Substance use disorders disrupt your entire life. Even as you seek out recovery, there may be old habits that you’re tempted to indulge. Unhealthy coping mechanisms tend to beget relapses, especially if they go unaddressed for an extended period of time. Luckily, coping skills treatment can help you regain control of your life.
Learning new skills to tackle everyday problems is part of the recovery process. To learn more about coping skills treatment in Los Angeles, you can call Virtues Behavioral Health at 855.579.8599.
Coping Skills and Substance Use Disorders
Substance use disorders tend to transform your brain on a neurological level. As you fight to recover, you’ll find yourself facing down old habits in addition to biologically based cravings. Learning how to conquer those cravings and embrace new habits is part and parcel of the recovery process. That doesn’t mean that it’s easy, though.
Instead, it’s in your best interest to rely on your community as you learn to cope with your needs. The experts at California substance use disorder treatment programs can help assess your behavior and let you know what coping mechanisms you need to transform and which may help you improve.
Finding Your Coping Skills
No two people share the same combination of coping mechanisms. While there may be an array of coping mechanisms that tend to work well for people recovering from substance use disorders, you’ll want to work with an experienced professional to determine which means suit you best.
You can find the best coping mechanisms for your needs by first assessing your interests and desires. Consider, for example:
- What do you like to do for fun?
- How do you deal with stress?
- What activities outside of substance use make you feel good?
- What behaviors help you improve your self-image?
The coping mechanisms that are best for you are the ones that improve several aspects of your life. Exercise, for example, is a coping mechanism that many people use to overcome anger, stress, and cravings.
While not all forms of exercise are fun, you can find an exercise program that appeals to your abilities and sense of play. When you combine these two interests, you’ll have an easier time building a new habit and subsequently ridding yourself of older, unhealthy ones.
Coping Skills Treatment Throughout Your Recovery
As mentioned, the catalog of coping mechanisms available to you throughout your recovery is varied. That said, recovery professionals may recommend personalized versions of some of the most common coping mechanisms currently in use today. These include:
Positive Thinking
Training your brain to reject negative thinking takes a lot of time. However, the practice has a notable impact on your mental and physical health. A coping skills treatment in Los Angeles can teach you to reject the negative thinking integrated into your brain by consistent substance use and relearn your ability to love yourself.
If you have the tools to remind yourself that your life is valuable and that your efforts are worth it, then you’ll have a better chance of preventing future relapse.
Improved Self-Care
There’s been a rise in self-care trends over the past decade. It’s about more than bubble baths and eating well. The process of learning self-care as a coping mechanism is all about reconnecting with yourself.
Self-care, more specifically, consists of a series of deliberate, personalized behaviors meant to make you feel good about yourself. To improve your self-care, you need to determine a) what parts of your life you want to improve and b) how you can make yourself feel good throughout that improvement.
For example, your version of self-care as a coping mechanism may include regular exercise partnered with dietary cheat days. Another person’s self-care day may involve online shopping and watching their favorite television show.
You can use self-care to reward yourself throughout your recovery process. So long as your self-care is healthy and engaged in moderation, this coping mechanism can be a positive force for improvement in your life.
Discover Healthy Coping Skills at Virtues Behavioral Health
You don’t have to try and learn new coping mechanisms on your own. The team at Virtues Behavioral Health is ready and waiting to help you live a healthier life. You can call 855.579.8599 to learn more about the coping skills treatment in California available through Virtues Behavioral Therapy today.
