Recovery can be a roller coaster of emotions, especially during the early stages when you’re likely wrestling with feelings that have been kept away for years during active addiction. While a bit of emotional turbulence is perfectly normal, it can also be very dangerous to your lasting sobriety as well as to your physical, emotional and spiritual health. This is especially true if you don’t learn to find healthy coping mechanisms to manage these pesky feelings.
But before you take control, you need to know what you’re feeling and why. Here, we take a look at some of the most common emotions experienced by those in recovery.
- Anger: This is one of the most powerful and potentially self-destructive emotions of recovery. Some experts define depression as anger turned inward. This is because anytime we’re angry or feeling anger, there’s typically hurt behind that anger.
- Fear: Recovery and getting sober is scary. There’s likely a lot of unknowns and a lack of self-confidence that can cause a fear of failure. If left unchecked, fear can easily prevent you from your well-intentioned recovery plans.
- Shame and Guilt: Feeling guilty or shameful for a past behavior or action during active addiction is pretty natural and healthy. Excessive guilt, however, or constantly beating yourself up can lead to negative self-talk and low self-esteem and hold you back from recovery.
- Loneliness: Loneliness may have triggered your drug or alcohol use and it’s an emotion that can stick with you long after recovery. Most people describe the loneliness experienced during recovery as feeling alone, misunderstood, and uncared for – and this can even happen while loved ones are there to support you.
- Stress and Anxiety: It’s all too common to experience what feels like insurmountable anxiety or stress during early recovery. Your life is about to drastically change (for the good) and that can cause a very real sense of loss and worry. If your anxiety doesn’t eventually pass, however, you may be struggling with an anxiety disorder.
Rehab & Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Many individuals in recovery from addiction also deal with a co-occurring mental health condition. Using traditional and holistic therapies, we have a proven history of successfully addressing the secondary health challenges that complicate substance abuse. To learn more about our dual diagnosis treatment, call today: 866-930-4673.
