A cognitive distortion is a skewed way of thinking that makes life chaotic for many people. For instance, if you suffer from cognitive distortions, you may have a unique, negative view of people and life experiences. You may always expect the worst to happen, or feel like you are never good enough. These are all examples of cognitive distortions. Additionally, they may make you feel depressed and hopeless, and you may begin to wonder if life is even worth living. However, feelings like these may go away once you learn how to cope with them in positive ways. As a result, learning positive coping skills for addiction recovery is necessary. Read on to learn more about how coping skills are important to recovery and how you can live a healthy life through different coping mechanisms and even help from a depression treatment program.
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There Is a Link Between Poor Coping Skills and Addiction
Poor coping skills can be precursors to a substance use disorder. If you ignore stressors such as abuse, neglect, or trauma instead of working through them, you will build up negative feelings. As a result, you may end up feeling helpless with no control over your life. For many people, relief comes in the form of self-medication with prescription drugs, illicit drugs, and alcohol. Drugs such as these, especially if they are opioid-based, provide temporary relief from pain and hopelessness. Sadly, this form of relief is only momentary. And the side effects of medicating this way range from uncomfortable to fatal. If you or someone you know self-medicate, Ethan Crossing Recovery, a substance abuse treatment center in Springfield, Ohio, can help you overcome this addiction so you can live a life free from substance abuse. We can teach you ways to cope with the different difficulties in your life through our programs and therapy.
Poor Coping Skills Will Keep You Trapped in Substance Use Disorder
Before you can learn positive coping skills, you need to realize what your current negative coping skills are. Negative coping mechanisms come in many forms, including:
- Avoidance: Pretending that the problem is not there and hoping it will go away if you ignore it long enough
- Risky behavior: Engaging in dangerous activities such as unprotected sex as a distraction
- Emotional eating: Using extremes in eating (too much or too little) to give yourself a false sense of control
- Compulsive behaviors: Shopping, gambling, or doing other activities to excess to experience the temporary high
- Drinking alcohol: Drinking too much to help you forget
- Using drugs: Self-medicating to block painful memories or feelings
All of these are examples of poor coping mechanisms that can prohibit you from living a healthy life if you do not learn how to cope properly.
How To Get Addiction Recovery
Healthy coping skills rely on using communication and activity to alleviate worry and fear. Consequently, addiction treatment includes behavioral therapy to help you relearn the way you handle problems. Treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapy help you talk through your feelings. Then, you can discover healthy ways of dealing with them, including:
- Meditating
- Engaging in creative activities such as art or music
- Talking things over with a supportive friend or family member
- Focusing on eating well
- Taking time to think through a situation before reacting
The best drug and alcohol treatment programs place much emphasis on improving existing coping skills for addiction recovery. For example, you do have control over what you think and feel most of the time. You also have control over how you react to negative situations. You have to practice these new behaviors enough that they become second-nature. Once you have mastered this way of thinking, your recovery will fall into place. When you are ready to reach out for help, call Ethan Crossing Recovery at 833.691.0736. We will prepare an individualized treatment plan for you that works.