Lasting Addiction Recovery

Lasting Addiction Recovery

November 4, 2014

Treatment for addiction has been proven to be effective. However, it is common for people to relapse during treatment or shortly after treatment. Finding ways to consciously continue to make the effort to fight addiction is a strategy we need to focus on during treatment.

If we don’t make recovery motivating and rewarding, people suffering from addiction won’t find a sense of meaning to why they are stopping the behavior. Using ‘positive recovery’ allows a balanced approach of fighting the disease, but also finds elements that make life worth living.

If a person does not know how to pursue an element of happiness, addiction is most likely going to occur to void that struggle and create happiness. Happiness is cultivated over a lifetime of creating good habits, building character, and adding to one’s own and other people’s well being. These positive-habits over time become automatic with a person and essentially become who you are.

Martin Seligman is a psychologist who created the PERMA model for creating lasting recovery from addiction. Addiction develops when human being seek out the following through drugs:

“P” Feel Positive Emotions

Savor moments of pleasure and attempt to make it last

Using your signature strengths, those who use their highest strengths achieve more success than when they spend their energy trying to raise deficits. These strengths are extremely important in recovery because they help determine how you think, feel, and behave in venerable situations.

Create high-quality connections, any situation s a chance to build a connection.

Directing attention positively, direct your negative thoughts with meaningful actions

Limiting Stress, develop goals to help eliminate stress. Goals help guide you and prioritize the important things that need to get done.

Practicing gratitude, become thankful for the things you have in life. Practice describing what you are thankful for and showing those around you that you are thankful for them.

“E” Generate flow- like experiences

This happens when we become so involved an activity, we lose track of time. By challenging yourself, you are more likely to enter the flow state. These experiences can increase self-esteem, which can lead to lasting recovery effects. It is important to find things that challenge you but do not overwhelm you.

“R” Be accepted, from relationships

Naturally we are driven around social connections. Creating friendships and connections allow us to gain resources that make life more enjoyable. Social relationships will help you improve health, longevity, and overall well-being. People who have good friends and relationships are less likely to experience loneliness, sadness, low self-esteem, and troubles with eating and sleeping. All of these behaviors result in challenges with fighting addiction and create an easy Segway to fall back into addictive behaviors.

“M” Discover meaning in life

As humans, we try to find meaning in everything we do. Meaning can be defined in two main parts- meaning and purpose. Meaning is thinking about it where purpose is the actions you take. This is how we as humans connect the past, present, and future events. These two things show us we can make a difference. People who choose to see that they have control over their choices, efforts and strengths, rather than chance, experience a life of happiness.

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