recovery

SMART Recovery is an intuitive approach to rehab and detox that resonates well with the modern culture of San Diego and encourages self-empowerment and recovery. As the world keeps changing, evolving, and becoming more interconnected, we’re seeing cultures blend and merge. As we’ve seen these changes resonating within our own community, we’ve had to take a close, hard look at the traditional way of doing recovery and how programs like our SMART recovery and rehab in San Diego can offer an inclusive recovery experience for a more diverse modern population.

The Traditional Rehab and the SMART Rehab

The 12-step is a timeless program that’s been invaluable for thousands of communities across the globe. The strong focus on faith resonates with many communities, but can also detract people of differing beliefs. SMART Recovery is a newer but proven method of recovery that can be catered to meet individual needs, values, and beliefs. Whereas the 12-step evokes traditional Christian values of faith and spiritual community, SMART focuses more on leading a fulfilling and balanced lifestyle that evokes self-love and follows the values that matter most to your ideal life. Once we understand the values that matter most to our lives, it becomes easier to understand how our own mindset can be detracting us from our ideal life. That is the underlying theme in SMART Recovery.

The ABC’s of SMART Recovery

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a common treatment in rehab, focusing on learning to identify changes in our body, such as anxiety and stress, and defuse those feelings in a healthy way. In SMART Recovery, a particular style of CBT is used, called Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). REBT takes the concept of CBT and boils it down to its bare bones. We learn that humans react to life events based on their current mindset, called the ABC model. A– Something happens (Activating event). B– Our Beliefs shape our opinion and emotional reaction to the event. C– Consequences happen because of our belief.

Let’s say a bad thing happens at work, a customer yells at you. As you can imagine, having a positive Belief in this situation, such as “Angry people have a problem that I can solve” or “I’m a good employee, and haven’t done anything wrong” can have a very different outcome than a belief like “I can’t lose an argument at any costs,” and the resulting Consequence will be very different.

SMART Recovery on Irrational Thinking and Life Acceptance

We react poorly to life events when we hold unrealistic expectations about ourselves, others, or how life should be. Although we might have a particularly tough or stressful day, and have moments of weakness, our overall emotional responses to life stressors should be rational, with a specific goal in mind. Understanding REBT can help us make healthy, progressive decisions with the right emotional values.

SMART recovery takes these basic understandings and uses them to craft a “4-point plan” to hold motivation, overcome urges, maintain healthy thoughts and feelings, and lead a balanced life. The ultimate goal of SMART recovery is to overcome addiction by learning to accept yourself, accept others as they are, and accept life as it is, and approach life with the right mindset to handle the world as it is.

If you’re interested in learning more about SMART rehab and recovery in San Diego and how it could help you overcome urges and addiction, call us at (619) 639-7325.

Thousands of people seek out rehabilitation and detox in San Diego every year because a professional rehab can offer people the psychological skills and medical support to overcome their addiction. Residential detox and rehab can offer a community of support, certain luxuries, and benefits that you wouldn’t find in your local community or amongst your traditional support network. An echo-chamber of positivity, however, doesn’t foster the right mentality for recovery. Rather, long-term recovery often means developing a number of skills to not only identify the sources of addiction but also how to transition out of rehab, back into the very environment where you first became addicted.

How Rehab Prepares You to Get Out of Rehab

The world doesn’t change while you’re in rehab. The elements of your life that may have encouraged you to rely on drugs and alcohol will still be in place until you develop the inner strength and fortitude to overcome or change them. Outside the comforts of a rehab facility, you will not have around the clock support and while you may have providers to help you, there are no doctors, nurses, or staff dedicated to your care 24 hours per day to make sure you stay abstinent. The responsibility has to shift back to you as you reclaim your independence from drugs and alcohol. Rehab prepares residents for this in one of three ways: establishing an internal locus of control, providing therapy tools, and building your recovery network.

Dependencies and Locus of Control

In behavioral health, there is a term called a Locus of Control (LOC). In less technical terms, the LOC is whether we feel that our life is controlled by outside forces, such as family, government, or social circles, or whether we feel responsible for the outcomes of our own lives. A large part of rehab focuses on developing an internal LOC and helping you feel comfortable and confident in making consistent positive changes to your life that will encourage recovery from addiction.

When we’re dependent on a substance our LOC is focused on the factors that provide us with that substance. If we can’t find or afford a hit, it can trigger stress, frustration, and a number of other negative emotions. If our LOC is internalized, however, we can manage our own emotions, monitor our feelings, and make smart decisions independent of physical cravings.

The Transition Out of Rehab

Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are essential tools for managing our own cravings as we exit a rehab and recovery program. Mindfulness is the ability to be present and to accept yourself as you are, with all the emotions, the physical pains, cravings, and thoughts that come with addiction and the human condition. CBT, is a therapeutic process that can be done on your own or supervised, that helps you interpret the many messages your body is sending you. Through sore muscles, cravings, nausea, and a host of other experiences, your body is reacting to chemical changes. Understanding these imbalances, and being able to process them calmly is essential in managing cravings and abstinence.

Lastly, AToN Center promotes the use of community support programs such as, Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, Refuge Recovery, and Life Ring. Alumni find that developing sober support networks post-recovery is critical to their success. Support networks can provide accountability, dependence, and guidance when you need it most.

If you’re in the San Diego area and considering rehab, we strongly encourage you to call us directly at (619) 639-7325 to find out more information.

As a society, our ability to manage difficult emotions seems to be diminishing. When coupled with trauma, addiction, or substance dependency, this can be deeply toxic to our physical, emotional, and social health. Dealing with anger, coping with grief, and experiencing emotional recovery are all essential parts of a comprehensive treatment program, and it’s one of our main focuses at our San Diego detox program.

Death, Trauma, and Grief Coping with Substance Use Disorders

Rage, grief, sorrow, and depression are universal, tangible emotions that everyone experiences. In the US, however, we’re often raised to be “tougher” than our emotions, leading many people to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms when they don’t have healthy, normal channels for their feelings. Grief and trauma can leave severe, lasting impacts on every aspect of our health. One study following urban children who experienced childhood trauma found shockingly high rates of substance dependence in this same group years later. Of this population, 39% were dependent on alcohol, over a third had a cocaine dependency, and 6.2% were dependent on opiates. When acute trauma like death or disease in friends or family isn’t addressed, coped with, or managed, it can develop into a more serious post-traumatic stress disorder.

Veterans, who often experience these immense stressors as a daily part of their job, are most susceptible to the long-term negative consequences of burying their emotions. As the Department of Veteran Affairs themselves puts it, “Almost 1 out of every 3 Veterans seeking treatment for SUD also has PTSD”. With major naval and marine facilities in the area, it comes as no surprise that detox programs in San Diego are more needed than ever to cope with the severe trauma many soldiers endure.

As we let these traumas linger without care, we risk becoming dependent on immediate, short-term coping mechanisms, like drugs and alcohol. The euphoric state these chemicals can trigger often help to bury our most painful emotions, but never truly relieves our burden. Much like a weed, the deeper we bury these unhealthy emotions, the further they spread. Repressing our emotions is an unhealthy grief coping mechanism that almost always leads to more problems.

AToN’s Detox Program in San Diego

As our culture shifts and changes, the old way of treating addiction isn’t keeping up with the needs of our community. San Diego detox and residential treatment centers have to be prepared to care for a society that is both fiercely independent, and dealing with serious, buried traumas. Many people feel they have a stronger support system than they really do because internet forums and a larger quantity of lower-quality connections give us the illusion of a dense support network while leaving us emotionally vulnerable when we need a human connection most.

Lack of Authentic Communication

Social media and stronger internet involvement have technically made us more “connected.” At the same time, a report in the UK’s Mental Health Foundation found that more and more often, people are experiencing what they consider “chronic loneliness.” Simply put, we don’t have the same quality connections with other people that generations before us may have had. We do most of our talking through forums, memes, emails, and social media. This lack of authentic communication, coupled with economic uncertainty and a million other factors, has led us to be more emotionally reclusive, reserved, and even cynical than ever before in history.

AToN Recovery focuses on helping us re-establish our emotional roots so we can deal with them, rather than burying them indefinitely.

People have a natural tendency to shut down and block things out under enormous pressure. Nowhere is that more dangerous than when dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. Men, and soldiers, especially are hammered with the idea that seeking help is emasculating. “Life will never stop throwing problems at you—learn to deal with them on your own!” Understanding this mindset provides some insight into why addiction and coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death among men, followed closely by substance use disorders. For women, these same causes of death are also rising at an alarming rate. The modern era has made us prolific and given us ways to connect with others globally, but somehow these innovations have actually increased our feelings of chronic loneliness and made us more likely to turn to ourselves and easy-reward systems, like drugs and alcohol, to temper our feelings of frustration, anxiety, or depression.

Loneliness, Addiction, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder has been one of the most challenging tasks for mental health experts, with the catalysts of constant global conflict, growing work-life imbalances, and ongoing stress, violence, and abuse in daily life. Many people suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder often try to avoid clinical treatment, turning to “self-medication” such as drugs and alcohol to numb symptoms. While this may provide a small, temporary boost in dopamine, or lower the underlying stress and anxiety for a short while, in turn it creates unhealthy patterns of dependency, and can quickly become dangerous. It never addresses the underlying trauma, and while living in a state of self-medication you might feel comfortable, this is generally short-lived and temporary relief. Eventually the “hits” from self-medication won’t provide the same comfort or euphoria, but barely sustain feelings of normalcy. Additionally, the withdrawal from self-medication often creates increased anxiety.

Chronic self-medication will never cure or heal post-traumatic stress disorders. Therapy can break down some of the barriers that we build in trying to avoid help. It can make our commitment stronger, improve outcomes, addressing the post-traumatic stress and the underlying trauma. Therapy and professional healing are the most effective ways to truly overcome the consequences of trauma.

Women, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder

One study by Reynolds, et al. found that a large number of people suffering with addiction were previously survivors of physical or sexual abuse, yet little research focuses on the actual traumas. Too often, experiences of severe trauma like this can make survivors turn to self-medication (and ultimately addiction). It can make survivors wary or afraid of authority figures, groups, or treatment programs. It’s important to understand that without proper medical treatment, some addictions can be dangerous to treat on their own, with severe withdrawal symptoms and high rates of relapse.

Therapy and treatment will help. You should never go day-to-day living in a state of suffering and anxiety, waiting for your next dose. Professional addiction rehab and recovery treatment options exist especially for those who have suffered severe trauma in their past, and with proper care in a safe environment, you can begin the recovery process one step at a time. If you know someone in need of recovery care, or treatment of a severe traumatic experience, we suggest you give us a call immediately at (619) 639-7325.