Putting the Resilience into Recovery.

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Putting the Resilience into Recovery.

21 August, 2020Articles, News

Resilience is the remarkable human capacity for bouncing back. The hallmark of resilience is the ability to adapt in the face of adversity, be it trauma, tragedy, threats, adversity, or any other source of stress, from relationship troubles, workplace and money stressors, to serious health issues.

This isn’t to say that a resilient person never experiences any degree of difficulty or distress, or that if they do- it doesn’t affect them emotionally. It merely means that they have the strength and coping skills to bounce back after these traumas. Resilience is not a personality trait that people are born with, either. It’s a set of skills which can be learnt and built upon.

Some of the so called unfortunates referred to in The Big Book: alcoholics , addicts, “failures”, people who’ve attempted suicide, those lost in depression — the kind of people you’d never think would make it through — and yet, their resilience has been both remarkable and transformative.

Traditional trauma and crisis theory suggest that people generally adapt well over time to life-changing situations and stressful conditions. After a six to eight-week period, normal coping skills kick in and life returns to a kind of normality.

Most people we encounter in the rehab environment do not have the coping skills to manage the trauma that has resulted in a life of abuse of substances. They turn to an addictive set of behaviours to stop the emotional pain that they are facing. This often results in a life of complete unmanageability and destruction both to themselves and those close to them – family, partners friends and work colleagues.

There are some of these individuals who have been through hell and emerge on the other side. They embody all that the research into this field outlines. There are several factors that can enhance resilience, and it can be cultivated to serve you in overcoming life’s hurdles. Some of these are outlined below:

● Supportive relationships characterised by love and trust;

● Role models who offer encouragement and reassurance;

● The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out;

● Develop positive self-esteem and confidence in your strengths and abilities;

● Skills in communication and problem-solving;

● The ability to control and deal with strong feelings and impulses.

One of the most relevant theories to understand the capacity for resilience is the theory of locus of control. It initially comes from social psychologist Julian Rotter in the 1950s and has been expanded on in many areas of behavioural science, most notably by Bernard Weiner, who was on the psychology faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1965 into the early 2000s.

Your locus of control is the extent to which you believe you have control over the outcomes of events in your life, as opposed to external forces that are beyond your control. People with a strong internal locus of control believe outcomes result primarily from their own actions and abilities: for example, they feel the capacity to stay clean and sober comes down mostly their own efforts. They view their success or failure as being dependent on their ability to beat the disease.

A person with a strong external locus of control will assign using triggers and behaviour to external factors and circumstances over which they have no control.

Research has also shown that there are 5 key factors that contribute significantly to the chances of post discharge recovery.

● Support from others:

Does the person have a supportive and understanding environment of people in their lives that will aid the recovery process in a mature, stable manner? This could be family, a partner, a group of positive friends, a supportive employment environment and of course the AA and NA fellowship with meetings sponsors and all that goes with the recovery environment.

● Flexibility and adaptability

Has the person developed a set of flexible behavioural skills and tools to deal with adversity when it arises?

● Action planning

Do they have a plan of action in place to manage their daily monthly and yearly activities and have they built in contingency plans to adjust these plans when things do not work out according to their plan? Covid-19. Do we need to say anything more?

● Self-awareness

Have they developed a strong sense of self-awareness so that they can manage their behaviour in the most appropriate way in different situations?

● Hopefulness

Do they have a sense of hope for the future or are they consumed by despair and depression?

Resilience can be learned or taught. It involves developing thoughts, behaviors, and actions that allow you to recover from traumatic or stressful events in life. “When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.” – ― Jaeda Dewalt.

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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.
Oliver VG
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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.
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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!
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Gratitude, more than an Attitude.

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Home / Posts tagged "recovery" (Page 17)

Gratitude, more than an Attitude.

07 August, 2020Articles, News

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend”.

-Melody Beattie.

“Please” and “Thank you” are simple words to which we often don’t pay much attention. They are expressions of gratitude. As recovering addicts, many of us already focus on the concept of gratitude on a daily basis, but why is this beneficial to us ? What does it mean, and what does the practice of gratitude do to our brains and our bodies?

Defining Gratitude:

Most psychologists categorize three types of gratitude:

Gratitude as an “affective trait” (one’s overall tendency to have a grateful disposition which is influenced by genetics, personality and culture). Not everyone has the same innate ability to experience gratitude, it can however, be cultivated.
A mood (daily fluctuations in overall gratitude), and an
Emotion (a temporary feeling of gratitude that one may feel after receiving a gift or a favour from someone).

Professor Robert Emmons is the world’s leading expert on gratitude, having devoted over 20 years to the topic. He defines the state of gratitude as :

Recognising that one has obtained a positive outcome and
Recognising that there is an external source for this positive outcome. One can be grateful to other people, to animals, institutions, spiritual beings and to the world, but not to oneself.

The Evolution of Gratitude.

Gratitude is wired into our biology and it it seems that it is not a characteristic unique to humans. Darwin suggested that humans and other animals share the “same emotions, even the more complex ones such as jealousy, suspicion, and gratitude”. Research has shown that fish, birds, mammals and primates demonstrate what is called reciprocity. Reciprocity, is a concept from social psychology, referring to the exchanging of actions. Reciprocity is characterized as the the exchange of goods and services between two individuals over time. It is an arrangement that mutually benefits both parties and allows for the continuation of the species over time. Reciprocal altruism, the socio-biological root of gratitude, is when an animal helps another member of the same species, sometimes at a cost to themselves. It is presumed that the favour will be repaid in the future.

Studies have focused on primates such as chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. Primates are unable to express appreciation verbally, so they return favours. One study found that chimpanzees are more likely to share food with a chimpanzee that had groomed them earlier in the day, and are more likely to help another chimpanzee with a task if that chimpanzee had helped them in the past. It would appear that there is an evolutionary advantage to co-operating with others. The evolution of reciprocity into gratitude means that our brains have evolved to recognise when someone has done something beneficial for you and you are then motivated to repay them. As our brains evolved, they became better and better at reading emotions, and more selfish individuals were identified, resulting in less co-operation with them. Thus, gratitude is beneficial to us from an evolutionary perspective, it creates pro-social behaviour which has a circular effect and reinforces the behaviour of reciprocity. Indeed, ancient philosophers Cicero and Seneca thought of gratitude as foundational to the success of a civilization.

How is Gratitude Beneficial to us :

According to Emmons, gratitude,

Allows us to celebrate the present.
Blocks/ reduces the impact of toxic emotions such as regret, depression, envy, resentment (reduces the frequency and intensity of depressive episodes).
Grateful people are more resilient. They recover faster from stressful episodes. Gratitude has been shown to have an impact on PTSD and symptoms of anxiety.
Strengthens social ties. This, in turn, adds to self-worth.

Actively practising gratitude, counteracts negative feelings such as :

Envy
Social comparison
Narcissism
Cynicism
Materialism

People who are more grateful are happier, more satisfied, more resilient, make friends easier, have better relationships, sleep better, are less prone to addiction, as well as being less prone to burn-out.

In terms of neuroscience, focusing on what you are grateful for, calms the amygdala, which is the part of the brain associated with how we experience stress, fear and anger. 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 can have damaging effects on the body in the long term, if the body produces them too often. Gratitude acts as a catalyst for neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline which manage our emotions, anxiety, and immediate stress responses.

The effects of actively practising gratitude have been shown to last for months. Changing our thoughts and feelings can assist us in rewiring our brains and can change our behaviour. It is important to remember that gratitude is a useful tool to assist in our recovery from addiction.

“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up”.

– Eckhart Tolle.

Resources :

An Antidote to Dissatisfaction : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPPPFqsECz0&t=119s

What Is Gratitude? : https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/gratitude/definition

The Evolution of Gratitude : https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_evolution_of_gratitude

The Science of Gratitude : https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf?_ga=2.148257463.1232572343.1596654013-429792934.1596654013

The Neuroscience of Gratitude and How It Affects Anxiety & Grief : https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/