One of the most common questions I get asked when people are struggling to quit drinking is:
It can be really demoralising when you end up drinking yet again, after promising yourself repeatedly that you’re done –
and especially when it doesn’t even do much for you anymore except leave you with a banging headache, writhing in a swamp of anxiety and shame.
We welcome stories from people about how they have overcome
struggles with addiction and turned their lives around.
This is Trevor’s story
People become addicts for different reasons.
In my case, throughout childhood and my teenage years, I couldn’t handle the inevitability of circumstances out of my control, and I never wanted to confront the things that truly hurt me.
Therefore, I turned to external factors to suppress pain, stress, and most of all – sadness. Naturally, I welcomed whatever outlet took the pain away with open arms – especially drugs and alcohol. [Read more…]
If you’re reading this post then the chances are you’re contemplating stopping drinking.
Maybe alcohol is only just starting to become a problem for you or maybe it’s wreaking havoc in your life. But whatever stage you are at, you’re likely to be experiencing a certain amount of fear.
This is totally normal and happens when we try to change anything.
The subconscious part of our brain works on a very basic principle – avoid pain and move towards pleasure.
It has no concept of time – it lives purely in the moment. And for your subconscious brain – alcohol equals pleasure and living without it equals pain and uncertainty
So as soon as you start to think about stopping drinking, this part of your brain anticipates the discomfort it’s going to feel and churns out endless reasons not to try: Continue Reading
If you are along the anxious attachment spectrum you will get ‘activated’ within close relationships. This means that your stress response system is constantly triggered. You will scan for signs of abandonment and tend not to trust other people’s motives. Because there is always a heightened sense of anxiety, you will probably struggle with worrying about what other people are thinking, doing, feeling and can end up looking for excessive reassurance. You will often feel a sense of unease and this can result in:
In my last post, I talked about the link between addiction and connection – or lack of it. And how our earliest experiences shape the way our brains develop and generate a specific ‘attachment’ style.
Knowing your attachment style and how it affects your thoughts feelings and behaviours can provide an incredible sense of relief. It can help you to start making sense of the struggles that you have and can give you a focus of how to work through them.
Attachment theory is fast becoming the leading theory on why we are prone to a whole host of psychological issues including depression, anxiety, relationship conflict and addiction. Attachment theory is not new; it has been around for decades. But what IS new is the validation it now has from research in neuroscience.
So what is it exactly?
In a nutshell, the type of attachment bond we have with our caregivers in the first few years of life dictates how we live, love and learn for the rest of our lives. Or as John Bowlby, the father of attachment theory, said “from the cradle to the grave” [Read more…]
An essential part of overcoming anxiety is to address negative thinking patterns that drive it. This might seem easy in theory, but if you’ve lain awake at night trying to stop worrying or replaying a situation over and over again, you know it’s not an easy task. But it can be done. The first step is to identify the type of unhelpful thoughts that you have. There are eight types of dysfunctional thinking patterns or cognitive distortions as they are called – that have been found to relate directly to anxiety. Catastrophizing – This is probably the most common form of unhelpful thinking that fuels anxiety. It involves always imagining the worst case scenario and often starts with “what if…..?” What if the plane crashes? What if I make a fool of myself? What if I lose my job? [Read more…]
The link between addiction, anxiety and depression has long been known. Essentially, if you have one, you are highly likely to have the others. But what is emerging from neuroscience research is how intricately they are all connected and how the stress hormone cortisol can hard-wire the brain to make a person vulnerable to all three.Cortisol is one of the primary hormones released when we are anxious or stressed. Its job is to provide extra energy to deal with the stressor. It does this by partially shutting down certain systems, such as the digestive system and the immune system and flooding the body with glucose. Along, with adrenaline, cortisol is responsible for the body sesnsations we get when we experience fear, anxiety and stress – rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, chest pains, tingling in the arms and hands, dizziness and butterflies in our stomach. Although these feelings are uncomfortable, they are our body’s way of giving us the strength, focus, energy and numbness to pain in order to help us get out of life threatening situations. This is all well and good when we actually have the ability to deal with and take action to remove the stressor but what happens when we can’t? [Read more…]
Jane has an MSc in psychotherapy and counselling from Middlesex University in England and a BSc (hons.) in psychology.
Her training is in existential psychotherapy, which is person-centered and focuses on the therapeutic relationship as a catalyst for change.
She also uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness as a way of helping clients to manage psychological and emotional challenges in life.
She is a member of the BACP (British Association of Psychotherapy and Counseling) and the BPS (British Psychological Society).
Jane is currently based in Dorset, UK, where she regularly conducts yoga and mindfulness courses.
Her main area of work has been within drug and alcohol services and with adult survivors of childhood abuse.
Before joining Recovery From Addiction Online as Jane worked at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in Thailand.
She has also worked in private practice in London, working with adult survivors, Substance Use Disorders and other co-occurring conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and relationship counseling.
Sheena has recently joined Recovery From Addiction as our trainee counsellor.
She is currently studying for a Masters in Counselling through Monash University, Australia, and aims to have completed her studies by early 2018.
Sheena’s interests lie in attachment theory and how early childhood experiences create vulnerabilities for addiction, anxiety and depression. Her own experience with anxiety and depression allows her to bring a deep non-judgmental understanding and empathy to her client work . She helps to empower clients by addressing the limiting beliefs and emotional difficulties that prevent them moving forward to a better life.
Sheena is currently based in Ottawa, Canada, where she lives with her husband and two children.
As part of her on-going training, Sheena is available to provide sessions at a reduced rate. Please contact us if you would like more information.
There is no single effective treatment for addiction and any facility or treatment professional who claims otherwise needs to be given a wide berth. Addiction arises from a multitude of biological, psychological, social and spiritual reasons and can vary in nature and severity from person to person. Effective treatment needs to take into account what is driving and maintaining the addiction for each person individually, and use interventions which specifically target the underlying problems. In effect, you need to treat the person not just the addiction.
