Coping With An Addiction

It is most important to stay motivated during the process of recovery. It helps to make a list of benefits, or advantages of quitting the addictive behavior. These should be benefits that are very valuable to you – valuable enough to turn your back on the addiction. Setbacks will occur and should be viewed as opportunities to learn.

Coping with the intense urges and cravings is perhaps the greatest challenge for most individuals. In the case of substance abuse in particular, the drug radically alters the brain by literally taking control of certain neuro chemicals. It is important to understand the temporary nature of the urges. During withdrawal, the time that the urge lasts seems endless and unbearable. It helps to actually clock the duration of an urge and see for oneself that it does end. Recovering addicts have reported that urges initially reach a climax in frequency, intensity and duration, but gradually lose their strength and fizzle out.

Some specific techniques for coping with urges are as follows:
· Attempt to stand apart from it for a moment and witness it as an outsider, with detachment.
· Recall your list of ‘benefits of quitting’
· Go back to the task you were performing
· Consider the negative fallouts of succumbing to the urge
· Completely focus your energies on any other thought or activity
· Deprive the urge of your attention. You will find that it tends to disappear gradually.

In a nutshell, all urges go away eventually and should be viewed in perspective rather than blown out of proportion. With practice and perseverance it becomes progressively easier to do this.

Most recovering addicts are faced with the question of how to cope with the problems that were previously being coped with by the addiction. In fact, the origin of an addiction is often a problem or discomfort (emotional or physical) being faced by the individual. He sees no solution to the problem and the addictive activity seems to help in coping more than adequately. Sometimes these very problems may be bigger than the addiction itself.

The problems that have appeared as a result of the addiction may not end simply by stopping the addiction. They also may require psychotherapy in order to be dealt with effectively.

Finally, the best defense against falling prey to the addiction once again is to change one’s lifestyle in a positive manner. Good habits that provide a feeling of well being should be consciously inculcated. This will reaffirm the conviction that addiction is not necessary to feel good about oneself.

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