You may have spent your most if not your entire life running away from your feelings.  If they have been mostly hurtful, it’s easy to see why.  But as you may have discovered, covering them and running from them hasn’t made your life any better.  It’s probably just made things worse by creating more problems.

It isn’t about trying to marginalize or shut off your emotions, it’s about managing them.  This may be the opposite of what you were expecting (or hoping).  When you face your emotions and learn to manage them, you give yourself a great chance at sobriety.

How Your Emotions Led To Drug Addiction

Most people end up getting caught in a drug addiction because of their emotions.  They have some kind of bad situation that seems overwhelmingly painful, and they can’t find a good way to feel any better.  They may have grown up in an abusive home, had depression or an anxiety disorder, had chronic pain, or made some dramatic lifestyle changes against their wishes.

When this gets to be too much, some people turn to drugs and alcohol. At first, it may be just a way to feel more relaxed and socialize more.  But after a while, the drug and alcohol use may take on a life of its own.  Soon, it’s not about being social or having something fun to do, it’s about being stoned, drunk, or high on a regular basis.  It becomes an escape from their daily misery.

Learning To Face Your Feelings

One of the things an addict wants to avoid is facing their feelings.  An addict may have come to believe many things about their emotions.  I can do without them, they are better kept hidden, they are wrong and shameful, they mean something bad about me, or they are too hard to control.

The more you push emotions down or away from your awareness, the more destructive they seem to be.  Just learning how to face them is critical.  You can acknowledge that you feel embarrassed, cheated, lonely, or whatever, and then let the emotion pass on by.

The more mindful you are of your feelings, the more you can notice their ebb and flow.  And when you see how they eventually flow into something different or in a less intense way, you can see them as more tolerable.

Find Ways To Calm Yourself

Once you acknowledge your emotions, you can do many things to keep them from taking over your life.  Notice the thoughts that go along with these emotions.  If they are negative, challenge them with something more positive.  Tell yourself that your feelings will come and go and that feelings are a normal part of life.

Get good exercise to help you get more comfortable with your body.  Listen to music that predictably changes your mood.  Do the opposite of what you feel - if you are angry, do something generous for another person (even when you don’t feel like it).

Managing Your Emotions Key To Sobriety

When your emotions are hidden and pushed away, they can have extraordinary power over you. But when shed light on them and let them move freely, you can live a more balanced sober life.

Sobriety doesn’t just come out of nowhere when you are ready to give up drugs and alcohol.  You have to create a new way of living to make sobriety a reality.  And it’s not just about refraining from drug use.  It’s about managing your mental and physical wellness so you don’t become vulnerable to relapse.  Going to drug rehab is a key step in recovery.  But after that, it’s up to you and your daily choices.  Getting some solid coping skills under your belt will help you stay on track each day.

Physical Health

You’ve put your body through the ringer with your addiction.  When you went to drug rehab, you probably began to understand just how much your body went through.  To keep cravings at bay, you’ll need to get your body back on track.

Regular exercise is beneficial in so many ways for someone in addiction recovery.  It makes you feel stronger and more energetic.  You may feel a little more tired at first.  But once you adjust to this, you’ll have a great feeling to look forward to.  You’ll get your endorphins and your blood flowing more freely.

Try yoga, a fun aerobics class, biking, or even walking in your neighborhood every day.  A simple exercise plan will keep you on track more easily.  Exercise boosts your mood and makes your body learn how to feel good without drugs or alcohol.  It’s also a great stress reliever, which you’ll need as you make big changes in your life.

Mental Health

Mental wellness is another key part of staying sober.  Your painful emotions are a pathway for relapse, so you need to stay aware of your moods.  If you have a diagnosed mental illness such as depression or PTSD, be sure you take your medication, go to your treatment sessions, or whatever your doctor recommends.  Slacking off with mental health care is not an option.

Also, keep in mind what gets you stressed out the most.  Do you need to learn how to let go of an argument, take a more flexible point of view, or just unwind your muscles on a regular basis?  There are lots of ways to relieve stress and turn your mood positive - funny movies, journal writing, some alone time, a long walk, prayer, or listening to something inspirational.  Do these kinds of things regularly to fight off negativity and anxiety.

Social Environment

Your social connections can help you get through the ups and downs in your sobriety.  They’ll congratulate you with your triumphs and lift you up when you sink too low.  Staying connected to sober people is a terrific and vital coping skill.  But you have to actually communicate with them about important things.

It’s not enough just to know them and make small talk when you are around each other.  You need to take the risk of opening up to friends and family that really care.  When you cultivate honest caring relationships, you’ll have someone to laugh with and someone to cry with for a long time to come.

Coping Skills Important To Sobriety

What are your most effective coping skills for staying healthy and positive?  When you have a supportive social network, take care of your physical health, and keep your mood in check, you will have a great chance of staying sober for a long time to come.

The news often promotes studies that show the benefits of drinking alcohol.  But when someone misuses or becomes addicted to alcohol, the list of associated health problems gets very long.  These effects are different depending on a person’s gender, and is unfortunately worse for women. Because alcohol use is common and legal for adults, this is an article you just can’t miss. Before you take another drink, you need to understand whether you are putting yourself at risk.

Gradual Organ Breakdown And Dysfunction

When a person’s body is subjected to the toxic effects from excessive alcohol, the effeciency and interconnection among the body’s organs starts to fall apart.  Because the organs all depend on each other to keep the body going, big problems in one area can mean big problems for the whole system.  This can eventually cause death.

Alcohol-Related Liver Disease

Cirrhosis of the liver is scarring from excessive alcohol use  This scarring is permanent and cannot be reversed.  Scarring means that parts of the liver are non-funtional, causing the remaining portions of the liver to pick up the slack.  As a person keeps drinking, they overwork the ever-shrinking remainders.

The liver’s job is to process and filter out toxins from the blood.  If a person stops drinking, they can preserve the remaining unscarred portion of their liver.  But if they continue to drink, they can eventually die from complete liver failure.

Alcohol-related hepatitis is another serious disease related to alcoholism.  Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver and can cause abdominal pain, jaundice (yellowing of the skin, eyeballs, and skin), and fever.  Like cirrhosis, it can be fatal if a person continues to drink.  If they stop drinking, the effects of hepatitis can be partially or even completely reversable.

Alcohol-Related Heart Disease

It’s now well known that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can have some heart benefits, especially if a person already has a risk for heart attack.  But if you go over the modest recommended amount, the benefits quickly disappear.  Excessive drinking will increase the risk for stroke, various forms of heart disease, and blood pressure problems.

Other Alcohol-Related Health Problems

Heavy drinking causes capillaries near the surface of the skin to break.  This gives the face and other exposed skin a ruddy blotchy look.  This damage is generally not reversable.

The extra empty calories consumed by an alcoholic can also contribute to obesity.

Obesity can cause a great deal of strain on muscles, bones, and the circulatory system.  While obesity is a problem on its own, obesity can also be a leading cause of Type 2 Diabetes.  Diabetes can lead to loss of vision, poor circulation, organ damage, and loss of feeling in the extremities.

Brain cells are permanently damaged or killed with excessive drinking.  Nerve damage can also develop over time.  Bleeding ulcers and other digestive problems can emerge after years of irritation by large amounts of alcohol.

Health Risks From Excessive Drinking

So now you know a few of the worst health problems associated with alcoholism.  Many of these can be fatal in one way or another.  If you think you may be drinking excessively, call your doctor for help and more information.

Alcoholism has already been part of your life for years. No, you haven’t drink a drop of alcohol - yet.  But you worry about what your future holds. Are you destined to repeat the problems of your family? Can you break away from these old patterns and stay healthy? The news is good. You certainly can live a different life than your alcoholic family members. But it won’t happen automatically. Keep reading to learn about staying on track with a healthy life.

Reality Check - Your Alcoholism Risk Factors

The fact that you’re even thinking about all this is a good sign. Being aware of the destructive pattern of your past can help you create a different future for yourself. But it’s not enough just to know that you want to make change. You have to really understand what you are up against and how to keep going. The following is a breakdown of a few risk factors you’ll have to consider.

Genetics - Alcoholism isn’t a genetically inherited condition. But sharing genetics with an alcoholic means you could have some of the same vulnerabilities.  You might inherit a high tolerance for drugs and alcohol. You may inherit personality traits that lean towards addiction, such as being thrill/risk seeker and impulsivity.  You may also inherit heart conditions, high blood pressure, and other conditions that would be exacerbated with heavy alcohol use.

Familiar With Addiction Environment - Since you grew up with addiction, you know a lot of the ins and outs.  Of course, this could give you more fuel in your fire about rejecting alcoholism. But you need to be cautious that alcohol doesn’t tempt you as a coping skill. Your father used it, or your mother used it, or your grandpa, so maybe it could work out better for you. Things turned out bad for them, but you can handle it. That kind of minimizing and excusing can get you into trouble.

Family And Friends May Not Support You - Not everyone may think sobriety is a great idea. Despite seeing all the destruction in your family, some may treat you like an outsider if you don’t drink. This kind of pressure could make you cave in and start drinking. And just because you drink doesn’t automatically mean you have a problem with it. But if you give high value to these family member’s opinions, you may have trouble ahead.

Keeping Alcoholism At Bay

Here are some quick tips for keeping your healthy lifestyle intact when your family life and genetics are working against you.

You Choice Using Alcohol- There’s no hard and fast rule that children of alcoholics shouldn’t ever drink.  Not everyone who grows up in that situation will develop a problem.  But if you feel at all unsure, staying completely sober can be a good safe choice.

Dealing With Your Family - You may need to decide how much you can and want to interact with your family.  Some may be healthier than others.  Some may care more or less about your drinking.  Just be prepared to deal with some land mines.

Live A Generally Healthy Lifestyle - Eat right, exercise, hang around good people who also make good choices.  This will keep you from getting influenced by extreme thinking or risk taking.

Drug addiction is a maze of mixed up emotions, a wild round-the-clock schedule, tension, arguments, loneliness, and confusion.  You may not even really remember how you got here.  You just know that somewhere along the way, you got lost.  How do you go on from this point?  Do you just stick with what you know, what your life has become?  Do you ride this runaway train until it runs you into the ground, or is there anyone anywhere able to help you?  After the way you’ve treated everyone around you, is anyone even willing to stick their neck out for you?

Lost In A Strange Land Of Drug Addiction

You wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to jump into the frey with you anymore.  You’ve burned just about every bridge you’ve crossed with most people you know.  You’ve tried a therapist or two in town, at the insistance of your family.  You didn’t want to be saved from anything back then, and you sure weren’t going to talk about it with anyone. And even if they could help, would it even be worth it?  What has anyone missed by you being zoned out with drugs for the last few years?

That’s just the problem - you’ve been in another universe for a long time now.  At first, it seemed like a whole new world of adventure.  Way better than real life with its misery and boredom.  Drugs made you feel alive and like you had something to do.  Now, after you need drugs just to function a little bit each day, you don’t know where to find any shred of usefulness in your life.  This world you created with drugs may still be familiar, but it is also hell.

The Hell You Know Versus The Hell You Don’t Know

So now what?  You’re lost in your own universe of drugs and you wonder if you’ll ever get out.  And if you did get out, what is there for you?  More family arguments, more realization of how worthless your life has become, and more emotional pain.  Your family says you have to face these facts so you can move on, but you just don’t know.

Really, somewhere inside, you do want the pain to somehow get better.  You don’t know how much longer you can stay lost in limbo like this.  You’ve seen friends die and end up like vegetables after they’ve overdosed or just been on drugs for too long. That’s not really what you want, even as strong as your desire is to get away from pain.  You don’t actually want to end your one shot at life.  But you have gotten yourself to this point, and you are lost more than ever before.

Reaching Out And Finding Hope

You decide that even if you get rejected or laughed at, maybe you should try reaching out once before it’s too late.  Before the drug addition pulls you down so far you don’t even realize what’s happening.  Before that last hit takes your last breath away.  Before you are lost for good.  Maybe this time, someone will find you and help you find hope for tomorrow.

Kids have plenty to deal with growing up - social pressures, school expectations, adjusting to life changes, and staying healthy.  Living with an alcoholic can throw a kid’s life upside down, changing the way they view their priorities.  A child’s emotional security and stability is one of the cornerstones of development.  When this is threatened or compromised, a child grows up with a skewed viewpoint about themselves and the world around them.

Focus Shifts To Addiction Not Family’s Needs

A family environment ought to be a safe cocoon where children feel free to be themselves but can also expect appropriate boundaries and guidance from adults.  With an addiction, the entire focus of the family shifts from child-friendly to addiction-surviving.  The addiction becomes the hub of the family, and all choices revolve around how the addiction functions.

For example, the non-addicted spouse may do lots of behind-the-scenes shuffling to keep the kids away from the addicted parent at certain times because they are likely to be using.  Instead of having loving attention from both parents, they are given much more from one and very little from the other.  It may just seem simpler to mold the kids’ lives around the addicted parent, making sure everyone’s quiet and not disturbing him or her.

In this case, the parent’s need to stay addicted trumps the child’s need for contact with the parent. A family not prepared for the honesty of addiction recovery chooses to work around the addict rather than confront them.  This means the kids are taught an unspoken rule that honesty doesn’t work.  Keeping up the facade takes precidence over the needs of the family.

Kids Cope With Addiction However They Can

Because nobody is dealing with the honesty of the addiction, kids need to do something to relieve the pressure.  They are expected to keep up the facade, keep any secrets, and not make any waves.  Whatever emotional suffering they incur is just part of the deal.

As you could guess, this kind of environment goes completely against the concept of an emotionally and physically safe cocoon as mentioned earlier.  Kids don’t focus on their own growing up because they are too occupied with surviving each day.  Will their dad threaten to beat their head in if they aren’t quiet?  Will their mom sleep all day long again?  Will anyone be there to cook supper tonight when dad’s at work?

Some kids become overachievers, both to keep themselves distracted and to keep a good name on the family.  Others become the black sheep, spilling the beans about the family and distancing themselves to keep away from the chaos.  And unfortunately, a certain number of kids eventually turn to drugs or alcohol themselves.  These kids may have hated the substances for what they have done to their mom or dad.  But they may feel like drugs and alcohol might be the only thing to really dull the pain of their daily life.

Kids Dealing With Addiction In Their Homes

The sad reality is that kids have very little choice where and with whom they grow up.  They rely on adults for protection, transportation, and covering their basic needs.  When this gets out of balance, so does the rest of their life. The kids need the parent’s sobriety at least as much as the parent does.

Some of the damage from drug and alcohol addiction gets focused directly on the person using the substances.  Unfortunately, people living around a person with an addiction can suffer just as much or more.  Family violence is a damaging and dangerous result of drug addiction for some people.

Violence Easily Dismissed By The Drug User

Drug addicts and alcoholics are already so accustomed to deflecting personal responsibility because of the way addiction affects their thinking and judgment.  Their addiction thinking creates an alternate reality in their mind.  Nearly anything they do in the name of their addiction is justified or easily excused.  Money troubles, flaking out on promises, putting themselves in danger - it’s all under control and nobody else’s business.

The same rules apply when a drug addict or alcoholic becomes violent.  They lash out, put someone in their place, make their position of control very clear, or show their dislike for something in a powerful destructive way - but because the addiction excuses it, nothing seems wrong with these actions.

Everyone In Family Affected By Violent Addict or Alcoholic

Children, spouses, significant others, even adult siblings or parents can face the brunt of an addict’s violent nature.  The addict desperately needs a sense of being in control or powerful.  This is a very normal human need and can be done in many different healthy ways.  But since an addict’s mind is tuned straight into their emotions and skewed “addiction logic”, violence is the natural outcome of overpowered emotions and low self control.

It’s a scale tipped way out of balance.

In essence, the violence within an addiction is an attempt to correct the imbalance.  But since the addict is poorly equipped to deal with themselves and others, their attempts to make things better often make things worse.  They strike out against people they really need in their life so they can get sober and recover.

Violence Often Passed Through Generations

In many cases, family violence is displayed from generation to generation.  This can certainly happen with or without an addiction, but addictions add another level of complexity and distance from personal responsibility.  The addict may be completely out of it most of the time they commit their violent acts, having few recollections of what they did.  This can make it very hard for them to rectify things between themselves and the family members they hurt.  They may strongly minimize their marital arguments, thinking they just yelled at their spouse a few times.

In reality, they may have made serious physical threats and hit, kicked, or pushed their family members around.  Kids may be injured, threatened, or simply scared to death at what they see.  Managing an addiction may not completely end a person’s violence toward others, but it is a vital step in the process of positive change.

Family Violence Dangerous For All

Family violence is a serious consequence of drug and alcohol addiction.  People don’t want to call attention to it because they fear things getting worse if they do.  If you are a family member of a violent drug addict or alcoholic, do everything you can to keep yourself safe.  Hopefully, your loved one will realize that drug treatment is the only way to get their family life back.

Drug and alcohol addiction is plenty dangerous on its own.  DUI’s, risky behaviors, poor physical health, and risk of overdosing are just a few to mention.  The risk grows when a mental illness is involved, especially an undiagnosed one.

So many people with mental illness allow it to remain untreated for various reasons.  Cost of treatment, desire to keep things private and not talk about it, distrusting professionals, and not admitting their need for help, or not recognizing their symptoms as something that require treatment.  When all of this is combined with the life-draining aspects of a drug or alcohol addiction, a person’s life and health are put out on a very shaky limb.

Dual Diagnosis Is Addiction With Mental Illness

Addiction with a mental illnesses is called a dual diagnosis.  One of the biggest risks with dual diagnosis is with relapse.  In most cases, the mental illness may be the original starting point for the addiction.  In their search for relief from their post-traumatic stress symptoms or their depression, a person may start drinking or trying drugs.  This may start as a temporary solution, but may evolve into a longer term way of life.

Drug and alcohol addiction is so disruptive on its own.  An underlying mental illness can easily lie beneath the surface without being detected.  It takes good professional diagnosis work and careful observation to sort out an undiagnosed or undertreated mental illness.  So many symptoms may overlap or appear similar between the two disorder.  However, the payoff for understanding the full picture is huge. It means the person has a much better outlook for recovery.

Proper Diagnosis Of Mental Illness Crucial With Dual Diagnosis

By no means does every drug addict or alcoholic have an underlying mental disorder.  But for those that do, having a thorough evaluation can make the difference between recovery and chronic relapse. If they become sober but their mental illness symptoms persist, they are likely to fall back on their drugs or alcohol. They may even want to stay with their sober lifestyle.  But if they are faced with overwhelming mental illness symptoms, they are going to choose relief over sobriety just about every time.

Emotions Tipped Far Out Of Balance With Dual Diagnosis

Another problem is that mental illness already tips emotions out of balance.  Bipolar disorder comes with lots of adjustment between mood swings and suicidality.  Because drugs and alcohol often lower inhibitions and distort judgment, any mental illness symptoms are going to be made even worse.  Suicidality is of particular concern in that case.

When a person is sober, they might be able to manage through the day despite some suicidal thoughts.  But when they are high or drunk, they may not think twice after they consider walking in front of a train or grabbing a loaded gun.  The lethality of drug addiction increases so much when a co-existing mental illness goes unchecked.

Dual Diagnosis Drug Treatment Available

Fortunately, the drug treatment community is well aware of these risks and how to effectively treat dual diagnosis situations.  Some drug treatment centers offer a dual diagnosis track.  Specialized treatment centers exclusively treat dual diagnosis disorders.  People have access to dual diagnosis treatment all across the United States in many forms.  If you or a loved one have a combined mental illness and addiction problem, don’t just get help - get the right help.  Find out more about dual diagnosis drug treatment today.

When a person with drug addiction decides they may need to slow down or even quit their drug use, they might strongly consider going cold turkey.  Just drop it all at once and gut out the symptoms.  They don’t need a shrink telling them what to feel or what to do, and they certainly don’t need to share their feelings with bunch of strangers.  This might be the mindset of someone who decides to go cold turkey from drugs or alcohol - a lone wolf who’s confident and gutsy.  But is this really the best way to handle a tough drug addiction?

Pros and Cons To Cold Turkey Approach

Let’s go over a few pros to the cold turkey approach.  First, the addict may feel a strong sense of control over their situation.  They may also feel some pride in believing they are self sufficient enough to manage something so “bad”.  Deciding to tough it out may boost their ego.  They can demostrate they are capable of handling it.  It could also show that their drug use really wasn’t as bad as everyone has said.

Unfortunately, a lot of the benefit of going cold turkey is on the front end of the process.  The idea of it may sound good, but following through the entire withdrawal process without any professional help often ends with relapse or other trouble.  Symptoms can be miserable and even somewhat dangerous if a person has other health conditions.  Relapse risk is very high simply because the quickest way to end the misery is to use again.  And that usually ends the cold turkey process dead in its tracks.  Perhaps a good theory, but for the true drug addict or alcoholic, very difficult to carry out in practice with healthy lasting results.

Pros and Cons To Drug Treatment

First, the cons to drug treatment.  It will take time and patience to complete a full drug treatment program.  This could also mean a halfway house or sober living arrangement for a while until sobriety is better established.  This could be tough for a person with a job or  a family to look after.  However, the alternatives are to either continue with the drug use or go cold turkey.  Neither of those prospects will result in good things for a job or a family.

Drug treatment can also cost some money.  These days, everyone has to watch their wallet closely.  Drug addicts and alcoholics may not want to spend another dime if they are in dire straights with their finances.  On the other hand, what would happen if the addiction wore on?  Would they eventually lose their job or continue to spend foolishly?  Yes, most likely.  And thankfully, there are many financial options with insurance, government supported programs, and payment plans.  Drug treatment can actually save your finances.

Drug Treatment Or Cold Turkey

So what do you think?  Drug treatment or cold turkey?  Which approach will truly help you get and stay sober?  When you are ready to consider drug treatment, it only takes a phone call to get started.

Some may think that sobriety magically happens to you once you stop drinking.  Or, once you begin your sobriety any type of relapse is a complete failure.  In other words, you aren’t really in control of it in the first place.  It is placed upon you and it can be taken away.  And once you lose it, you may stop drinking but your sobriety is tainted because you “failed”.

Sobriety May Seem Too Perfect To Be Reached

This kind of outlook on sobriety falls in line with the typical black-and-white thinking of an alcoholic or drug addict.  It either is or it isn’t, and if you fail you are shamed forever with no chance of forgiveness.  Sobriety may seem such a pristine unattainable goal of perfection, it may seem impossible.

So why try if you know you will fail?  How could you possibly live without mistakes for the rest of your life?  This is a rather inflexible way of looking at sobriety, and it can keep a person from considering it a realistic choice.

Sobriety Is A Choice For Each Moment

Sobriety is really a choice each and every moment. You may be sober for a day, for an hour, or for twenty years, and it all still comes down to choices in moments.  It may take all the energy and focus you have to stay sober for one particularly difficult hour.  Or you may have several days or even a few weeks when living sober feels organic and rejuvinating.

It all changes just like life changes.  Even though it involves staying away from drugs and alcohol completely, it is not a perfect or consistent process.  People slip up and have a drink when they shouldn’t. People give in and take a few hits with friends they haven’t seen in a long time.  People have close calls when they feel vulnerable.  Some even have longer periods of relapse before they make a definitive move to get sober once more.

Time Gives New Chances For Sobriety

Since it can be started and kept from moment to moment, the passage of time continually gives people chances for sobriety.  An addict may feel like you are completely at the mercy of their addiction, and they may be in almost every way.  But if they find that very small voice in their heart that tells them they need to stop, they can use that moment to be sober.

They can muster their courage to stop using right then, to walk away, and be with someone they know will help them.  They may not know what to do next, but if they can take that first brave step they will have become sober for that moment.  As they string moments together, they can see their sobriety grow.  They can keep making that tough choice every moment they are aware of it, or they can give it up and return to their drug lifestyle.

Hope For Sobriety Always Close At Hand

No matter how long a person has been sober, for a minute or for a decade, they always have the choice to fight for their sobriety or return to their addiction.  That’s why hope for sobriety is always close at hand.  Time keeps giving the gift of opportunity.  Drug treatment can begin during one of those moments - just a phone call can get the process started.  Use that moment of courage to make today sober.