Managing alcohol addiction can be very hard and can turn into a lot of unrest for family and friends. A lot of the times there are effective strategies how one can cope with a an addiction like this. It’s always important to have and plan, just as it’s important that you have people that support you.
But let us start with explaining what coping strategies actually are.
What Does Having Coping Strategies Actually Mean?
Coping strategies are some very powerful techniques. Usually they are used by people who need to deel with anxiety or stress of day-to-day life.
Note that coping strategies can be both positive as well as negative. Having negative coping strategies can be lead you into a spiral of more harmful habits and behavior over the long run.
There are 3 major categories of coping techniques:
- Behavioral
- Emotional
- Cognitive
But first of all, let’s start us with mentioning which are the healthy and unhealthy types of coping mechanisms.
Unhealthy Coping Strategies
First of all, we will discuss what are some forms of unhealthy coping strategies
Self-Blaming
This one doesn’t need an explanation. Self-blaming is without a doubt an unhealthy coping technique. You always need to be responsible for your mistakes. That’s the only way you can grow, and solve your probems.
Self-blame might even have the opposite effect and can lead to a decline in your confidence. And this will impact your ability to recover even further.
Denial
Instead of blaming yourself, you can even make it worse and be in denial. You won’t even accept you have a problem. This can lead to a lot of discomfort ovr the wrong run.
This can lead to the worsening of a situation and increased substance dependence.
Substance Abuse
When people have experiences a traumatic experience, they usually turn to substances such as alcohol and drugs. While this might help in the short term, and you ”think” you feel better, it actually has devasting results in the long term. People that struggle with anxiety, stress, depression sometimes develop an alcohol or drug addiction. This isn’t a solution.
Healthy Coping Strategies
Be aware of the unhealthy coping strategies, so you can avoid them as much as possible. Try to focus on these healthy coping strategies instead, because these can really help you.
Relaxation
Relaxtion techniques are very important, even if you don’t have any problems with addiction. It’s proven that they can have a significant impact on your wellness and recovery. Some examples of this are meditation, deep breathing and nature therapy.
Seeking Support
It’s a great idea to seek support. You might even find people who struggle with the same issues. Some experts can also provide you with the necessary guidance. Another great idea is to look fo support in remote alcohol monitoring systems and in-patient treatment.
Positive Reframing
Positive reframing involves thinking about a negative or challenging situation in a more positive way. Finding something to be grateful about in a challenging situation is a type of positive reappraisal.
What are some Helpful Coping Strategies?
This is probably the part that you’re the most interested in. Here are some examples of helpful coping strategies.
- Journaling daily to reduce stress and anxiety
- Create a support group to help you keep accountable (and help you build trust)
- Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises (mindfullness activities)
- Use a tool like Soberlink to help you.
- Learn to set boundaries and learn how to say no
- Exercising to fill the body with chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin.
- And much more …
These are just some ideasof helpful coping strategies. We hope this article will help you a lot.