Often, the reason individuals fall into struggles with addiction is due to a lack of healthy coping mechanisms for the stressors in one’s life. In addition to traumatic experiences, unhealthy or unstable environments, the genetic prevalence of addiction, and an inability to handle life stressors healthily can lead to chronic substance use. Additionally, negative habits that are learned later in life make it difficult for individuals to handle stressors as they become more intense. Eventually, people find themselves facing more intense circumstances like financial struggles or interpersonal issues within their relationships.
Many of the programs at The Ohana Addiction Treatment Center focus on teaching each client how to employ healthy coping techniques through mindfulness-based practices and holistic approaches to treatment. If you or someone you love has fallen into negative coping habits that have led to substance use disorder (SUD) or addiction, we encourage you to find help. Your recovery adventure can begin today.
How Unhealthy Coping Techniques Are Learned
Unfortunately, it can be incredibly easy for individuals to learn and fall into utilizing unhealthy coping habits and techniques. These unhealthy habits can be learned very early on in life, often as a result of traumatic experiences that are endured during childhood. Some of the unhealthy habits often learned during childhood include chewing your fingernails, sometimes overeating, and in other instances fits of rage and violence towards parents or other children. As children grow, many can develop different behavioral patterns as to whether they’re taught or simply because they’re maturing. However, for many, these negative coping techniques and behavioral patterns continue and most times intensify into adulthood.
Some of the negative coping responses adults may use include aggression or violence towards others, tobacco use, drinking alcohol, taking frustrations out on loved ones, and taking or misusing drugs. These habits are almost always learned during childhood because they are either observed or because positive techniques were not taught. There are many reasons why these coping mechanisms are negative. For starters, they have the potential to ruin the relationships in your life. They also increase the chances of reckless behavior that reap severe consequences, and they negatively impact your overall physical and mental well-being.
Regardless of how effective these mechanisms might feel in the moment, they are unreliable. Unhealthy coping methods have the potential to cause other kinds of stress to arise, and lead to long-term and chronic illnesses such as substance use disorder (SUD).
Healthy Coping Techniques for Stress
Unlearning some of these negative coping techniques can be very challenging, especially if they have turned into an addiction. There are many simple ways to healthily manage stress. For example, incorporating exercise and diet into your daily life can significantly reduce stress. Limiting the amount of time using screens or engaging on social media or engaging can also have several health benefits and decrease stress levels.
In addition to incorporating changes like these into your daily life, learning methods of mindfulness and meditation can also reduce stress level greatly. For some, this might include beginning yoga to focus on breathwork and different forms of meditation. Learning mindfulness-based techniques can be as simple as going for a walk for fresh air. Mindfulness is more about exercising your ability to concentrate on being aware of the needs of your mind and body, and learning to release the tension of what’s causing stress in your life.
How The Ohana Can Help
If you or someone you love has turned to addiction as a way of coping with the intensity of stressors in your life, you may consider seeking treatment at The Ohana Addiction Treatment Center. Our holistic therapy in particular is incredibly effective at teaching our clients positive coping techniques for handling stress and addiction. Through mindfulness-based therapy and practices, yoga, meditation, and even alternative treatment methods like ecopsychology, you’ll leave The Ohana with the necessary tools for dealing with whatever stress you may experience post-treatment.
Some say that it takes 21-days of doing something before it becomes habitual. If you have been struggling with addiction and other negative coping techniques throughout your life, the path to recovery may be long and hard. The beauty of The Ohana is that not only will you not have to go through treatment alone, but you won’t have to go through recovery alone either as you’ll always have the support of the Ohana you make during your time here. Don’t wait another day to find freedom from addiction and begin your recovery adventure with The Ohana today.
