Treatment Archives - Page 6 of 31 - Enlightened Solutions

Our Issues Are Interconnected

Written by enlightened solutions on November 13, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction. Leave a Comment

Sometimes we think of the problems in our lives as being isolated issues, and we don’t always take a step back to look at how they’re all connected. Everything we do, feel and think is part of the larger framework of who we are. We are made up of our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical selves, and everything is connected. When we can look at things in this way, it can help us to learn who we are and find healing solutions to our problems.

Many of us living with addictions and mental health issues have multiple things we’re dealing with at the same time. Many of us are termed “dual-diagnosis” when we experience a substance abuse problem and mental disorder at the same time. When we are able to look at our issues as being connected, we can begin to understand ourselves, how we developed these conditions, and how we can recover.

Our issues are often a manifestation of our traumatic experiences and the responses we have to them. How we process our fears, manage our moods, work with our emotions and handle our thoughts- everything is affected by trauma. Many of us have a tendency to want to escape our pain, many of us never deal with it at all. In our avoidance, we turn to addictive behaviors and thought patterns. Everything we go through is informing our development, and every facet of ourselves is affected by everything else.

In working through our trauma, it can be highly beneficial to work with holistic healing practices. They approach our various illnesses as being an interconnected manifestation of the whole person and all of our experiences- our fears, traumas, relationships, memories, behaviors, thoughts and feelings. There are healing methods that address all of our issues together, and they include therapy, meditation, yoga, energy healing, and chakra healing.

When we are suffering and in crisis, our symptoms are overwhelming, and we need relief. We struggle with panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, insomnia, and various problems with our physical health. Holistic healing methods can provide relief from our symptoms and help us heal the underlying issues and clear the energy of fear and trauma we’ve stored within us.

Seeing our challenges not as isolated illnesses to approach separately but as a part of the whole can help us to unearth critical information about who we are as people, how we can manage our pain, and how to work towards recovery.

Holistic healing is a major focus of treatment at Enlightened Solutions. Call (833) 801-LIVE for more information.

Creating Better Habits

Written by enlightened solutions on November 12, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Healthy Living. Leave a Comment

A major factor in our daily lives, and in our addictions and mental health issues, is our habits. We often develop habits that are unhealthy and self-destructive. Along with our addictive behaviors, we also often neglect self-care and engage in toxic patterns. A helpful way to think about recovery is the idea of implementing better habits for ourselves.

We might tend to think of our bad habits as the smaller things we do like biting our nails, or hitting snooze on the alarm and being late for work, but our habits make up everything we do. We have our daily habits, our relationship habits, our habitual thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

When we are dealing with addictions, depression and other challenges, we often struggle to feel motivated. We can have a very hard time accomplishing even small tasks. Sometimes we don’t show up for our responsibilities. We feel like we’re disappointing, hurting and betraying ourselves and the people who care about us. Our habits have a lot to do with it.

When it comes to assessing ourselves and our lives, we often tend to see things through a filter of negativity. We beat ourselves up for procrastinating. We judge and criticize ourselves for our bad habits. We compound our challenges when we focus on how ashamed we feel. When we put ourselves down, we aren’t helping ourselves do better, we’re actually chipping away at our resolve and determination.

To create better habits, let’s start by encouraging ourselves instead. “I am strong enough to do what’s best for myself. I have the power to change my habits. I can do anything I set my heart and mind to.”

What are some habits we can start to implement that would help us prioritize our mental and emotional wellbeing? We can start setting intentions around those things- getting enough sleep, making time to meditate, eating healthy foods, exercising. Joining a support group or starting therapy. Journaling, being creative, doing things we enjoy.

We can create habits around choosing patience when we are stressed or frustrated, forgiveness when we are angry, compassion when we are in conflict. Habits we can try are:

-Taking deep breaths when we feel our thoughts starting to race or our hearts beating faster.

-Meditating on forgiveness, using affirmations like “I choose to forgive. I choose to be at peace.”

-Meditating on compassion,“I see your hurt. I see your humanity.”

We can consciously look at our habits- how we respond to life’s daily challenges, how we react to other people, what directions we allow our thoughts and feelings to go in. Then we can intentionally begin to create habits for ourselves that feel better and serve us more.

Treatment at Enlightened Solutions includes working with wellness and nutrition, life skills and recovery planning. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Gratitude as a Remedy for Anger

Written by enlightened solutions on November 9, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Anger is a part of the human experience, and those of us with addictions and mental health issues often find ourselves having tumultuous relationships, stressful conflicts, and other tough interpersonal issues.

When someone angers us, we have a tendency to react with aggression and hostility. We yell, we scream, we punch holes in walls, we break things, we abuse each other.

Some of us shut down and respond to our anger with silence, detachment, distance and/or isolation. We cut people off. We stop talking to them altogether. We end lifelong relationships and never speak to family and friends again.

We often hurt the people we love the most. We consciously or unconsciously trigger each other’s sensitivities and pain. We carry grudges. We are most impacted by the hurts brought on by our loved ones, because it is with them we feel the strongest connection. Anyone can anger us, but when our close family and friends hurt us, it often affects us in deeper, more personal, more impactful ways.

One way to manage our anger is to intentionally switch our focus to gratitude. Our loved ones often give us a lot to be grateful for. They have supported and cared for us, helped us. They gave us life. We could put our energy towards focusing on all the things we’re grateful for about them. This can help a lot, especially in moments of heightened pain and anger. To do this, we are essentially meditating and praying on gratitude.

“I am grateful to you. I am grateful for all the ways you’ve loved me and helped me. I love you.”

This process doesn’t mean we forget how they’ve wronged us. It doesn’t mean we condone their behavior, or that we let them off the hook. It doesn’t replace the work of resolving the conflict, which can be some of the most difficult work we’ll ever do in our lives- it hurts!

For many of us, the people we’re most angry with hurt and abused us to the point where we can’t find much to be grateful to them for. We can focus our gratitude on how strong and resilient we are. We’ve endured so much and are still here. We haven’t given up. “I am grateful to be the person I am.”

Gratitude is like a soothing remedy. It helps us to relieve some of the pain as we heal our wounds. We can find a lot of comfort in choosing to focus on gratitude. We can even find gratitude in the situation. “What can I learn from this? What wisdom will this bring me?” We can choose to see our pain as a blessing. The lessons it brings can be huge transformational gifts in our lives.

Our healing and recovery benefit greatly from working with our emotions holistically. The community at Enlightened Solutions can help you process your difficult emotions, relationships and experiences. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Prayer for Healing

Written by enlightened solutions on November 8, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Alternative Therapy. Leave a Comment

Prayer can be a helpful healing tool, whether or not we consider ourselves to be religious people. We can pray to any higher power, and what we call that higher power matters much less than how we can connect to it. If we believe our higher power created us, then we are a manifestation of it. That power is within us. We have the power to heal ourselves, to create the lives we want for ourselves. Accessing our inner higher power allows us to do that, and prayer is a helpful way to connect to it.

Prayer is not something that is limited to people who attend church. Anyone can pray, and you can pray to whatever higher entity brings you comfort. You can pray to your inner self, which has all the strength and wisdom of your higher power.

Prayer can take any form as long as it resonates with us. We sometimes think of praying as asking for what we want, but prayer can also be communicating with our higher power. We can release our pent-up emotions and we can share our distressing thoughts, knowing our higher power already knows all of it. We can ask for guidance, we can ask for strength. We can ask to be lifted through our struggles. We can pray for forgiveness when we’re struggling with shame and anger, we can pray for healing when we’re in pain.

This process can bring us enormous peace. It can help us feel calmed, soothed, comforted and nurtured. It can make us feel rejuvenated in our faith and purpose. We’re reminded we’re never alone. We are being supported, protected and guided. When we pray, we allow ourselves to surrender- to a power bigger than us, to the idea that we’re not operating our lives alone. We don’t have to feel isolated in our pain.

Prayer is something we can also do with our loved ones. We can pray together and allow it to bring us together. We can strengthen our connections with each other and our higher power. Many families make prayer a regular practice, before meals, before bedtime, during difficult challenges.

Prayer, like meditation, allows us to connect to our inner voice, our higher power and higher consciousness. When we are open to it, we can receive signs, messages and tangible guidance that we can interpret to help us along our way. We aren’t alone in our healing.

Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Depression Thought Patterns

Written by enlightened solutions on November 7, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Depression can take over our lives, in many of the same ways addiction can. In a sense, many of us with depression are addicted, not necessarily to substances, but to certain thought patterns. Here are some common ones we share and suggestions for how to transform them.

Pessimism

Many of us default to thinking about the negative, in any given situation. We think in worst-case scenarios. We anticipate the outcomes we don’t want. Oftentimes we live with an overarching feeling of dread. We are so accustomed to this way of thinking that for many of us, it can be obsessive or neurotic.

We can begin to reprogram our subconscious minds with new thought patterns. Practice repeating affirmations such as “I choose to see the good. I allow good things to happen for me. I can manifest the outcomes I want.”

Over-worrying

We are human. We worry. We are always going to be concerned, and we are always going to care, about the things and people that matter to us. Over-worrying is taking that concern and allowing to go haywire. The energy of worry is an energy of fear. Fear can paralyze us, keep us stuck and make us act in irrational ways. When we are consumed by fear, we have a harder time accessing our intuition, hearing guidance from our higher power, and following our instincts.

We can transform our heightened anxious over-worrying energy to one of faith and hope. We can allow our concern and love to guide us rather than our fear. Meditate with affirmations like “Everything happens as it’s meant to. Everything in divine timing. I am hopeful. I have faith. Things are always working for our highest good.”

As we focus on thinking positively and hopefully, we are attracting what we want. When we allow ourselves to get lost in worry, we attract what we don’t want.

Insecurity

When we are depressed, we often don’t feel grounded or centered- in our purpose, our sense of self, our direction in life. We can feel insecure about any aspect of our lives- our personality, our past, our illnesses. We suffer from wounded egos and low self-esteem. We are self-conscious, we seek external validation, and at the root of it, we do not love ourselves.

Self-hate is factor in so many of our problems, including depression. We can start the crucial work of loving ourselves by talking to ourselves differently and consciously choosing thoughts of self-empowerment. “I love you. I believe in you. You are strong. You are capable. You can make your dreams come true.”

We have been defaulting to our painful thought patterns for most of our lives. Undoing them takes time and effort. Practice, practice, practice. We can heal our depression, and retraining our minds is an important step.

At Enlightened Solutions, we offer therapy, mentoring, recovery planning and more. Call (833) 801-LIVE for more information.

Exposure Response Prevention for Dealing with Fear

Written by enlightened solutions on November 5, 2018. Posted in Alternative Therapy, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

Fear is a common factor in addiction, depression, anxiety, and anxiety disorders like OCD. How we deal with our fear is a major contributor to these issues. We often have a hard time facing our fears head on and instead use our addictive behaviors and thought patterns as means of escape. To confront our fears, we can use a technique called Exposure Response Prevention, or ERP.

To really benefit from ERP, we can start by figuring out what our fears actually are. Common fears many of us share are fears of abandonment, failure, inadequacy and inferiority, fears of being replaced, betrayed, hurt or violated, fear of loss, fear of being alone. As we do some soul searching and go beneath the surface of our symptoms, we become more conscious of our fears and fear responses.

ERP is a relatively simple exercise, but it can bring up intense emotions, so you may want to do it with a therapist or other supportive person. With ERP we expose ourselves to our triggering fear and then prevent our usual go-to responses such as our compulsions and addictive behaviors. This requires willpower and the determination not to engage in our usual fear response coping mechanisms. ERP is essentially a meditation on our fears, and just like with any form of meditation, it is practicing over time that yields the most results. You might feel an immediate change in your thoughts and emotions, but for continued healing, keep practicing.

Let’s use a common anxiety-inducing thought pattern as an example. Many of us with addictions and mental health issues are anxious about our recovery process. We are worried we will relapse. We’re terrified of disappointing our loved ones. We’re afraid of causing even more damage and destruction to ourselves and those around us. With ERP, we will expose ourselves intentionally and consciously to our fears. “I’m afraid I will fail. I’m afraid I will always be suffering. I’m afraid of hurting other people. I’m afraid people won’t love me anymore.”

Meditate on your fears. As we sit with them, we begin to have acceptance, which helps reduce the negative energy we’ve been building up with our resistance. As we allow ourselves to feel the fears, their powerful hold over us starts to fade. Then we consciously choose not to follow up with our drug of choice, our toxic relationship pattern, or our self-destructive compulsion. With time and practice, our fears don’t feel so overpowering and debilitating because we have faced them head on. We start to realize just how strong we actually are for continuing to live our lives and not letting our fears destroy us.

We can help you to explore different healing techniques and find the ones that help you most. Call Enlightened Solutions (833) 801-LIVE.

Steps You Can Take to Recover from Depression

Written by enlightened solutions on November 2, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Recovery can be extremely difficult and can feel impossible, but we can take steps that bring us closer to healing. Here are a few suggestions.

Try Therapy.

When we are depressed and in crisis, the thought of finding a therapist can be overwhelming, daunting and scary. Muster the strength, ask for help, seek out support, because finding the right therapist can help you immensely on your healing journey. Therapists have years of experience dealing with similar issues, emotional problems and life circumstances. And unlike with our loved ones, with a therapist we can speak freely without worrying about judgment or bias.

Walk.

Any kind of exercise is helpful for depression. It releases endorphins in our bodies which help us to feel happy, naturally. Sometimes when we’re depressed, we find it extremely hard to motivate ourselves to practice self-care, and vigorous exercise might be too much for us, but walking can come more naturally to us and can be easier to will ourselves to do. Walking can help you clear your mind, calm your anxiety, and process and organize your thoughts. Walking can be used as a form of meditation. Try focusing on your breathing, or on a mantra or affirmation while you walk. It can help you quiet and still your mind, which is so crucial for depression as we are often consumed by our painful thoughts.

Spend time with people who care about you.

This can be especially hard when we’re depressed. We isolate. We feel afraid of people. We avoid having to interacting with anyone. Try to spend time with someone who cares about you, even for just a little while. Take time to talk to them about your feelings and let them offer you support and encouragement. We often get advice, guidance and wisdom from our loved ones, often when we need it the most but weren’t necessarily looking for it.

Let yourself enjoy doing something fun.

Get out of your normal routine, which might be contributing to your depression. Do something different you’ve never done, or something you used to enjoy doing. Any time we can give our minds some much needed rest from our depressive thoughts, we are taking a step in our recovery. Having fun, changing our routine, venturing out into the world can feel like the last things we would want to do when we’re depressed, but if we can give ourselves a gentle push, it can mean the difference between staying stuck in our depression and moving forward.

You don’t have to figure out recovery alone. We’re here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Functional Depression

Written by enlightened solutions on November 1, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Depression manifests differently in everyone. We have vastly different experiences with varied symptoms, patterns and cycles. Depression has multiple biochemical and social causes, making each person’s experience with depression totally unique. Many people who are suffering from depression can still go about their lives normally, but they are deeply unhappy, often struggling with addictions, and very often suffering in silence. This kind of depression is referred to as “functional depression” or “high-functioning depression.”

People with functional depression can maintain regular schedules and can sustain their jobs, finances and relationships as they normally do. They may or may not identify with being depressed. They may not call it depression. They may not ever tell anyone how they feel. On top of their depression, they have to deal with people not believing them when they tell them they are depressed. To other people they “seem fine.” Oftentimes no one in their lives suspects they have a problem, because they don’t outwardly show any signs.

Functional depression is sometimes characterized as lasting for years at a time. People might have lived with this depression for so long they don’t remember what their “normal” was, how they felt before they got depressed. People with functional depression often experience many of the same feelings associated with major depression.

Anxiety

Fear, panic, nervousness, worry. People with depression often live with intense anxiety, and the same is true for those with functional depression. Their anxiety can be related to any and every aspect of their lives and can be all-consuming.

Sadness

This may be an obvious one, but sadness is often the most pervasive emotion we experience with depression. We feel sadness about our past, from which we often carry a lot of shame, regret and remorse. We feel sadness and dread about our uncertain and bleak future. We carry sadness about our traumatic experiences, our losses, our current circumstances, our relationships, our self-esteem.

Hopelessness

People with depression of all kinds, including functional depression, often feel despair and hopelessness, on a regular basis. They experience suicidal thoughts, ideation and behavior, and as we know, many take their lives. We find ourselves surprised when people take their own lives who seemed happy, whose lives seemed perfect- they may have been living with functional depression and not shown any warning signs to the people in their lives.

We all need support, nurturing and care. Let’s make it a point to check on our loved ones as often as we can, whether or not they have already exhibited signs of depression. It can make all the difference.

The community at Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Choosing Faith Over Fear

Written by enlightened solutions on October 30, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Alternative Therapy. Leave a Comment

Our addictions and mental health issues are often related to our relationship to fear. When we become addicted to a behavior or thought pattern, it is often because we are looking for ways to suppress, bury or otherwise escape our fears. Many of us have experienced trauma in our lives, and our trauma can impact how we deal with fear. Anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses can be a manifestation of our built-up fears. We are often so afraid of our fears that we make them worse. We develop neuroses, complexes, obsessions and phobias. Our responses to fear, the ways we think about and deal with our fear, can have a lot to do with our addictions and mental/emotional health problems.

We find ourselves living in fear, and it can be a painful, distressing way to live. How can we change our response to fear and live with more peace, clarity and hope? We can start by making a conscious decision to choose faith instead of fear.

Having faith in our recovery means having faith in our higher power, faith in ourselves, faith in our ability to heal. Faith in the idea that we’re being supported on our journey, and that healing is in fact possible. Faith that we are more than our addiction and depression. Faith that we will find our way, that we will be able to live our truth and find fulfillment.

How do we actively choose faith? We can work on growing our faith by using affirmations, visualization and meditation. We can repeat statements affirming, “I have faith. I trust in my higher power. I have faith I will heal. I believe in myself. I believe in my recovery.” We can visualize ourselves being at peace, feeling trusting and confident, being sure and certain of our recovery. We can meditate using these affirmations and visualizations while holding our hands over our hearts and activating their powerful healing energy.

Changing our fear responses takes time and practice. We won’t rid ourselves of our fears immediately. When we are hit with anxiety and fearful thoughts, we can make a choice each time whether to respond to them with more anxiety and fear, or to reroute our thoughts to more positive, affirming ones instead. As we become more conscious of our thoughts and practice meditation, we realize we have more power to control the direction of our thoughts than we often think we do. Meditation also allows us to quiet the panic and noise in our minds and to prioritize feelings of wellbeing.

Our recovery can really benefit from holistic healing methods, and at Enlightened Solutions we’re here to help you find the ones that work for you. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Enabling Each Other

Written by enlightened solutions on October 26, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction. Leave a Comment

Those of us who have lived with addiction in our homes or relationships know how hard it can be to deal with someone else’s addiction. We often enable addicts’ behaviors, even though we care about them and want them to get better. Why do we do enable each other?

It often comes down to fear. Sometimes we’re afraid of how the person will react if we try to stop them from using. When the relationship is abusive, they might threaten us with violence if we don’t do as they ask- sometimes when we are being abused, we try to placate them as much as possible.

Sometimes we are embroiled in our own addictions and can’t extricate ourselves from them, let alone help someone else to. Often our relationships are codependent and addictive in nature. Many of us are love/sex addicts. In continuing our patterns, we’re often enabling multiple addictions at the same time.

When in these kinds of relationships, we might know we’re in an unhealthy situation but are afraid to let go. The idea of no longer having them in our lives can feel excruciating, and we’re so afraid of losing them that we enable their addictive behaviors to keep the relationship.

Addictions in relationships often go hand in hand with mental health issues. We might be dealing with multiple illnesses at the same time. When we are in this place, we don’t necessarily have the clarity we would have otherwise. We feel lost, confused, sad and in distress. It can feel virtually impossible to help others quit their addictions when we’re suffering ourselves. When we stay in these toxic situations, our mental health often deteriorates, and our addictions grow worse.

What are some of the ways we enable each other?

You might buy your partner his drug of choice when he demands it. You might choose to go out drinking with him, and even let him drive drunk. You might turn a blind eye and be in denial about his problems. You might choose to stay in the relationship while he continues to disrespect you, allowing him to take advantage of your support.

We enable other people when we allow them to continue hurting us and themselves, when we allow them to lie to us, manipulate, coerce, or otherwise control us. When they continue to cross our boundaries and we keep letting them, we are enabling them. Enabling is anything that we do that allows, perpetuates, exacerbates or contributes to addicts’ continuing their addictive behavior.

Coping with addictions means dealing with all kinds of interpersonal issues. We’re here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

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