If you’re stuck at home, it might be a great opportunity to read, make art, or learn new skills. In times of crisis, it’s far too easy to focus on the negative, especially now, since all we see on the news is the rising death toll and the shortage of medical supplies to treat new patients. Angie Carter, CRADC, SAP is a certified reciprocal alcohol and drug counselor and DOT certified Substance Abuse Professional. She is in private practice at Carter Counseling & Consulting Services. Angie sees local clients in the office and is also available for telephone coaching and/or consultation. Click here to contact Angie with appointment requests, questions, or feedback.
We know how important it is to address the mental health of people struggling with addiction and the positive long-term effects it can have for them in recovery. Drug or alcohol addiction can have both immediate and long-term effects. Drug and alcohol abuse can strain relationships and negatively affect finances.
Recovery Support
They are so habitual that the thinker often doesn’t realize he or she has the power to change them. One of the most effective forms of psychotherapy for treating addiction is cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT is a short-term therapy that focuses on both the cognitive (thoughts) and behavioral (actions) of the individual by helping them modify thought-behavior patterns that are keeping them trapped in substance abuse. A big part of dismantling our cognitive distortions is simply being aware of them and paying attention to how we are framing things to ourselves.
For example, a 2010 study in the United States revealed that 70% of male prisoners used drugs, and can be correlated with the prevalence of substance use in men’s social lives, particularly alcohol. These distortions can be caused by insecurity, self-doubt, negative thoughts, and more. Our center for addiction treatment in Gilman is aware of these distortions and is sharing more information https://www.indian-affair.com/KundaliniYoga/ about what they are and how recovering addicts can overcome them. Those struggling with this distortion will only base their conclusions on a single incident. If something wrong happens once, they expect this to happen over and over again. If they experience a relapse in their addiction recovery, they might not go back to treatment because they feel it will just happen again.
Personalization and Blame
By replacing negative thoughts, we can increase positive feelings and actions. Both relate to being in control of every situation in someone’s life. In one, we feel externally controlled and see ourselves as helpless victims of fate. https://www.mpvumbria.org/2021/ In the other one, we feel internal control assuming responsibility for the pain or joy of everyone around us. This happens when someone jumps to conclusions without really knowing what the other person feels or is thinking about.
- Black-and-white thinking fails to acknowledge that there are almost always several shades of gray that exist between black and white.
- This increases the addict’s desire to seek and use drugs as a means of escape, reinforcing the isolation.
- The core theory of CBT is that thoughts create feelings, and feelings create behaviors.
- An individual at this point engages in substance use for the first time.
It is also recommended to supplement these methods with a variety of exercises to keep a person’s mind, body and spirit active and on the right path. The future is a mystery to all of us, and some things will indeed go badly. But when the expectation of failure becomes a habit or an instinct, the brain gets stuck in a rut of negativity and has a difficult time finding a way out. Such an attitude results in higher stress levels, lower motivation, and an increase in wasted energy. Professional success, happiness, social behaviour – these types of ideas are best measured as part of a spectrum, where progress is continuous and it matters whether failures are slight or major.
The Role of Spirituality in Recovery
Unfortunately, these negative thinking patterns can often be so subtle we don’t notice them until someone else points them out. Beck also developed the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that can help people struggling with negative thinking patterns. Through this treatment, patients can identify negative thinking patterns and distorted thoughts. The approach also focuses on assisting patients in shifting or reframing thoughts to be more rational and positive.
Here are some tips that can help to expose the thought errors for what they are, and to overcome them. There are several types of thinking errors that play a powerful role in substance abuse https://californianetdaily.com/contraindications-against-lpg-massage/ and addiction. The legitimacy of being addicted to overthinking may be up for debate by some, while others can attest to the daily suffering caused by being consumed by their thoughts.
Questions? Contact Angie at Carter Counseling
Unfortunately, our own thinking is typically the biggest source of anxiety. The following errors in thinking may be making you more anxious than you need to be. Listed below are 15 common thinking distortions which were created based on the theory that psychiatrist Aaron Beck put forth and that David Burns popularized by labeling each one. For the first one, overgeneralizing horizontally, as it were, you will probably find some aspects of recovery harder than others. That’s another phenomenal thing about the brain- it’s malleable, it will change to support your new habits. It will grow in the areas necessary, and it will prune the areas you are no longer nurturing, and all of a sudden you see yourself become a new person.
