Addiction Recovery Getting Back Life Skills   photo credit: Oslo In The Summertime

Addiction does a lot of damage to a person’s life.  Not only does it wreck havoc on a person’s body, it also affects relationships, money issues, and daily choices.  It’s about more than just breaking bad habits with drugs, it’s also about establishing healthy life skills.  Such is the challenge of daily living during addiction recovery. 

Addicted People Have Problems With Daily Life

Many people learn and practice daily life skills as children, getting better as they continue in their adult life.  They mature by using their judgment, learning from mistakes, gaining patience, and using time management.  For someone with addiction, these skills are somewhat lost or never learned well from the start.  People with addictions are often impulsive, especially when under the influence of a drug. This becomes the established habit, making it difficult to learn self control. 

Along with impulsively comes poor decision making skills.  People with drug addiction seem to keep repeating mistakes from them.  They wonder how the same bad luck continues to happen.  Their impulsivity seems to get the better of them;  they might either ignore warning signals or imagine that things will be “different this time”. 

As a result, drug addicts and alcoholics often have trouble with money.  They might spend a lot on their addiction, go on impulsive shopping sprees to make themselves feel better, or spend money while under the influence of their drug and forget what they did. 

Relationship skills are also affected greatly.  An alcoholic might end up with many sexual partners because they “hook up” while drunk.  They may also choose other drug addicts or alcoholics as relationship partners.  Instead of getting to know a person gradually, they have many rotten relationship experiences because of their poor judgment and impulsively. 

The impulsivity may sometimes come from boredom and a need to distract from their miserable feelings.  These dramatic distractions help to keep the focus off their real problems, which often include a lack of direction or purpose in their life. 

Drug Rehab and Healthy Life Skills

Drug treatment is really just the beginning of a lifelong journey.  Once a person completes drug rehab, they have a whole life ahead of them to live.  Certainly, they can’t do some things the way they did before, so they are faced with the enormous task of learning good long-term life skills that will allow them to have peace of mind.  Living a life of extreme emotions and  extreme behavior makes it hard to know what living “in the middle” is about.  California Sober Living homes help with this transition period.

What are some these basic life skills many people take for granted?  Here is a list of common life skills that people with addictions may need to learn or refresh.

• Planning money
• Resisting temptation
• Learning patience
• Organizing and prioritizing activities and focus
• Ability to know one’s limits (physical, emotional, mental)
• Getting along with others in public
• Getting and keeping a job
• Settling a conflict peacefully
• Helpful routines like laundry, personal care and sleep routines, schedule for work or kids’ school, taking care of medical needs

If the descriptions from above sound all too familiar, start the first part your addiction recovery process by contacting the Canyon.  If you also live with a mental illness, then you could not choose a better place to begin healing your life.

Once you are out of dual diagnosis rehab, it’s so important to have continued support with your recovery. Drug rehab certainly isn’t a cure, and much work continues as you create a sober life over the years. Many people have found 12-step support groups to be a big part of their recovery process. I’ll explain how they can support recovery, some advantages of a dual diagnosis support group, and where you can find more information about these groups.

Dual Diagnosis Group or Traditional 12 Step Recovery Group?

Of course, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to support groups. However, there are some groups that are offering help to those with the unique challenges of a mental disorder and a substance addiction. These dual diagnosis groups tend to share the general philosophies and approaches as the traditional 12-step groups. However, they do have a “unique advantage” according to a study in March of 2007 about dual diagnosis 12 step-based groups. Recovery is a lifelong process, and groups offer not only support but also strategies for common recovery issues. 

Dual Diagnosis Group or Traditional 12 Step Recovery Group?

Availability of dual diagnosis support groups is somewhat limited compared to other 12-step groups. However, if there is one in your area and you are in recovery from dual diagnosis problems, I strongly encourage you to check it out. More and more groups are being formed around the country as it becomes increasingly clear that dual diagnosis persons have some unique needs. 

The traditional support groups like NA and AA can still be beneficial for some people with a dual diagnosis. Each and every 12-step meeting is unique regardless of its particular problem focus. If this is the only type of support in your area, this can still be a good resource for you. The support group study mentioned above stated that the differences between dual diagnosis and traditional groups wasn’t as important as the support they provided. It is not unusual for someone to try more than onegroup because of their schedule, the mix of people that attend, or other factors. So don’t be discouraged - this is a personal journey and there is no way to know what fits until you just start with a group.
 
Dual Diagnosis Recovery Groups to Explore

Dual Diagnosis Anonymous began in California and seems to be expanding. The website looks somewhat new and parts are under construction. However, there is contact information, literature available, some good links, and even materials to start your own support group. It seems this is one to watch for, especially if you live in California. 

Dual Recovery Anonymous began in Kansas City, Missouri nearly twenty years ago. They have an extensive website with resource, a “meeting finder” feature, and even a bookstore. There seem to be meetings available in nearly every state and look like a fairly well established group. 
 
Recovery Anonymous is a bit different. This is aimed at folks who haven’t found success or a good fit in other self-help support groups. They welcome people with all kinds of problems including addictive overeaters, gamblers, drug and alcohol addicts, and people with mental disorders. Another unique features is that they also include any family members or other supportive people in someone’s life. Recovery Anonymous also focuses more on “restoration of sanity” and a “solution focus.” There is quite a bit of information there, so it is worth a look.

Double Trouble in Recovery does not offer any history on their website that I could find.  However, they have many long webpages that answer nearly any question you could have before visiting a group. There are materials available, contact information, and quite a bit about sponsorship. There is a link at the top of the main page about a list of meetings. It is apparently still be built, so check their site soon or use the contact information to find a meeting near you. 

What Do You Think?

Have you been to any dual diagnosis support group meetings? What’s been your experience there? Who has been to both a traditional recovery group and a dual diagnosis group? How would you compare the two groups? Are they mostly similar, or did you notice some important differences? 

Your input is especially valuable here since dual diagnosis support groups are more limited. It helps us to be more in touch with grassroots recovery efforts.