Developing Family Coping Strategies During Drug Addiction Recovery
Posted on: 18 August 2020
If you're one of many families that have watched a loved one relapse into addiction in recent months, you're not alone. Although the rate of drug and alcohol addiction has spiked, it's a good time to remember that whatever stands in the way can make you stronger.
In times of higher anxiety and stress, the opportunity arises to develop new coping skills that can assist you in your family. Families working together as a unit on drug addiction recovery will go far towards lowering the addiction rate.
Developing Meditation and Relaxation Techniques
Do you feel as if your family talk therapy is going nowhere? Like for all families with a member in drug detoxification, some walls seem insurmountable. Meditation can provide the breakthrough you seek by helping each family member develop new coping tools: compassion and empathy.
Buddhist meditators, for example, reach higher consciousness by meditating on compassion towards others. Vipassana meditation focuses on self-reflection and, importantly, the non-self, as part of the personal transformation process. Families that meditate on compassion alongside talk therapy are more successful at surmounting obstacles to drug addiction recovery.
Setting Healthy Relationship Boundaries
When the behavior of a family member changes, oftentimes the boundaries of our personal space change, too. If a loved one relapses into drug addiction, you may choose to spend less time with them. But you may not have the conviction to follow through.
Drug recovery counseling can help each family member understand their personal space and how it is changing. You may tolerate the space intrusion. When this happens, ask yourself whether your resentment and frustration come out in other ways. If your actions are not aligned with your heart, your best intentions may not be in the best interest of the recovering drug or alcohol addict in your family.
Reconnecting Over Family Sports Activities
One of the best coping strategies when dealing with drug addiction recovery in the family is to rediscover and develop family activities. When a teenager stops showing up for the Sunday morning family football scrimmage because he or she was out partying all night, family social gatherings can also unravel.
Sailing, golfing, bowling—family sports activities are a good opportunity to get some physical activity, laugh until you cry, and reconnect over traditionally cherished times. Your family drug addiction recovery counselor can help you create new and stronger coping strategies for better managing family dynamics and all aspects of your life.
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