when you’re overcoming addiction, it would be best to avoid it. This will help you optimize your sleep and allow your body to heal faster.
• Water: Drinking plenty of water (at least eight cups or two liters per day) may help you flush out all the remaining toxins from chronic substance use. Also, it replenishes your cells, repairing damage throughout your body.
• Protein: Protein is one of the building blocks of life. It’s an important factor in repairing and building damaged body parts due to addiction. You can get protein from lean meats, poultry, eggs, seafood, and fish.

6. Explore New Hobbies

Overcoming addiction can be a stressful process. If ever stress occurs, you can do the things you love—your hobbies. These will help you cope with your addiction, improve your mental health, lower your cravings, and reduce the risks of relapse. 

Here are some hobbies you might want to consider trying:

• Learn A New Dish: Cooking is a fun and fulfilling hobby, especially when the dish you prepare turns out to be delicious. So, grab your cookbooks, watch some tutorials, and cook a great feast everyone would love.
• Do Community Service: Spending time helping others is a great way to overcome addiction triggers. Check out your area and see if there’s something you can do to help, such as a cleanup drive, community gardening, etc.
• Learn A New Language: Exploring a new language is rewarding and fulfilling, but it’s certainly not easy to accomplish. This will test your mind to concentrate more on the task ahead, keeping you away from the stress that can trigger your cravings.

7. Engage In Physical Activities

Performing physical activities can do great wonders for your body. It boosts strength and endurance, optimizes blood circulation, and improves physical and mental health. It’s why having an active lifestyle is crucial to your recovery. 

Below are some simple routines you can perform every day. Your main goal is to accumulate 150-300 minutes of physical activity per week. Start a moderate exercise and slowly increase the intensity if you no longer feel any resistance—that means you have reached the plateau.

• Walk Around The Block: Walk for at least 20 minutes daily and consider adding five more minutes for each succeeding day. Just imagine that each step you take is a step away from addiction and a step toward sobriety.
• Attend Classes: Visit your local fitness gyms and check out the classes you can attend, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), boxing, workouts, CrossFit, aerobics, group classes, and more.
• Gardening: Working around your backyard is not easy. There’s a lot of lifting and walking, especially when there’s a new plant to grow or cleanup to finish. But it’s fulfilling when you see your plants grow abundantly and healthily.

Final Words

Overcoming substance use disorder is more challenging than you think. This is especially true when it comes to the risk of relapse, triggers, and cravings. But there’s a way to overcome it without losing your sanity. Above are some ways to help you overcome addiction healthily and effectively. Follow the tips mentioned and gain control of your life once again.