Do you want to take your recovery to the next level?
You may have been clean and sober for a few months or years, and you may or may not be in 12 step groups as a way to support you. However you may feel you want to get more out of life. Perhaps you miss the excitement and carefree attitude that drugs or alcohol gave you in the past. There might be ways in which you know you are not living to your fullest potential. You may also notice how the anxiety that the substances used to mask has come back and you may feel impacted by it. You may also be experiencing symptoms of depression. You may be wondering how come if you got clean and sober things are so difficult now?
It is not uncommon that after getting clean and sober and establishing some stability in life, that some of the deeper issues that the additions were covering may come to light. This is not necessarily bad news. With the appropriate support you have an opportunity to work with and transform these issues. Psychotherapy can help you begin working with them.
Many addictions stem from childhood
There is a reason you became addicted to drugs, alcohol or behaviors in the first place. Aside from the genetic predispositions, many addictive behaviors are rooted in adverse childhood experiences. If you did not get the optimal level of attunement and care as an infant and child your brain did not get a chance to develop its own capacities for self regulation making you vulnerable to developing addictions. That does not mean that everyone that had difficult childhoods grow up to became addicted, but it does mean that adverse childhood experiences make you more vulnerable to develop addictions as an adult.
Mindfulness and therapy help heal the old wounds…
The good news is that our brains are malleable and can develop new neural pathways even in adulthood. With therapy and other practices you can begin to develop a capacity to self regulate. Also by practicing mindfulness you develop the capacity to be with your experience without the need to make it other than what it is. In a way mindfulness is the opposite of addiction. Being willing to be with our experience is at the core of mindfulness. Allowing and accepting our inner experience without judgment is a great antidote for addictive behaviors. When you encounter an experience that you don’t want to feel and instead of running away from it you turn towards it, something incredible can happen. You may discover that all along underneath that particular emotion or experience that you did not want to feel, lays a precious gem. You may discover that as you breathe and directly sense your experience you may notice deep contractions in your body. Perhaps you feel a sense of desperation and wanting to run away; maybe it feels as if your spirit wants to jump out of your body; when you are able to stay with your experience, you are building your frustration tolerance and your capacity to be with what is.
Therapy will provide you with the support to build this inner capacity. Therapy can also help you develop healthy relationships that will facilitate the healing of old relationship patterns. In time some of the fears of intimacy that usually accompany addictive behaviors, will become less overwhelming, and you will be able to have more fulfilling relationships.
At In-depth, our therapist are trained in mindfulness and somatic approaches as well as depth psychotherapy. Take your recovery to the next level and let us help you find a deeper sense of fulfillment and wellness in your life. Call us today at (415) 547-0608 to find out more about how we can support your recovery.