We are pleased to bring you the first in a series of talks, Conversations @ The Crossroads. In the first episode, Taku Mhonyera, Head of Treatment at Crossroads Johannesburg talks to Dr. Tich. If you or anyone close to you needs help with an addiction to sex,gambling, substances, alcohol or food, please contact us for a free assessment.
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Alcoholism, according to the disease model of recovery, is a chronic illness that causes trauma on a number of different levels, not only in the life of the alcoholic, but in the lives of everyone with whom they come into contact. Recovery from alcoholism, in many regards, involves a multi-pronged approach. What we know about this form of addiction is that there is no one, simple way of recovery. In fact, the recovering alcoholic will be faced with many choices and important changes that are crucial to whether he/she will recover in the long-term. This includes the kind of people with whom they choose to associate, the places they visit and even the activities in which they engage. Recovery is a lifelong, life-changing process, but we encourage recovering alcoholics to think of their process as a “one day at a time,” experience.
Depending on the level of alcohol in the individual’s system, a detoxification process may be required. It is important that this process is facilitated and monitored by a medical professional who is able to check the client’s vital signs and ensure that the process is as comfortable as possible. The nature and length of this process will depend entirely on the physical and mental state of the individual client. We therefore treat each detox process on a case-by-case basis.
After detox, the client will join the rest of the therapeutic community in group sessions. The goal of treatment at Crossroads Recovery Centres is to help our clients build foundations for long-term abstinence. This involves focusing on making changes in the way recovering alcoholics live their lives, face problems and relate to themselves and the world around them.
For many, recovering from alcoholism may not seem possible, but we believe that one day at a time, one step at a time, it can become a reality. We understand the importance of building a support network that extends beyond the treatment programme, which is why we deem it imperative to introduce recovering alcoholics to the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step fellowship during their time at the facility. This ensures that they have a long-term plan for recovery and that after treatment, they have the support they need to live free from the clutches of alcoholism.
If you or a loved one is in search of help for addiction in any form, know that help is readily available. Contact us for a free consultation and we’ll support you in your journey.
No Obligation Addiction Assessment
Book a No Obligation Confidential Assessment at your nearest Treatment Centre Today.
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
Step 11, of the 12 step programme encourages us to meditate, but what does it mean to meditate and what changes take place in our brains when we engage in meditation? How can meditation assist us as addicts?
Meditation is a practice where an individual uses various techniques
in order to achieve focused attention and awareness, with the aim of
achieving mental clarity, emotional calmness and general stability.
One purpose of meditation is to observe ones own mind.
There are many different forms of meditation : mindfulness
meditation, body scan meditation, breath awareness, guided
meditation, visualization, loving kindness meditations, Mantra
meditation, Kundalini yoga, Zen meditation, Transcendental
meditation….there are hundreds of different types of meditations
from a variety of cultures and religions around the world. There is
no “best type” of meditation, what works for you may not work for
someone else and what works for you today, may not work for you on
another day. If you are new to meditation, then it is best to try a
few different types and learn what works best for you.
What actually
happens in our brains and bodies when we meditate ?
Associate Researcher in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, Sara Lazar, has spent time researching the impact of regular meditation on our brains. One of her studies involving brain scans taken pre and post an 8 week course in meditation, showed an increase in the size of the hippocampus. The hippocampus plays a role in learning as well in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory. People who have experienced trauma or who are prone to depression have smaller hippocampi – studies showed that there was a correlation between regular meditation and an increase in the size of the hippocampus in these people. It was not the only part of the brain which demonstrated changes – the amygdala which is associated with how we experience stress, fear and anger also showed changes after 8 weeks of mindfulness training. When subjects were shown images containing emotional content -there was a decrease in the activity of the amygdala. Subjects for this study had MRI’s before an 8 week mindfulness course and after the course. A “relaxed” amygdala is successfully able to counteract an anxiety response by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system thereby slowing down our heart rates, deepening and slowing our breathing. When the amygdala is overactive, it releases cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream. These are stress hormones which provide us with necessary energy in times of danger but have damaging effects on the body in the long term if they are too often available in the body.
Other studies show differences in the temporoparietal junction, where people who meditate frequently and consistently are better able to see things from multiple points of view which is an important aspect when it comes to showing empathy and compassion. Meditators have also demonstrated higher levels of alpha waves which reduces feelings of negativity which also helps to combat against depression.
Increasingly, we are able to verify, scientifically, brain changes in
subjects who employ meditation techniques. The effectiveness of
meditation, in long-term changes in both behaviour and the brain, is
influenced by how often one meditates and how long the sessions are.
By retraining your mind through mindfulness practice, you create new
neural networks. You can retrain your brain.
Meditation and
Relapse Prevention.
In 2018, researchers looked at using mindfulness meditation in the treatment of substance use disorders and the prevention of future relapses. Mindfulness is the concept of being present in our own lives and is characterised by “a non-judgemental, non-reactive, present-centred attention and metacognitive awareness of cognition”. With relapse rates being as high as 60 % within the first year of intervention (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and 12-step programmes ), therapists began to look towards mindfulness-based interventions (MBI’s) and Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP). Addiction wreaks havoc on our neurocognitive capacities. Chronic drug and alcohol use disrupts and usurps some normal brain circuitry. One of those is the reward processes in our brains. Mindfulness training can increase our natural reward responsiveness – such as our enjoyment of food. This in turn can reduce cravings. There is also no doubt that there is a link between stress and substance use disorders. Meditation teaches us to self-regulate stress and our own stress reactions. There is definitely preliminary evidence for the efficacy of mindfulness based interventions in the area of relapse prevention although more rigorous research designs with longer follow-up periods are required.
Meditation alone, will not be sufficient. There is little doubt that further research needs to be done in this field but there is now, thanks to technology, clear evidence that regular, consistent engagement with meditation can have a positive effect on our brains and can be a highly beneficial tool in our arsenal against the disease of addiction.
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
Treatment centres like Crossroads Recovery Centres offer a program of drug rehabilitation that includes a number of different components. One important thing to understand about rehabilitation from any kind of addiction is that every person experiences it in a different way. The desired outcomes however, are universal. Treatment is purposed towards helping the addict to deal with their core issues, accept life as it is and look forward to a better future. The ultimate purpose of rehabilitation therefore, is to restore the recovering addict to a state pf physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being – a state in which they will be able to re-enter the world and rebuild their lives.
Drug rehabilitation is unique from other forms of rehabilitation in that it may involve a detox program as part of the process. The length and nature of this detox process will depend on a number of factors including which substance the addict was using, for how long he/she was using and in which quantities the drug was being used. A detox programme is different for each individual. Sometimes addicts can be introduced to the therapeutic community directly without having to spend time in a dedicated space that is set aside for detox. At other times, they may be secluded to a specific wing of the treatment centre where they can be monitored more closely.
After the detox process has commenced and the recovering addict is stable enough to interact with other patients, he/she will be introduced to the therapeutic team and treatment community. Group therapy is an important part of the drug rehabilitation program, as well as individual counselling, which will help to unearth core issues and bring to light some of the issues that the addict may never have been wiling to confront. This takes place in a safe and secure environment and is facilitated by professional counsellors.
Therapy is supplemented by information sessions, life skills workshops and an introduction to 12-step fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Being familiarised with these 12-step fellowships is a key ingredient to successful treatment. For many, it is the bridge between treatment and the world outside the doors of the facility.
If you or a loved one is in search of help for addiction, know that help is readily available. Contact us for a free consultation and we’ll support you in your journey.
No Obligation Addiction Assessment
Book a No Obligation Confidential Assessment at your nearest Treatment Centre Today.
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
