What You Need to Know About Guided Imagery

Can going to your “happy place” help your recovery? While it’s a lot more complex than that, guided imagery is a type of therapy that involves visualization and guided images to create positive changes in thoughts and behaviors. 

More rehabs are using guided imagery as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. The mind-body intervention works by activating the connections in your brain, nervous system and visual cortex to impact your emotional and physical state. Guided imagery is often used with meditation and mindfulness.

Under the guidance and direction of a trained addiction specialist, an individual can learn to listen to someone else’s voice and consciously generate images in his mind to reduce stress and promote calmness. You can also use audio recordings, create your own recordings or use your inner voice and imagination.

The Academy for Guided Imagery (AGI) classifies guided imagery into three categories:

• Stress reduction and relaxation.
• Active visualization or directed imagery (for improving performance, changing behavior, or influencing an outcome).
• Receptive imagery (in which words and images are brought to consciousness to explore and give information about symptoms, treatments, moods or illnesses).

The Benefits of Guided Imagery

Guided imagery can help you relieve physical tension and psychological stress in minutes and be a healthy distraction from daily stressors. In this way, it can also help you develop a positive mindset and coping mechanisms for maintaining resilience during difficult times. Other study-proven benefits of guided imagery include: 

• Decreased need for pain medication
• Reduced fear and anxiety
• Better stress management skills
• Headache & migraine relief
• Improved sleep and reduced insomnia

Holistic Addiction Treatment by the Sea

Guided imagery is part of our alternative treatment schedule for both men and women at Complete Harmony. We also offer other complementary therapies, including yoga, meditation, mindfulness and acupuncture, in order to address every aspect of health: mind, body, spirit and social. To learn more, call today: 866-930-4673.

National Recovery Month: Stopping Stigma, Busting Myths

September is an important month for those of us in the recovery community. This is because it’s National Recovery Month, created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), and it’s a chance to celebrate your recovery and help stop the stigma and harmful myths surrounding addiction and addiction treatment. 

This year’s theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Invest in Health, Home, Purpose, and Community,” emphasizes community involvement and how we can all help educate and spread awareness that prevention is possible and treatment works.

Let’s face it: Having the courage to face your addiction and get help takes courage and hard work – and that’s even without having to address common misconceptions like addiction being a character flaw and there being a magic bullet or one-size-fits-all treatment. This is your month to honor your journey and those who have helped you find your way back to a sober, fulfilling life.  

“Each September, tens of thousands of prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and facilities around the country celebrate Recovery Month,” writes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). “They speak about the gains made by those in recovery and share their success stories with their neighbors, friends, and colleagues. In doing so, everyone helps to increase awareness and furthers a greater understanding about the diseases of mental and substance use disorders.”

What will you do this month to join the celebration? You can spread the word via FB, twitter or Instagram. Recoverymonth.gov has banners, flyers, and customizable posters to promote Recovery Month on social media. If you feel comfortable, you can even share your personal recovery story in the hopes of empowering someone else to take that brave step toward sobriety. There may even be a Recovery Month event going on in your area. If attending is not possible, there’s live streaming of some of the more notable events throughout the month.

There’s No Shame in Getting Help
September is your month to begin your recovery and take back your life! At Complete Harmony, we celebrate people in recovery and the professionals and loved ones who have helped make recovery possible. To learn more about dual-diagnosis or about rehabilitation for yourself or someone you love, call us today: 866-930-4673.