Addiction recovery is a vital process for any individual who finds themselves to be struggling with an addiction – whether this is an addiction to a substance such as alcohol or cocaine, or to a behaviour such as shopping or gambling.
This is because all individuals should strive to overcome their addiction in order to avoid the negative consequences that a long-term struggle with addiction can cause.
All addictions worsen over time if they are not treated accordingly, requiring more and more specialised care as the individual progresses with their disorder and a longer and longer overall process.
During addiction recovery, individuals learn to overcome their addiction and to cope with the long-term consequences, often drawing on personal strengths and interests to supplement this recovery process.
In some cases, this can include spirituality and the inclusion of this within rehabilitative practises – something that this article will cover in more detail.
As mentioned across the introduction, addiction is something that can quickly worsen if an individual does not seek or enter suitable care.
This can include serious impacts to an individual’s physical and mental health – some of which can be life-threatening or lifelong if suitable care is not sought in an appropriate time frame.
Addiction can never be truly ‘gone’ or ‘cured’, but individuals can learn to cope with the effects of this and work toward a sober future with the right type of care for them. With suitable addiction recovery treatments, all individuals can work to combat the cravings and triggers that they may experience on a day-to-day basis.
Without the physical health impacts of addiction, individuals are far more likely to be able to go about their daily life in a more comfortable manner and experience less of the negative threats to their wellbeing.
Individuals recovering from addiction often report higher energy levels, a new lease of life, and a greater motivation toward physical health activities or therapies that they may have encountered or partaken in as a part of their rehabilitation.
Alcohol addictions, for example, have been long linked to conditions such as brain damage, coronary heart disease, and other cardiovascular disorders (1), highlighting the risks that individuals may be subject to without appropriate care and rehabilitation.
With many substance abuse disorders (SUDs) also comes mental health issues. This is because of the ways in which an individual’s substance abuse habits may directly impact their ways of thinking and the ways in which they view the world.
For example, if an individual develops an addiction as a coping mechanism, then this often does not aid the problem and can lead to a lower and lower view of the world, often resulting in conditions such as depression and, in extreme cases, other mental health issues such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Addiction itself is considered to be a mental health issue (2), but it often co-occurs with additional mental health issues, adding to the specifics and risks that individuals must focus on during rehabilitation.
So how can an individual benefit from their own beliefs and spirituality during rehabilitation?
In most cases, the beliefs and spirituality can greatly aid one’s experience of addiction rehabilitation due to the ways in which it can influence how an individual perceives their experiences and relations to their own lives.
Spirituality itself refers to a person’s pursuit of meaning in their life, often including concepts of higher powers, forces beyond our control, and the nature that surrounds us. It is not always related to religion but can be in some instances.
By drawing on one’s own spirituality, individuals are able to boost their experiences of rehabilitation and apply different concepts to their overall recovery journey – something which greatly benefits an individual and increases their experience of what they get out of their rehabilitation programmes.
As spirituality is a concept that is entirely personal and not often tangible, it can therefore be challenging to see how to implement this into an individual’s recovery programme.
However, this is why it is important that rehabilitation programmes are specialised to each individual case and there are no ‘one size fits all’ approach to care.
Some stages of rehabilitation allow this more than others, and this is what the remainder of this article will cover, separated into each of the three key stages of rehabilitation and how these each might be implemented.
During detoxification, the process is generally dictated by the individual’s history of addiction and the withdrawal symptoms that they may experience as a result of this history.
Withdrawal symptoms can often be unpleasant or uncomfortable for the individual as a result of the substance that the individual is addicted to leaving their system and slowly being replaced and recovered within the body.
During these unpleasant or uncomfortable experiences, an individual’s spirituality may allow them to view their experience differently, perhaps giving them comfort or solstice during these experiences.
In all cases, Rehab 4 Addiction suggests that individuals are supervised during a detox session and this can also apply to spiritual approaches to coping with withdrawal symptoms – something which individuals should seek further information about if they feel that this may be especially beneficial to them.
Making up the majority of an individual’s time in rehabilitation, therapy is one of the key stages in which spirituality can make up a large proportion.
Many treatments during this stage are highly specialised to the individual’s specific needs and requirements of care, meaning that if an individual is particularly spiritual, then this will be drawn upon and used to aid the individual in their overall recovery.
Holistic treatments such as meditation and yoga, for example, lend themselves particularly well to this venture; these therapies often allow for a large amount of time reframing one’s perspective and drawing on different spiritual practises and theories to support recovery.
Even after an individual has completed the majority of their rehabilitative treatments, there is space for ongoing treatment and support long after an individual has left residential treatment, for example.
Aftercare refers to any further treatments that an individual partakes in and can be as supervised or as independent as the individual needs, sometimes including specific spiritual practices and group sessions in which spirituality is a key teaching point.
In any case, an individual’s spirituality can be a great addition to their ongoing learning and recovery regarding addiction and its associated effects.
If you or anyone else you know may be struggling with addiction, then Rehab 4 Addiction is happy to help.
With years of experience in supporting individuals to find the most suitable rehab programme for them, our team is ready and waiting to support any individual in getting the help they need with the specifics for care that they require.
Call our addiction support hotline on 0800 140 4690 today to find out how to start your rehabilitation journey and work toward a sober future.
[1] Cargiulo, T., 2007. Understanding the health impact of alcohol dependence. American journal of health-system pharmacy, 64(5_Supplement_3), pp.S5-S11.
[2] Franjic, S., 2021. Alcohol addiction brings many health problems. Asean Journal of Psychiatry. S, 1, pp.1-6.
Boris is our editor-in-chief at Rehab 4 Addiction. Boris is an addiction expert with more than 20 years in the field. His expertise covers a broad of topics relating to addiction, rehab and recovery. Boris is an addiction therapist and assists in the alcohol detox and rehab process. Boris has been featured on a variety of websites, including the BBC, Verywell Mind and Healthline. You can connect with Boris online at LinkedIn or X.com.
