It's challenging to help a loved one struggling with any type of addiction. Sometimes a direct, heart-to-heart conversation can start the road to recovery. But when it comes to addiction, the person with the problem often struggles to see it and acknowledge it. A more focused approach is often needed. You may need to join forces with others and take action through a formal intervention.
Consulting an addiction professional, such as a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, a social worker, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or an interventionist, can help you organize an effective intervention. An addiction professional will take into account your loved one's particular circumstances, suggest the best approach, and help guide you in what type of treatment and follow-up plan is likely to work best.
Is Professional Help Necessary for Recovery
Often interventions are conducted without an intervention professional, but having expert help may be preferable. Sometimes the intervention occurs at the professional's office. It may be especially important to have the professional attend the actual intervention to help you stay on track if your loved one:
The authors reviewed and synthesized scholarly literature on the topic of involuntary confinement and treatment for severely mentally ill adults. Objectively, all facets of the issue are reported, including recurrent positive outcomes, negative outcomes, and patient experiences in common. Patient experiences are organized into related subthemes of autonomy, patient satisfaction, relationships with staff, perceived coercion, traumatization, and humiliation. The literature suggests that short-term involuntary hospitalization is sometimes necessary in order to prevent the mentally ill from psychiatrically decompensating or harming themselves or others. Understandably, hospitalization is often experienced by the mentally ill as a demoralizing violation of their rights and tends to lead them to disengage further from the professional help they need in order to recover. In turn, disengagement leads to further decompensation and resulting risk for rehospitalization. In order to intervene in this cycle and instill severely mentally ill patients with hope in the recovery process, the use of coercive tactics must be decreased in favor of cooperative engagement measures to the greatest extent possible. Patients must be empowered to make choices within the limits of their illnesses through positive interactions with staff, particularly in potentially negative, autonomy-compromising situations. Cooperative measures may help to minimize the potentially traumatic and humiliating effects of being involuntarily hospitalized and medicated. In turn, trusting patient-provider relationships may develop. Thereafter, the severely mentally ill may become more likely to seek professional help on their own volition in the future.
Support from others is important to help us find recovery and healing. Having someone we can turn to in times of weakness often proves to be essential. Denial and isolation are hallmarks of compulsive and addictive behaviors. It is easy to fall back into these behaviors without the support and perspective of others. It is important for us to get support as soon as possible in our recovery.
Friends. Friends can provide love and support when we talk with them about our struggles, whether or not we confide in them about the details. When friends have the courage to point out behaviors that we need to stop, or when they encourage us to seek help, we can move forward in our progress toward recovery. As we experience love and support from friends, it can remind us of our worth and value.
Recovery meetings. Support meetings are a safe place where we can find acceptance, love, and support. In these meetings we share our experience as well as our faith and hope for recovery through the Savior Jesus Christ and applying the 12 steps in our lives. Sharing our experiences may help us work toward needed changes and find hope that recovery and healing are possible.
Mental health and medical professionals. Professionals can often provide insight and unique skills necessary to recover and heal from compulsive and addictive behaviors. If we are still struggling with compulsive and addictive behaviors even as we participate in the Addiction Recovery Program, we should consider seeking professional help from a mental health or medical professional. When seeking professional help, Church members should choose someone who is supportive of gospel principles.
Peer support services are an important part of the treatment and recovery process. Certified Recovery Peer Advocates (CRPAs) draw from personal experience with substance use, and professional training to provide non-clinical support services as identified in the patient's treatment or recovery plan. CPRAs may also help those in treatment/recovery in the development of recovery plans, effective coping habits, and life skills for navigating recovery.
The primary function of a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate is facilitating outreach with individuals currently in a program or considering treatment. Utilizing their recovery expertise, professional training and lived experience, peers boost individuals' engagement in treatment and commitment to recovery. CPRAs also connect patients to community-based recovery supports consistent with treatment, recovery, and discharge plans.
Yes, addiction is a treatable disorder. Research on the science of addiction and the treatment of substance use disorders has led to the development of research-based methods that help people to stop using drugs and resume productive lives, also known as being in recovery.
Because addiction can affect so many aspects of a person's life, treatment should address the needs of the whole person to be successful. Counselors may select from a menu of services that meet the specific medical, mental, social, occupational, family, and legal needs of their patients to help in their recovery.
Recovery signals a dramatic shift in the expectation for positive outcomes for individuals who experience mental and substance use conditions or the co-occurring of the two. Today, when individuals with mental and/or substance use disorders seek help, they are met with the knowledge and belief that anyone can recover and/or manage their conditions successfully. The value of recovery and recovery-oriented systems of care is widely accepted by states, communities, health care providers, peers, families, researchers, and advocates including the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and others.
SAMHSA advanced recovery support systems to promote partnering with people in recovery from mental and substance use disorders and their family members to guide the behavioral health system and promote individual, program, and system-level approaches that foster health and resilience; increase housing to support recovery; reduce barriers to employment, education, and other life goals; and secure necessary social supports in their chosen community.
Recovery support is provided in various settings. Recovery support services help people enter into and navigate systems of care, remove barriers to recovery, stay engaged in the recovery process, and live full lives in communities of their choice.
For example, in the United States there are 34 recovery high schools that help reduce the risk in high school environments for youth with substance use disorders. These schools typically have high retention rates and low rates of students returning to substance use.
Once you've decided to make a change, opening up about the problem is an important step on the road to recovery. It can feel scary or embarrassing to seek help for an eating disorder, so it's important to choose someone who will be supportive and truly listen without judging you or rejecting you. This could be a close friend or family member or a youth leader, teacher, or school counselor you trust. Or you may be more comfortable confiding in a therapist or doctor.
Be specific about how the person can best support you. For example, you may want them to help you find treatment, accompany you to see a doctor, check in with you regularly about how you're feeling, or find some other way of supporting your recovery (without turning into the food police).
There are many types of eating disorder support groups. Some are led by professional therapists, while others are moderated by trained volunteers or people who have recovered from an eating disorder. You can find online anorexia and bulimia support groups, chat rooms, and forums. These can be particularly helpful if you're not ready to seek face-to-face help or you don't have a support group in your area.
Individual or group therapy. Therapy can help you explore the issues underlying your eating disorder, improve your self-esteem, and learn healthy ways of responding to stress and emotional pain. Different therapists have different methods, so it is important to discuss with them your goals in working towards recovery.
While seeking professional help is important, don't underestimate your own role in recovery. The more motivated you are to understand why you developed an eating disorder, and to learn healthier coping skills, the quicker you will see change and healing. The following tips can help:
The good news is there is hope for families and friends confronted with the difficult challenge of dealing with an RA. They have options other than minimizing or accommodating the OCD, or waiting helplessly for the recovery avoidance to go away. They can begin by doing something for themselves and focusing their efforts on the things they can actually control. No matter what you do there is no guarantee the OCD sufferer will ever decide to seek help. However, recovery avoidance is less likely to persist when those around the RA are actively seeking to improve their own quality of life. 2ff7e9595c
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