The Canyon

Stay At Home Moms & Drug Addiction

On the outside it may be unthinkable for a mother to abuse drugs or alcohol while caring for her children. The view from the inside, however, can be quite different. Raising children is the biggest, most important commitment you can ever make. Frequently, this task falls on the mother’s shoulders – or rather, her breasts, as breastfeeding is typically the main focus for an infant’s first three to six months of life. The father’s task, then, is to provide for the mother and child until they are both able to fend for themselves.

Quick Switch in Roles Leaves Women Feeling Lonely and Depressed

What may have been a modern, progressive living situation prior to baby’s arrival, reverts (quite literally) overnight into the ancient male/female, provider/nurturer roles. In a culture founded on equal rights and doctrines of non-discrimination, such an immense shift in personal values may leave Mom and Dad wondering where they went wrong.

Added to that sense of secret shame is a newfound, neverending workload of diapers, laundry, and dishes, endless nights without adequate sleep, constant pressure and performance anxiety, all rewarded generously with extra helpings of baby poop, vomit, and breastmilk covering every piece of clothing you own. Weight gain, fluctuations in hormones, enormous eating habits, and total lack of any free time whatsoever leaves Mom completely frazzled and exhausted. And that’s just on day three.

Depression Leads to Drug and Alcohol Abuse as A Way of Coping

Who wouldn’t love a quick reminiscence of “normal life,” a much needed break from waiting on everyone else hand and foot? When you’re bogged down in teething toys and dirty diapers, and you haven’t had a real conversation with another adult in days, it’s tempting to reach for the one thing you know will bring you instant relaxation.

If you already struggle with depression, mental illness, or drug addiction, being off your meds during pregnancy can invoke enough anxiety that you either withdraw or act out in unpredictable ways. Depression, and the general stress of motherhood, increases the likelihood of consuming drugs or alcohol as a way of controlling the chaos of your new life.

Quality Relationships Help Recharge Mom’s Batteries and Fend Off Depression

Questioning your own competence at being a new mother is perfectly reasonable, considering the skills needed to provide constant care to a child are ones that many people don’t have until they’ve been thrust into the limelight. Instinct (knowing you need to do something) is part of it, but experience (knowing what to do) carries much more weight.

Connecting with other moms who are going through the same crazy scenarios as you can provide a genuine sense of relief, not to mention support, encouragement, and valuable tips and tricks for making your everyday life a little easier. Alone time is also a must, so Mom can have the opportunity to indulge in something she enjoys and a chance to connect with her personal needs that otherwise would never be met.

Tell Us: What’s your favorite way to relax and stay connected to the things in life that bring you joy?

Relapse is a trying time for anyone afflicted with addiction.  Feelings of failure, low self worth, and hopelessness can certainly overcome a person who realizes they’ve taken a step backwards.  However, it really helps to take a look at relapse as a part of a bigger picture.  Relapse prevention is best done with a wide angle lens.

Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Some conditions can be cured with the right treatment.  Got strep throat?  Get some penicillin.  Got tonsillitis?  Take your tonsils out.  Some health problems cannot be cured at this moment in time.  We all hope that some day diseases like diabetes, asthma, and cancer can be cured forever once they are found inside a person. 

Unfortunately, that is not reality for any human being.  Cancer can come out of remission.  Asthma problems can come and go.  Diabetes needs careful daily monitoring.  This is much the same for addiction.  Unlike cancer, asthma, and diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction involves voluntary actions and consumption of toxins.  Even so, addiction has the potential to do as much damage as any other chronic health problem. 

Relapse Is Part of Addiction

Relapse is a natural normal part of addiction.  Of course, no one looks forward to it and many people do whatever they can to avoid it.  However, addiction has such a profound and long-lasting effect on the mind and body.  It is hard to completely erase any chance of relapse, even after years of sobriety.

In fact, the attitude that you have addiction for life could help you stave off relapse.  If you get into the “I’ve totally got this thing licked” mode, you may set yourself up to be blindsided by relapse triggers.  Acknowledging that you may continue to have various triggers through your whole life can help you understand the possibilities.

Self Discovery Helps Relapse Prevention

Making new discoveries about yourself keeps your brain “tickled” about who you are at the moment.  From moment to moment, who you are continues to develop.  You don’t just sit still in time, you change and evolve to account for the changes around you and personal changes inside you.  Or, you don’t make good adjustments, you stay focused on some kind of past moment for too long, and you lose sight of what really matters now. 

The things that are important in your twenties aren’t usually the same as when you are in your thirties or forties.  This progression continues upward as you age and see your environment change and grow.  The “aha” moments you have along the way are often unexpected - they are usually quiet moments of realizing and embracing a new thought, a new feeling, the truth that has been there all along. 

If all goes well, you will continue to evolve as you grow older.  You keep the good stuff and throw out the bad stuff along the way.  So of course, being in a constant state of self-awareness and renewal is a great way to keep yourself from getting stale and too far from reality.  And denying reality is what addiction does best.  Lies lies and more lies - before you know it, you are caught up in old beliefs, old patterns, and old problems. 

Relapse Prevention at Drug Rehab Help People With Dual Diagnosis

If you have struggled with addiction relapse too many times, you may need a different rehab experience.  Perhaps your untreated dual diagnosis is preventing you from having a long lasting period of sobriety.  Sound like you?  Don’t wait to get help - learn more about The Canyon dual diagnosis drug rehab.

Anxiety and Addiction

Anxiety is a pretty common response to something frightening, unknown, or somewhat dangerous.  Humans are built to have some anxiety to help keep their impulses under control, think twice before you make a move sometimes.  But what if even ordinary activities and interactions made you feel this way much of the time?  What if you turned to drugs and alcohol to calm your nerves?  Unmanaged anxiety and addiction can go hand in hand to cause a lot of problems.

Anxiety Disorders And Symptoms

Anxiety disorders can range from mild social or performance anxiety to panic disorders and agoraphobia.  As stated earlier, a little anxiety is pretty normal.  You do need to worry a little about what would happen if you paid your bills late, or if you didn’t get to work on time, or if you remembered to turn off the oven before you left town.  The usefulness of anxiety only goes so far.  When most things trigger the fight-or-flight response, it becomes difficult to tell what is really threatening and what is a false alarm. 

Anxiety symptoms can include many sensations including heart palpitations, sweating, clammy hands, a hot flushing feeling, tingling, shakiness, faintness, upset stomach, and diarrhea.  There are also lots of negative thoughts, “what if’s”, self-doubt, feelings of uncertainy and fear.  Some people who have panic attacks can feel so bad they believe they might be dying, having a heart attack, or losing control of their mind. 

How Would an Addict With Anxiety Look to Others?

A person with anxiety may isolate themselves, or limit their activities that cause their anxiety to get worse.  They may have the idea that if they don’t “push” themselves, they can prevent the anxiety from coming on.  They might make their personal world smaller and smaller, avoiding anything that might seem to difficult to cope with.  They might very well still feel anxiety, regardless of their self-limiting actions. 

They most likely do a lot of their drinking or drugging alone.  If they do need to be out in public and feel anxiety from this, they are likely to use just prior to or while being with others in the situations that make them uncomfortable.  And some drugs may actually make their anxiety worse, such as marijuana and stimulant use and coming off alcohol or another depressant.  The person is compelled to use more drugs to get rid of the uncomfortable anxiety sensations. 

Treatment For Anxiety and Addiction

Generally, a person can learn to manage their anxiety with cognitive behavioral therapy.  Often, anti-anxiety medication is used to help calm the mind and make physical symptoms better.  When a person with anxiety also has an addiction, it is important to get treatment for both together.  The reason for the drug use is tightly linked with the anxiety.  Getting a person sober without addressing their underlying anxiety problem will make sobriety difficult to maintain. 

The Canyon offers a full program for anyone suffering from anxiety and addiction together.  The beautiful surroundings, expert dual diagnosis staff, research-based addiction treatment, and the unique therapies help the whole person through the start of their recovery process.