How to Cope With Guilt & Shame During Recovery

Of course, substance abuse is not an effective coping mechanism. Getting drunk, high, or otherwise impaired accomplishes nothing except delaying the inevitable moment when the individual is forced to face reality. This often occurs in early recovery, once the person’s body and mind are free from the influence of addictive substances.

Eventually, the addiction will begin to hurt their loved ones. As a result, the person may start to feel shame. Generally, guilt causes addiction and addiction causes shame. Guilt can be a great motivator to do or say something to correct your past actions. Feeling guilty can cause you to apologize or drive you to make amends with someone that you hurt.

What’s the Difference Between Guilt and Shame?

You can start by Googling “treatment for” and then your certain disorder. Chances are though, such a process might take years to complete. In addition, most of the sites you find this way, will not be suited for your needs. Only an experienced rehabilitation center that specializes in your disorder will be able to help. Up until this point, this article has been bad mouthing both guilt and shame. Both words have been portrayed as negative and harmful.

If they allow their loved one to take responsibility for their guilt, this empowers their loved one to make changes. They build genuine self-esteem, because they’ve made positive changes.As adults, most of us have self-esteem because we have overcome difficulties. We don’t feel self-esteem because we got out of bed in the morning.

Can You Learn to Forgive Yourself?

Now, that would be from the outside from the inside, I’d ask clients, I say, Well, what do you feel in your body? I realize you’re gonna https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-overcome-shame-and-guilt-in-recovery/ ask me this, maybe later. But I’ve asked clients, what do you feel in your body around shame, and I’ve gotten a number of responses.

When I grew up as a kid, I lived in rural Central California, I’d wake up in the morning, and there’d be more than a few dead possums on the road, which was disturbing. Well, it took me a while it probably asked about it is that possums what possums do when they see something that’s threatening their survival. And I think I spent 9% of the time feeling that way. And it was coming out of long-term addiction that got worse and worse.

Add a Cup of Support

A barrage of emotion comes flooding to the surface after being suppressed over years of chemical dependence and numbing. This flood of feelings often arrives alongside clarity surrounding old patterns of behavior. Through addiction treatment and counseling, many people are able to overcome the underlying causes of their guilt and shame and go on to a full recovery. The struggle to recover from addiction is a lifelong process.

Shame and addiction often go hand-in-hand, but shame can also be one of the best motivators for addiction recovery. The shame for not living up to the idealized version of themselves and engaging in such behaviors can serve the same purpose as guilt in the recovery process. With the proper therapeutic techniques, a person’s attitude can shift where they view their shame as a tool to inspire positive change.

If I’m in recovery, what does that imply or indicate Well, it indicates I was addicted, not a good thing. So by that kind of guilt by association, whether I’m actively addicted, or actually committed in recovery, you still have a tremendous amount of stigma in general society. In fact, let me say this, I think if you go back over 10 years of my own recovery, this is the most significant tool for sustained successful recovery in my life that I can bear witness to.