Treatment Archives - Page 29 of 31 - Enlightened Solutions

How Somatic Experiencing can Help with PTSD

Written by enlightened solutions on October 13, 2017. Posted in Addiction, Alternative Therapy. Leave a Comment

There are many ways Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can affect the life of an alcoholic. Often, symptoms are overlooked and the trauma persists to keep its hold. First, it’s important to find out what’s actually causing the PTSD. Symptoms can be caused by dangerous life-threatening situations that require any means to survive. For example, those in the military, dealing with the effects of being at war. There can be negative childhood trauma that is caused by something like bullying or being misunderstood. This can include seeing parents go through a divorce, death in the family, and other difficult times in life. There are those too who suffered through a sexual assault, mental or physical abuse and other events that no one should ever have to experience. With each of these traumatic events, those affected may not have been able to process what had happened thoroughly. At this point, if and when the victim gets triggered by the identified event, a feeling of unease unexpectedly begins reliving the trauma all over again. It doesn’t have to be this way and it is impossible to move on from such trauma.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a holistic therapy of “resetting” the nervous system. This is done by reestablishing the nervous systems rhythm, meaning that there must be a break in the natural flow. This kind of treatment should always be executed by a professional with a background in SE. Going through the experience and pinpointing each feeling for what it is will allow the patient to recognize what is going on in their bodies. The doctor conducting the session will ask that the patient embrace the fear with respect. The act of letting the body physically feel what’s happening instead of mentally can establish a new reaction. The stimulation that is brought on by triggering the PTSD, with time, will regulate. The differences between the ups and downs will show signs of improvement, settling back down to the baseline.

Once the patient can become at peace with the identified event there will be less of a physical and mental response to the PTSD. This gives way to new feelings and new events to take place. Lacking the ability to move forward stalls the growth process. This will become a never-ending cycle of reacting out in an unhealthy manner each time a trigger occurs. If there is a break in the cycle there can be many aspects of life that will be interrupted as well. This includes appetite, sleep, digestion, and other main body functions that a person needs to survive. When new situations arise, as they will, the only way to push forward in this process is to complete the old. It’s not about forgetting what had happened but letting the body heal properly. As humans, we don’t get to erase the past, but we can let go of the power it has over us.

Our holistic approach at Enlightened Solutions gives our patients coping mechanisms and insight into painful past or events. Processing trauma is a key factor in moving forward and we are here to help. For more questions call: 833-801-5483.

Female Cocaine Addicts

Written by enlightened solutions on October 11, 2017. Posted in Addiction, Drugs & Alcohol. Leave a Comment

Female cocaine abuse is has been proven to differ from the male counterpart. It is well known that the predisposed female addict will be genetically more prone to addiction. You must consider the different hormones in male and females. With the substance of cocaine, a lowered amount of dopamine will cause the addict to crave this otherwise, unattainable high. However, female addicts start off in a more vulnerable state. This is caused by the increased amount of estrogen levels in women, but when lowered, the effects of cocaine are more comparable to men. Not only will the cocaine have a more intense high, it will also last longer in duration. Females also have been shown to progress in the disease quicker than males as well as finding themselves facing harsher consequences. In treatment, women learn how to cope in healthy ways that won’t include harming the body in any form. The goal is to heal from the outside in. However, the addict must rid the body of any substances before any real healing can begin.

Female addicts suffer from a sufficient damage to the brain. This can lead to psychiatric, medical, employment and relationship problems. While addicted to cocaine, women are more likely than men, to suffer from depression and anxiety. The differences in the cerebral blood flow have been shown to be a contributing factor as to why men and women have these varying effects. Addicts in our environment is helpful in understanding that they are not alone in this process. While in treatment, it’s imperative that the patient feels they are in a safe environment. This allows for patients to communicate their feelings, which gives way for improvements and breakthroughs. The more honest and open the addict can be, the stronger of a foundation can be built. In the long run, any treatment geared towards these issues will be more effective.

The euphoria produced by cocaine is often sought after for its communicative aim. A woman suffering from low self-esteem can become influenced to reach for cocaine in social settings. With an already lesser body image, it can become a habit that an addicted woman feeds her habit at any cost. Cocaine is the boost of confidence needed to feel apart of and happy. This only last until the inevitable come down that is preceded by depression. Strokes, heart attacks, heart arrhythmias and palpitations are all prevalent as well. The cycle can go on for years until something or someone intervenes. Furthermore, overdoses tragically continue to take the addict’s life every day. The addict disregards all health concerns because the power of the addiction overrides all else. What’s most important to the addict in the disease, is how to continue anesthetizing themselves to fill an empty lingering void deep inside.

Enlightened Solutions safe and supportive detox will give the patient the ability to rid the body of it’s harmful toxins. The holistic, clinical and 12-step approach provides guidance and tools for success. This process is vital and we are qualified to help patients start their road to recovery. For more information call: 833-801-5483.

Stress Around the Holidays

Written by enlightened solutions on October 9, 2017. Posted in Addiction, Family Recovery. Leave a Comment

With the holidays approaching, it’s important to have tools set in place for all the unforeseen events that take place during this special time of year.There are many triggers that come into play, and it’s suggested that alcoholics in early recovery take all precautions seriously. There are many tips that make the holiday season much more tolerable and even enjoyable!. When the alcoholic is able to stay in gratitude, it becomes more of a pleasant experience. After living through certain tragic holiday scenarios with families, it’s a new opportunity to spend quality time with loved ones. This is wonderful and will be cherished by all who can appreciate the miracle taking place. For those alcoholics that have lost everyone due to the consequences of the disease, there are ways to get through these times without falling into self-pity. It all comes down to gratitude. Staying grateful for each miracle, each day of sobriety, will always be helpful in staying connected to a higher power. When there is this connection, the alcoholic will be guided towards the light.

Alcoholics working a 12-step program must also stay connected to its members. There is an immense amount of support in these support groups and all alcoholics should “stay in the pack” when navigating life at this time of year. Being aware of triggers and hearing how others stay sober will keep the alcoholic in action. Being in a state of fear during these times can derail any alcoholic and hearing faith in others will hopefully give the alcoholic hope. In regards to the inevitable holiday parties,alcoholics must put their sobriety first. If that means skipping a year of festivities, then that’s what needs to happen. Nothing should come before sobriety. In many AA communities they offer meeting marathons on Thanksgiving and Christmas. These give alcoholics a safe place for 24 hours if needed. AA members are there to help each other through thick and thin, and these are especially dire times.

When the alcoholic begins to feel lonely and depressed, it’s time to remember what had gotten them to this point. Continuing down a path of self-love is imperative. Often times, people like to indulge in the holidays. The idea of giving a gift out of love and appreciation is wonderful. However, people can get too caught up in all of the stuff. While on a sober spiritual path, the alcoholic can begin to see that it’s not the stuff that makes people happy. It’s the love and laughter that brings joy. Abusing alcohol and drugs can skew anyone’s view on the meaning of the holidays. It’s when the alcoholic clearly sees the true beauty in why holidays are so special, that a transformation takes place. Grace flows freely and soon what felt like a chore to see family, will become a privilege. Those who are without families will find new ones in the rooms of AA and that is beautiful.

Our holistic, clinical and 12-step approach at Enlightened Solutions will teach patients the awareness of triggers and tools to stay on a solid road to recovery. Just like koi fish in our logo, patients will learn to rise prosper as they integrate back into the chaotic world. To learn more call: 833-801-5483.

Female Self-Image and Cocaine

Written by enlightened solutions on October 5, 2017. Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

There are many reasons women become perfectionist in today’s society. The fashion industry has placed impracticable expectations on women and this has been a huge issue for the female body image crisis. In magazines models are photoshopped and praised as they walk down the runway clearly lacking body fat. Movie and tv show producers give roles to actresses who must attain eating disorders in order to comply with the weight limitations. The average women cannot realistically keep up with these weight standards. Although there has been much improvement over the years, there is still sexism that exists all over the world today. Woman with addictive qualities and who suffer from eating disorders will find cocaine to be a quick fix in suppressing the appetite. Rapid weight loss is typical and especially desired with an already skewed body image. In these cases, which are extremely common, self-love should be heavily promoted in treatment.

Often times, there is a stigma that comes with cocaine. The general conception is that only wild, party girls use drugs like cocaine. This isn’t a complete fabrication, but it’s not entirely true either. Women all around the world wear many different hats in life. Working mothers can find themselves over stressing about work, bills, and other factors. These have all lead to scores of helpless, burnt out women. A portion of these women will find that cocaine gives an extra energy boost that coffee just can’t compare. However, once the woman becomes addicted, it becomes harder to practice productivity when the overwhelming unattractive side effects kick in. Impulsivity, anxiety, paranoia, panic attacks, and restlessness are all side effects that will at some point outweigh the positives. Unfortunately, at this point, women will be unable to see any way out. Once accepting help, treatment can help with learning how to balance life’s stressors in a healthy manner.

Cocaine has the ability to come off as fun, stimulating, and sometimes even glamorous. Movies glorify the substance and that tends to make it even more acceptable to the public. A long time ago, it became acceptable for men to treat women as objects. This is a generalization, but true to some extent still. Somewhere along the line, young girls are given this preconceived notion that being authentic, will never be good enough. Body dysmorphia and eating disorders are rampant and as a result, women are drawn to stimulants like cocaine. Only when women addicts begin to practice self-love and heal, there will be no need to seek out the alternative. Neglecting pain by abusing substances will no longer be the norm. However, it’s important to remember that just because it’s apart of the addict’s history, it doesn’t make them any less than, but stronger for overcoming it.

Enlightened Solutions will work with women coming from all walks of life. Our strong belief in the importance of self-love will help with a transformation into happiness and health. Our program’s dual-diagnosis treatment will help guide women into bright, fulfilling futures that lay ahead. For more information call: 833-801-5483

Three Methods to Stay Grounded

Written by enlightened solutions on October 3, 2017. Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

Alcoholics in early recovery are given many suggestions to get through the difficult times ahead. Each day is a struggle but there are ways to make what might seem like a complicated process, a simple one. Staying grounded is a tool to become one with a higher power. It’s through clearing the chakras that the stem connecting people to mother earth, can be fully applied. Sitting in daily meditation, letting the feeling of peace and serenity become natural, will soon allow for the breath to flow at a calming pace. There are different ways to meditate and it’s okay to start off with hesitation. It’s important to remember not to let some other belief about meditation, allow for judgement. It’s a learning process, and whenever the mind goes off into another direction, just simply bring it back to the breath. Sometimes counting in and out, or saying a mantra will regulate the breath and stay on focus. It takes practice, and there’s no need for perfection.

Some may feel like crying is a form of weakness. This cannot be further from the truth. It’s imperative that feelings that have been stuffed down, be let out. Many alcoholics will suppress pain by shoving down and numbing themselves with alcohol and drugs. There might be years and years of pain stored up, and this includes post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a coping mechanism, alcoholics will ignore this fact with the abuse of substances. If the alcoholic doesn’t know any other ways to cope, it’s what they will turn to anytime something painful comes up. Letting the emotion flow out is a way of releasing this pain. Common therapy methods to deal with PTSD are Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). These can help the alcoholic reach down and discover the trauma, its cause, and work towards moving forward. Otherwise, the alcoholic will not be able to grow. In early recovery, the alcohol might be out of the picture, but the healing process has just began.

The last suggestion is to get on a routine. A schedule will help the alcoholic to stay on a steady path to recovery. The alcoholic might become overly confident with excess energy or exhibit displays of exhaustion. Having 12-step meetings to attend, work, and other activities, will make it hard for the alcoholic to isolate or over do it. For example, if the alcoholic is also a workaholic, there should be time in the daily schedule for a walk out in nature, yoga, or a five minute meditation. Early recovery is about building a sturdy foundation that lays the groundwork for successfully living sober. Each alcohol has a different journey and no two programs will be exactly the same. It’s about embracing a new healthy lifestyle, that doesn’t include abusing substances or picking up other bad habits. It’s easy to give up one vice for another, and that is why the alcoholic must follow the suggestions of those who have knowledge in this topic of healing. If an alcoholic listens to these recommendations, it’s possible to change their lives indefinitely.

Enlightened Solutions will help you gain the tools to become more grounded in a fast pace world. Our holistic approach will enlighten lives and encourage patients to find their inner peace. Our partial program let’s you take a look into what’s at the root of the problem and move forward in life. For more information call: 833-801-LIVE

The Ripple Effect of Making Choices

Written by enlightened solutions on September 29, 2017. Posted in Addiction Recovery, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

The journey of recovery is about smashing the illusion of separation and returning to the greater whole. In some ways, we never stopped being part of the whole and once in recovery, this becomes evident. We awaken to all the ways that our addicted lifestyle impacted our loved ones with whom we share our life.

Through this process of awakening to the ripple effect of our daily choices, we are returned to understanding how much power we have to influence the world around us by making our healing our greatest priority. It is a choice about what kind of impact you want to generate with your one finite life.

The power of focused choices and their influence on the greater ecological systems is demonstrated in the popular video, How Wolves Change Rivers. In this video, there is focused effort to increase the population of the wolves. Increasing the wolf population also restored many species in the region and transformed of the geography itself. Every facet of the ecosystem is renewed simply by focusing on healing one element of the ecosystem.

Our recovery journey is the same. A person in their addiction will look at the goal of healing from the bottom of Mount Everest. Gazing at the peak, they imagine the weight 30,000 feet of elevation bearing down on every step. They do not yet know the momentum that each step brings. Or that the joy for progress accelerates this momentum. They do not know that there is a point of being closer to the top than you are to the base of the mountain and that this changes the perspective of the peak.

When in our addiction, we are trapped in the physical and psychological cycle of self-destruction. When in this experience, all of our important life experiences are out of control such as our most valued family and love relationships, our employment and the experience of development within it and financial planning for our future. As we look up at this mountain peak of healing, longing to deeply and truly return to vitality, it seems out of reach. We must remember that there is also a systemic energy that is longing to return us to vitality. It will magically propel us forward much more quickly than may be apparent from the base of the mountain.

Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers a harmonious approach to holistic treatment, bringing together the best of evidence-based, alternative, and 12-step therapies. Call us today for information on our transformation programs of treatment for addiction and alcoholism: 833-801-5483.

Acceptance

Written by enlightened solutions on September 28, 2017. Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

Acceptance is the beginning of the journey of recovery from addiction. It is where we begin to live on the actual canvas of the life that is ours for living. By staying inside the space of our own life, we are able to be in partnership with the flow of life, supported by the whole of life and give up swimming against the tide.

However, for many people in addiction, acceptance can be hard-won. In some cases, people find acceptance in a moment and live inside of that perspective from one point forward. In other cases, people have a relationship with acceptance that involves a regular and necessary pattern of renewal. While permanent acceptance may appear desirable, it is important to consider both patterns of acceptance ‘normal’ to the recovery journey.

The other side of acceptance is denial and denial is at the heart of addiction. It is through denial that many people stay in their addiction long after it is apparent that their behavioral choices are devastating their lives and stealing the potential of their beautiful life. Denial is very cunning in that it is obvious to those on the outside of it. Within the person in denial, it is very foggy and fuzzy often with an authoritative voice to the self. Denial can sound compassionate, analytical or even sound like justified indignation. With many unique voices, denial is often challenging to pin denial down. Since denial changes forms so rapidly, once we have cornered it, it may simply appear again in a different costume.

However, once we are on our journey of recovery for some time, we will learn which costumes that our particular denial boogey-man usually likes to wear. This will help us cue into when denial is seeping back in and do the awareness work necessary to come back into a position of acceptance.

Acceptance is simply one stage of recovery and needs to be honored as such. There are people who can find acceptance for the fact that they are an addict without discovering the willingness to embrace a recovery process and lifestyle. However, simply arriving at acceptance beyond the stage of denial is progress and we want to acknowledge it as such.

Beyond acceptance, it is hoped that person who needs recovery can find a place within themselves to surrender to a recovery process and lifestyle. The experience of surrender is like being in the ocean and fighting against the waves and then suddenly finding the moment where you breathe deeply, relax your body and let it float to the surface of the water. Surrender is when you give up the fight and allow the recovery community around you to buoy you to the safety of oxygen at the surface of the water.

Relapse Prevention

Written by enlightened solutions on September 27, 2017. Posted in Addiction Recovery, Drugs & Alcohol. Leave a Comment

In the beginning of the recovery journey, it is important to become aware of the primary focal points for the recovery process to ensure lasting recovery. In the dominant model, Alcoholic Anonymous, the primary focal points are unity, service and recovery. These focal points are intended to keep those in recovery grounded in the core principles while also bringing attention to maintaining tension between these three focal points. It is thought that a balance between these objectives bring some measure of assurance in lasting recovery.

The words unity, service and recovery when lived in a balanced tension with one another will bring forward a recovery lifestyle. This lifestyle will contain intimately connected relationship with other alcoholics (unity), a consistent practice of carrying the message to other people in recovery (service) and recovery through an ongoing self-reflection process through the 12 Steps of the program (recovery). However, for many people in recovery, especially those with some continuous sober time, these practices can become rote. So in addition to doing all of these actions, there must be an honest reflection about whether these practices feel alive or if they have become rote.

Beyond the practices mentioned and assessing the aliveness of them, it is important to cultivate relationships that the addict feels safe in being fully transparent. In AA, for some, this shared transparency will only occur in the sponsorship relationship. However, it is valuable to cultivate more than one relationship where absolute transparency feels safe, so that you have a network of support. It is also important to recognize that being fully transparent in all of your relationships is not necessarily healthy either. It is part of the recovery journey for many addicts to learn how much to disclose in each relationship according to the social context of the relationship.

Finally, the goal is for recovery to become a lifestyle. In the beginning, it can be overwhelming to take on so much change yet we must move towards these goals with daily actions. As time goes on, recovery needs to begin to feel like an integrated essence across all facets of our life rather than being a siloed compartment of our life. Yet, it takes time for this transformation to occur and it is imperative to support the addict with being focused on the goal while also gentle with the process.

Why Drugs and Alcohol Block the “Sunlight of the Spirit”

Written by enlightened solutions on September 26, 2017. Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction, Drugs & Alcohol. Leave a Comment

The expression ‘Sunlight of the Spirit’ comes from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and refers to a state of being that occurs when we are free from our resentments. Resentments are sometimes referred to as the re-feeling of an experience. Put another way, it is when we continue to have feelings about situations or people that are not occurring in the present moment. The process of writing an inventory is a wonderful opportunity to get present to all the ways that you are not fully living in the present! It is through this process that we become the sunlight of the spirit.

When we are living life in resentments, we are not living life in the present moment. If we are to live a recovered life, in a state free from being beholden to our addiction, then we must do the daily work necessary to live in the present moment. This state is accessible through the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, particularly the inventory steps 4-9 in combination with Step 10. Steps 4-9 allow us to become clear of the past and Step 10 allows to stay clear as we live our life forward from our initial clearing.

It is this process of becoming clear and staying clear that allows us to become the Sunlight of the Spirit. It allows us to become a channel of the divine as we are now clear to listen for the guidance of our Higher Power and to serve as this power directs us. As we live in this essence of being fully present and being a channel of the divine, it is then that we are able to carry the message to others and to remain free from our addiction.

The expression, Sunlight of the Spirit, is a tremendously accurate metaphor for the ongoing work of a successful recovery model. As the sun must rise and set each day, so must we both be connected internally to our source of inspiration and also share outwardly with others. So to fully embrace the sunlight of the spirit in our lives, we must find this daily flow of spiritual connection and service to others.

Coping Skills

Written by enlightened solutions on September 25, 2017. Posted in Addiction Recovery, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

Addiction is the process of finding external substances to resolve internal conflicts. Commonly, when hearing an addict share the story of how addiction was born in their life, one will hear a story of someone who was uncomfortable within themselves. Then, they discovered an external substance that mask these feelings of discomfort and allow them the delusion of being connected in their communities in spite of this internal dis-ease. At some point, the coping ceased being effective and their lives became a vicious cycle of self-destructive behaviors. Then, the addict will hit some kind of bottom and an awakening, sometimes immediate, other times gradual, will occur. Recovery begins.

The natural orientation for many addicts during this early phase of recovery is self-loathing for all of the time and opportunity lost. Yet, there is another perspective available. The addict survived to the point of finding recovery due to the engagement of unhealthy coping. They made it to the point in life that new possibilities opened for their life. Without the unhealthy coping of addiction, who can know how these intense internal experiences of self may have been dealt with. One can look at this survival as a beautiful gift of opportunity to live a life that may not have been otherwise available.

Beyond celebrating the miracle of making it to the point of recovery, it can also be honored that coping is a mastered skill. Now, it is simply the journey of learning how to apply the coping techniques to healthy behaviors. For many people in recovery, there is a period of transferring very unhealthy coping to less unhealthy coping before arriving at healthy coping. For example, cocaine and whiskey may be exchanged for coffee and cigarettes. A great step in the healthy direction but then, these are exchanged for excessive exercise and a vigilant focus on healthy foods. All of these are stages of the coping release journey and each transition can be celebrated as progress.

Eventually, we hope that the addict will come to the place where they live each day, fully present, engaging recovery tools and a full vital life. The goal is for all of this to manifest without the need to mask the life experience with an obsessive focus on anything, whether a mind-altering substance or a health-promoting substance. The addict has arrived at the recovery mecca, a state of balance.

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