Holistic Healing for Addiction

Practical Recovery Wisdom

Although this text has been centered on the application of holistic healing and remedy for addiction recovery, I would be remiss to forgo practical recovery tools that will aid and sharpen your use of holistic treatment. Remember holistic treatment is not a replacement for professional care, but a supplement before, during, and after detox and rehabilitation care. Undergoing the traditional means of recovery treatment will enable you to begin your journey of holistic healing and recovery. Addictive substances block your subtle bodies from functioning correctly- similar to their effects on the body. Taking the time to restore balance to your physical health is absolutely essential to reap the full scale of the benefits espoused from holistic healing.

, Donot Wait for "Rock Bottom"

Going to rehabilitation is not the problem, it is having to go through drug and alcohol withdrawal that scares everyone away from the prospect of getting better. Withdrawal is the root of most anxieties surrounding initial addiction recovery, because it is often described as a grueling process only medical treatment can safely guide one through.

While it is true withdrawal should always occur under the care of a certified medical professional (many times withdrawal aggravates underlying medical conditions left untreated, resulting in seizure, or damage to critical organs in some circumstances), surviving withdrawal is not as awful as you may think.

Withdrawal symptoms vary from substance to substance; , , and all have different withdrawal symptoms, but the process of going through withdrawal is necessary regardless. Withdrawal is the body's way of shedding its physical addiction to addictive substances. Alcohol withdrawal is typically the most (potentially) deadly among all addictive substances, yet the severity of symptoms are dependent upon the length in which one has remained dependent on their substance of choice.

Or not.

Sometimes addiction is physically established early on, and hits harder in one individual as opposed to another. Addiction is different for everyone, and must be treated as such. The fact remains, everyone must go through withdrawal to eventually overcome crippling substance use disorders. Withdrawal is not the enormous impossibility you think it is! Letting go of your anxieties revolving withdrawal is critical to speed recovery and allay fears, which may not have solid ground to stand on.

If you think you can escape withdrawal and recover, you are sadly mistaken. Withdrawal is the body's natural process to regain control of its biology. Addictive substances change our brain chemistry and malign many of our internal functions. As the body adjusts to no longer having the substance it has become dependent on to function, you will feel some changes that are unpleasant.

Take it from our very own Clinical Director of Harbor Village, ,

"Think about your first breakup. You think you are never going to get overit. Did you get over it? Did you die? It is the same with withdrawal. You thinkyou will never overcome it, but you will. You just have to think, 'I have beenthrough so much more and have gotten through it, so what do I have to be scaredof?'"

Girls, think of withdrawal as just another monthly gift from nature that happens to last a week- just like normal! And guys, withdrawal is like a severe cold, we have all had one of those- and look, you lived! All light hearted attempts to encourage you aside, the fears and anxieties swirling around withdrawal truly do make the experience more formidable. If you can reasonably tell yourself withdrawal is near to a severe cold, you will be able to calm yourself into doing what needs to be done. You do not want withdrawal stopping you from achieving your life's goals, do you? Withdrawal is simply one more stepping stone to getting back to: you.