Marijuana addiction treatment should address both the physiological effects of the drug and the psychological cravings that characterize addiction. While patients definitely need a medical professional to walk them through marijuana detox and guide through an intensive addiction treatment program, they can bring quite a bit to the table to help themselves avoid relapse and stay on track during the recovery process.

No one knows you better than you. You know your emotional responses to events and people, and you can identify when those emotional responses are serious enough to derail your intentions during marijuana addiction treatment. Relapse usually starts with a triggering event, followed by an emotional response and the compulsion to get high. Here’s what you can do to notice what’s going on and self-correct before you spin out of control.

Triggering Event

Triggering events are different for everyone. It can be something big like a death in the family or a pending divorce or something smaller in scale like someone cutting you off in traffic or speaking to you rudely. Depending on your mood, the smaller issues can glance off you without affecting you on some days and on others, they can cause serious upset.

If you know that certain things trigger a strong emotional response in you, figure out how to avoid them whenever possible. If a relationship is stressful more often than not and you constantly feel like you want to get high as a result, end the relationship. If a job causes you to feel bad about yourself or makes you angry, find a new job.

For the situations that you can’t change – say, your reaction to a family member – figure out how to mitigate the problem. Limit your contact as much as possible and create a plan for how you will handle it when the situation inevitably crops up – without smoking pot.

Emotional Response

Having an emotional response or reaction to an event or stressful situation is natural. How you express those emotions is defined by your maturity level. Throwing fits, screaming and yelling, or becoming violent in any way will do nothing to change the situation positively. Neither will indulging in the compulsion to get high. The answer is not to go to the opposite extreme and ignore those emotional issues or pretend that your fine. The best thing to do is find a way to vent in a healthy manner and let those feelings go in a way that won’t hurt you or anyone around you.

Compulsion to Get High

Everyone gets cravings every now and then during recovery. There’s no avoiding it. How you handle those cravings is key. If the triggering event and emotional response make you crave marijuana despite your best efforts, have another plan in place. Call someone. Distract yourself. Treat yourself in some other way. Do something –anything – else except get high. Don’t let anything come between you and your marijuana addiction recovery.

Tags: marijuana abuse, Marijuana Addiction, marijuana addiction help, marijuana addiction treatment, marijuana rehab

   

About Valeria W.

       

Valeria W. likes to consider herself "an encyclopedia" of addiction and rehab knowledge. Valeria lives to hear from people who have been positively influenced by her work - and sought out drug or alcohol rehab help as a result of the information she has provided.

Also written by: Valeria W.