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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Coping with anxiety as a drug user, addict or in recovery - how do you do it?

Daily exercise, breathing exercises, CBT. A good therapist who specializes in panic disorder is well worth the effort to find.
 
Kayla is especially interested in how people in different stages of drug use, addiction and recovery manage their anxiety - she would really like to hear from a range of people to do a little research so she can help herself but also so she can help others.

Thank you for everyone who has contributed so far - it would be great if more people could help out by sharing their experiences!

I would also like to remind everyone about the anxiety megathread in our directory, found in my signature or stickied at the top of the forum :)
 
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Best thing to come out of my own personal ventures into CBT... was my introduction to ACT. That is, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I began to go through the process of ACT in response to medications failing to control my anxiety, which got much worse when I stopped using opiates and dissociatives!
 
At the outpatient program I go to they have this clas on Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, which is basically all about coping skills. I'm not crazy about it to be honest, but there is one tool called "opposite action", which has actually helped out a lot surprisingly. The premise is pretty straight forward, do the opposite of what you normally would do when put in a situation that makes you uncomfortable.

For me stress is a big problem, if something is stressing me out, like say a relationship with a friend, or sorting out some beuracratic bullshit with my college, I tend to put it off until the last minute, because I dont want to deal with it.mthe problem is, is that whatever the stresser is that I'm putting off, it usually starts to worry me more and more, and ends up increasing my anxiety. So with opposite action, the idea for me, would be to face the problem head onl and reach an understanding or resolution as soon as possible.

It sounds a little lame, and no it doesn't reduce anxiety like a shot of smack would, but it has helped me out more than a few times, s obvious as it seems.
 
managing ur life is always fun, friends, music, distractions, not being borred. determination, the feeling of accomplishment when you know youre bettering yourself. meditation. prayer. exercise. holding yourself accountable... the feeling of resisting. staying active. the biggest one, love. good luck =]...
 
maxalfie said:
I find exercise helps. Nothing too hardcore,just a gentle jog or even just taking a nice long walk in the fresh air helps.
Learn to look about you and appreciate the beauty of nature.
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i'd just like to add... if your anxiety makes you too fatigued to exercise, at the very least, stretch the muscles. long term anxiety makes the body feel like shit, as OP noted, and stretching a few times a day is one way to keep the muscles not too tense and reduce a little circulatory tension.
 
Znegative said:
At the outpatient program I go to they have this clas on Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, which is basically all about coping skills. I'm not crazy about it to be honest, but there is one tool called "opposite action", which has actually helped out a lot surprisingly. The premise is pretty straight forward, do the opposite of what you normally would do when put in a situation that makes you uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

If you've been a bit frustrated with DBT and its applications for treating anxiety, you ought not be too surprised. DBT's most significant clinical application is for those with Personality Disorders as outlined in the DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistic Manual, 4th Edition, Text Revision). My old job implemented a DBT-specific form of programming for our patients who had personality disorders, most notably Borderline Personality Disorder (you can't imagine how this disorder affects behavior until you work with it...). Anyway, what it boils down to is that DBT is meant to treat far more pervasive problems than anxiety. If you're open to suggestions, try Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the two best I've tried (the latter is better IME).

Good luck!

qwe said:
i'd just like to add... if your anxiety makes you too fatigued to exercise, at the very least, stretch the muscles. long term anxiety makes the body feel like shit, as OP noted, and stretching a few times a day is one way to keep the muscles not too tense and reduce a little circulatory tension.
Click to expand...

+1!
 
Valerian Root,
Working out
Decent sleeping routines
and music.


Anxiety is a fucker though, especially when more than half your life you didnt realise you had it lol
 
KAYLA2010 said:
I have severe anxiety issues. I am not taking meds at the moment for it. I was wondering could y'all help me out and give me some good tips?
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I used to have anxiety problems too, fwiw. Are there particular things u think about and focus on when u get anxious? That might help bring up suggestions.

In my case, I feel like my anxiety was a kind of avoidance... I was wishing, hoping and trying to make things be the way I wanted them to be, but it didn't work. U said u are hiding from the world due to anxiety. Hiding doesn't work, it never works. It only brings more anxiety, more hiding. But what u are hiding from may not be the way U think it is. It wasn't for me. The world turned out to be very different than I thought it was, when I stopped hiding. Very, very different.
 
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