Dealing with strong emotions can be challenging. This is often a contributing factor for those struggling with substance abuse issues. What starts as a way to blow off steam after a tough day can become the only way you know how to handle anger, stress, or fear.

When you enter an alcohol or drug rehabilitation program, you’ll begin dealing with these complicated feelings in newly found sobriety, which can pose additional challenges and risks.

Struggling with Anger in Recovery

One of the most powerful emotions you might experience is anger. Anger has the potential to elicit incredibly self-destructive behavior. When anger is repressed, it can erupt suddenly or build up slowly, eating you up inside and leading to physical ailments like headaches, neck pain, and back pain.

Anger doesn’t just affect you personally. It manifests differently from person to person and affects those around you. While some lash out verbally, others may struggle with the urge to escalate things to physical confrontations.

Buried resentment, family issues, and unresolved trauma are often explored in addiction recovery, and you could find yourself struggling with anger you thought was put to rest long ago.

While uncomfortable at first, facing this anger and working through it during addiction treatment will help you heal and avoid powerful relapse triggers in the long run.

Dealing with Other Difficult Emotions in Recovery

Some other emotional challenges you might face in recovery can include:

Fear

When you return to the workplace or your home after treatment, it’s common to have some fear or anxiety about others’ reactions.

What will people say about you? Will they treat you differently? Fear can paralyze you—keeping you from making progress on your recovery journey.

Treatment aims to address your fears and help you learn ways to cope with them when returning to your routine.

Guilt

You will likely have strong feelings of remorse as you come to grips with your behaviors while addicted. Part of addiction recovery includes facing the guilt you feel about any physical, emotional, or financial damage you caused.

Forgiving yourself and trying to make amends with loved ones will allow you to start fresh with a clean slate after treatment.

Shame

Shame is a powerful feeling that can make you feel like something is wrong with you. You might isolate yourself from another human contact because you feel unworthy of love. Shame damages your self-esteem and can cause you to retreat from support when you need it most.

Addiction treatment helps you confront that shame and develop techniques to put an end to it once and for all.

How to Manage These Feelings in Addiction Recovery

When you notice these feelings, try to be mindful of what’s triggering them. Are they related to behaviors or situations you have the power to change? Are you reacting to loneliness, hunger, or a toxic relationship?

Emotions are part of living. They’re natural. But feelings like guilt and shame are also temporary. How you react can have far-reaching consequences, so try to keep everything in perspective. Drugs and alcohol don’t actually help you deal with these feelings; They only push them aside temporarily.

Activities like these can help focus your mind and strengthen your resolve to face complicated feelings head-on:

• Breathing exercises
• Journaling
• Meditation
• Music
• Physical exercise
• Playing with a pet
• Talking about your feelings with a friend, family member, or therapist
• Walking
• Yoga

Get Help Dealing with Emotions at Cycles of Change

When you need help with addiction recovery and coping with complicated feelings, Cycles of Change is here for you. In our treatment programs, we work with clients to understand the underlying causes of addiction, identify emotional triggers, and protect themselves against relapse.

Our compassionate team understands that no two people or situations are alike, so we customize our treatment plans to meet your unique needs. We also work with families to begin the healing process for those impacted by addiction.

Talk to one of our experienced addiction specialists today and take the first step towards a healthier life.

Many of us are familiar with the English children’s fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs.  There were three little siblings pigs that each built houses made of straw, wood, and bricks. Along came a big bad wolf that knocked successively on each home, telling the pigs to open up the door or he will blow their houses down. Naturally, the pigs don’t open the doors to their places. However, the wolf blows down the house made of straw, and then the house is made of wood. Luckily, the residing pigs managed to find refuge in the third house, which was made of brick and belonged to their brother. The wolf made his way over to the house made of brick, knowing that there were three little pigs inside, and he demanded that they open the door. The third little pig refused (while his brothers cowered in terror), and the wolf said, “Then I will huff and puff and blow your house down!” Well, it’s hard to blow down a house made of bricks, and in the end, the wolf decides to get into the house by crawling down the chimney, unaware that the third little pig has outsmarted him. The horrible wolf falls into a pot of boiling water, and the pigs eat him for dinner instead of the other way around.

Due to laziness, the first two little pigs did not build substantial houses. The third little pig worked very hard and made sure that he built a place that had a solid foundation. If we compare the story of The Three Little Pigs to Gresham’s Law and Alcoholics Anonymous, we can see an analogy between the different materials and methods that the pigs used to build their houses and various ways of working a 12-step program. And we can deduce that the wolf is a metaphor for drug addiction and alcoholism.

The three ways of working the 12-step program include a feeble way, which really amounts to not working the program at all. This could involve a person who goes to meetings but doesn’t work their steps or a person who hits a few sessions a month and manages to stay clean and sober, but according to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, suffers from being “restless, irritable and discontented.” This is a dry drunk syndrome, and it’s a miserable way of life.  A recovering alcoholic/addict who weakly works the program is like the little pig that built a house of straw! In the end, the wolf or addiction was able to blow the house down. People who ineffectively work the program are prone to relapse.

Then there are the people who work the program in a medium manner. Perhaps they go to regular meetings and have performed their steps. But other disorders might have popped up, including sexual addiction, gambling, or kleptomania. They are oblivious to these defects and still manage to stay clean and sober and consider themselves honorable members of the 12-step fellowship. Often these are the people who try to pick up newcomers at meetings or who try to use the program for their own devious motives. These people are comparable to the little pig that built a house of wood. And yes, the wolf managed to blow that house down, too!

And finally, the people who work a strong program are very similar to the little pig that toiled away and built a house made of bricks. This little pig provided refuge for his brothers and maintained serenity even when the wolf was at his door. In the end, the third little pig overcame the wolf. If we compare a person who works a strong 12-step program to that third little pig, we can ascertain that person will probably maintain their recovery while being happy and clear-headed, even when there is danger lurking around the corner.

At Cycles of Change, we offer a comprehensive 12-step approach, along with an evidence-based protocol that will help you build a strong foundation in recovery. We will teach you how to work a 12-step program the healthy way and help you learn tools that will help you find serenity, clarity, as well as lifelong sobriety.

While people with higher income levels are generally more able to sustain a daily cocaine habit, they’re not the only ones at risk for developing a strong addiction to the drug. Other than methamphetamines, cocaine is widely considered to be the greatest psychologically addictive drug available. It’s possible to become addicted after your first experience. If you’re concerned that you or a loved one might be addicted to cocaine, here are some of the people at greater risk for using the drug and some of the warning signs of addiction.

How Many People Are Using Cocaine?

14% of Americans admit to having tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime. By the time they’ve reached 12th grade, nearly 10% of high school seniors have experimented with the drug. This is especially concerning because people who use drugs at earlier ages are more likely to develop addiction issues later in life. Young men (ages 18-25) are the most likely to have used within the past year, and one in 40 Americans reported using in that same time frame.

What Kinds of Conditions Make Cocaine Use More Likely?

People who develop issues with cocaine addiction are often experiencing mental health issues like depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, gambling disorders, or alcoholism. When someone has two or more conditions like these, we refer to them as co-occurring disorders. You must receive treatment for all these issues concurrently, as treating only one leads to significant relapse rates.

Those who have some direct genetic link—a parent or sibling—who has struggled with cocaine addiction are much more likely to develop substance abuse issues. Cocaine addiction, in particular, is more common among people who feel pressure to be high performers in school or work life.

Warning Signs That Someone Is Using Cocaine

Since the highs are relatively short (15-30 minutes), cocaine binges can become common. The more you use, the stronger and faster the addiction takes hold. If you’re worried that a loved one is using cocaine, look for these warning signs of use and addiction:

• Restlessness or hyperactivity
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Paranoia
• Increased blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature
• Dilated pupils
• Nosebleeds
• Sleeping long hours

Treatment for Cocaine Addiction in Lancaster, CA and Las Vegas, NV

When you’re ready to break free from cocaine addiction, Cycles of Change Recovery Services is here to help you. Depending on how long and how much you used, your withdrawal symptoms may vary in severity. While unassisted cocaine withdrawal isn’t usually life-threatening, it can lead to higher relapse rates or overdose. Our compassionate team genuinely cares about your recovery, and we will do everything we can to reduce your pain and discomfort during the detoxification process.

With our residential rehabilitation programs in Palmdale, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada, you can recover in comfort. You’ll receive the tools you need for continued success, so you can keep making positive lifestyle changes. Take the first step on this recovery journey and talk to one of our addiction experts today.