Drug Addiction : how to prevent a relapse
Hi everyone I hope all is well,
I've been struggling with my mental health and feel like the world is caving in on me. The only way I know how to control my emotions is with drugs and alcohol. I've been using them as a crutch since I was 12 and I have learned no other way of successfully dealing and coping with my trauma and depression. I feel empty when I can't abuse drugs and empty when I do. I feel lost.
I wanted to know if anyone has experience with early onset addiction and how to rewire coping strategies. Thanks.
@CedarSapling99
In my experience, a lot of addiction is early onset. A lot of the time, it's in a way a learned behaviour, perhaps because of family or environment. If you're not modeled and taught healthy coping strategies, you shouldn't be expected to be psychic and simply "know" what you're supposed to do.
I think it's awesome that you're recognizing that what's happening isn't healthy and that you're active searching for new strategies. This is a big deal, because I promise you, many in your shoes prefer to not think that way.
Needing coping from a young age normally means that the problem isn't about addiction itself, there are underlying things you may need to deal with, such as adverse childhood experiences, trauma, bullying, any number of things. At the end of the day, you'll know best what the answers are there. If possible, getting help for the underlying causes while working through your addiction can help a lot. If it's possible to reach out for professional help with a therapist, that would be an awesome step.
For the addiction itself, and for healthy coping strategies, there are many options, the idea is to create a tool box with diverse activities because no one strategy will work 100% of the time. You want activities to cover a broad range of parts of the person, things that will help with negative thoughts (perhaps a thoughts journal, where you track negativity), emotions (perhaps expression such as art or writing, or even identifying the emotion you feel, sitting with it), to behaviour (mindfulness, meditation, taking a walk, exercise), taking care of your basics (eating well, drinking water, sleep, hygiene), social stuff (talking to a friend, organizing an outing, connecting with family if this helps you), spiritual (practising religion, prayer, connecting with ideas bigger than you, finding purpose). Also there should be basic self-care activities: what do you enjoy doing? What's a hobby you always wanted to learn? Movies, books, shows, art etc. If you want I can grab a big list of activities.
This is a topic I could talk about forever. Feel free to ask more questions, as this is a lot of information at once, or connect to chat if that would help you.
Remember: you are stronger than you know. I have seen hundreds of people with addiction conquer it, and I know you can become one of those. Whether you want harm reduction or abstinence, you can do it, but remember that it's a process and slips/relapses don't mean you failed. It means you learned something, and you're still moving in the same direction in recovery.
I'm still learning coping strategies but one thing that has helped me lately is yoga. I started off just doing 10 minutes up to 30. It helps with anxiety and being overwhelmed with emotions. It's difficult to deal with feelings at times and sometimes you just have to sit with them and let them pass.