Letting Go of Negative Emotion in Meth Addiction Treatment
People who struggle with a meth addiction have a difficult time regulating their emotions. They experience problems managing anger and wrestle with expressing it in appropriate ways. Unfortunately, growing anger can push meth users to relapse, as they turn to drugs in order to mask emotions they cannot adequately cope with. This becomes an endless cycle of using meth to cope with strong anger and then developing more shame and rage because of continued meth use. In order to make the most of meth addiction treatment, it is crucial that you learn to control your anger in a healthy way.
Why Do Meth Addicts Find It Hard to Regulate Their Anger?
There are several ways that meth use impacts expressions of anger, including the following.
- Addicts project anger at themselves onto other people and situations.
- Addicts often fail to learn how to appropriately express anger in childhood.
- The addiction itself undermines emotional stability.
- Addicts refuse to confront negative emotions attached to traumatic events. Then, their anger builds and they develop resentments.
How Do Addicts Express Anger?
When someone turns to meth addiction to deal with their anger and frustration, they aren’t able to express these feelings normally. Before treating meth addiction, they:
- Become overly aggressive or physically violent
- Make threats of violence
- Punish other people through emotional blackmail
- Plot revenge over perceived slights.
- Numb themselves for as long as possible and then blow up
How Can Addicts Work on Appropriately Expressing Anger While They Are Treating Meth Addiction?
During meth addiction treatment, addicts learn to cope with their feelings without turning to meth use. They learn to:
- Walk away from arguments
- Physically channel their anger into activities like running and hitting a punching bag
- Use non-defensive assertive statements to communicate
- Take deep breaths to remain calm
- Objectively evaluate situations
- Avoid toxic situations and people
- Express their anger through creative endeavors, like journaling or sketching
The LGBT Community and Meth Addiction Treatment; Treating Meth Addiction within this Population
Every patient who enters a meth addiction treatment program should receive their own individualized treatment plan, which assigns specific interventions based upon the needs of the patient and the particulars of their addiction. This focused care has been shown to yield the best outcomes long-term. Another layer of specialization is added when patients choose to attend a program that services a specific group, like members of a gender, age group, or religion.
Research indicates recovery success is helped when the issues that these separate demographic groups face are addressed and embraced as part of the effort made at treating meth addiction. This is why there has been an emergence of targeted clinical practices for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, or the LGBT community.
How Are LGBT People Treated in Medical Environments?
Historically, members of this group have had their healthcare needs overlooked. Some are even flatly denied treatment by physicians who are uncomfortable with aspects of the lifestyle or who lack training in this area of treatment. This includes meth addiction treatment.
What Do LGBT People Need?
It is vital that LGBT members struggling with meth addiction have access to treatment that is staffed by professional, compassionate experts. The rehab environment must respect sexual orientation, gender identity, diversity, and personal choices. Patients must be able to establish fresh social and emotional connections that can help them through recovery.
Is Meth a Problem in the LGBT Community?
Yes. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, meth use among people in this group has increased substantially in recent years. This is particularly true of homosexual men, male-to-female transgender individuals, and some groups of lesbians. This is particularly troubling because the meth use is linked to the HIV epidemic. It is often integral to the sex practices of a particular segment of gay men.
Given the popularity of meth use among a community so often ignored medically, treating meth addiction in a safe space if crucial.
The Holidays May Be the Best Time for Treating Meth Addiction; Don’t Let the Holiday Season Be Your Excuse for Avoiding Meth Addiction Treatment
The holidays are an emotional time of year. They bring up every possible feeling on the spectrum. There is nostalgia. There is stress. There is joy. And, for people struggling with meth addiction and the ones who love them, the emotion can skew more to the negative end of the continuum. There is more heartbreak than cheer and more anger and hurt than festivity.
However, even with all of the pain that meth addiction causes for families during this season, people still drag their feet and refuse to take action. Winter celebrations become one more excuse to avoid treating meth addiction. But, the reality is that this time of the year may actually be the best time to enter meth addiction treatment.
Inpatient Meth Addiction Treatment Keeps People Away from the Anxieties of the Outside World
No one wants to celebrate the Christmas in rehab. But, the pressures and temptations of this season are a particularly difficult burden to bear. Research consistently demonstrates the link between stress and addiction. In animal tests, exposure to stress causes animals who are used to drugs to return to using them and increases the use among currently exposed ones.
No time of year is more stressful than the holidays. Therefore, the alternative to treatment is to continue using or increase using meth and other substances as you try to limp through the season. This could cost you your life, a danger you don’t face in meth addiction treatment. Visit our main website to learn more.
An Absence from Work Is Easier to Plan
Logically, the winter holiday season is the best possible time to be absent from your job. Most employers anticipate a number of employee vacation and sick days during this period and they should be able to accommodate your stay in treatment as well as they would days of for a family vacation.
Rehab Will Renew the Way Your Family Views the Holidays
A family touched by meth addiction will view the holidays with nervousness. They won’t trust this time of year because it has been so marked by disappointments. Treating meth addiction in structured rehab can make this time of year one of renewal and change. It may be the start to reclaiming holiday joy.