Why do rehabs work with body-mind connection as part of recovery from substance abuse?
This guide will give you all you need to know about body-mind connection approaches in rehabs in just six minutes. Body-mind connection is vital for recovery from substance abuse and addiction. Essentially, mind and body are interrelated, meaning that changes in the one will facilitate changes in the other. Working with the relationship between feelings/sensations (i.e. anxiety, cravings, etc.) and action (behaviour, drug use) helps you to find healthy ways to self-regulate. Basically, recovery is about ‘connection’ and relationship with yourself (your mind, your body, and your emotions).
Addiction ravages the brain by redirecting our powerful neural reward system to prioritise the user’s drug of choice over the survival needs those systems were created for, namely food and reproduction. Therefore, introducing mind-body therapies into rehab addiction treatment programmes means going after the neurological disorder at its core. Most importantly, these therapies acknowledge the complicated biological incentives for substance abuse.
What are the benefits of a body-based therapeutic approach in rehab?
A body-based approach in rehab emphasises the creation of a secure present. Working on the non-verbal level can provide therapeutic care and support to meet the needs of alcoholics and drug addicts. Ultimately, the connection between mind, heart and body can go beyond words in dealing with what sometimes may seem unspeakable. Thus, by developing coping strategies and emotional regulation, you can deal better with your current reality and develop new ways of understanding and coping from a body level.
How rehabs work with the inner drive to recovery?
It is our belief at Rustenburg Clinic that we possess a natural tendency to heal when given proper conditions. We therefore provide a free and protected space for connecting with the journey to recovery. Moreover, Rehabs create space for exploration of the ‘poetry people speak’. And thus their dreams and imagery offers a way of connecting with what is within, of giving visual form to inner experience. This can bring out certain elements, including inner resources and self-awareness that have hitherto not been available for everyday living.
How do rehabs build connection between self and the world?
Addicts long for connection to themselves, and to others and to the world, and substances create the illusion of connection. Conversely, addiction achieves the opposite. An addicts’ life therefore becomes unmanageable, relationships are damaged and they become numb to feelings and emotions.
Without the substance, there is no self, and this is a very painful place to be in. At Rustenburg Clinic we walk the journey together to rediscovering feeling. We help you learn how to bear difficult feelings and share the burden and joys of regaining connection to self, others and the fundamental experience of being alive.
Connecting with breath and body in rehabs
Breathing is a universally shared human experience that connects us to the world. It is therefore considered the key to life, movement and rhythm. Thus, breathing into the body and then connecting to each body part can be relaxing but it can also be re-traumatising.
At Rustenburg Clinic we work with attunement and empathy in our engagement with each person who comes for treatment. Creative expression is an important therapy. It essentially allows our clients to be with their bodies and their expression, without judgement, comment or pressure to perform.
For more information on our treatment programme, click here.
How can expressive arts therapies be helpful in rehabs?
From prehistoric times and in contemporary indigenous cultures, the arts served to prevent physical and mental illness in individuals and the community as a whole. Thus, expressive art therapies can be a means of connecting to sensory experience, the environment and an embodied sense of belonging within the personal, cultural and/or collective unconscious that can evoke a felt sense of one’s ‘ecological self’. Consequently, this awareness of interdependence through the body and movement can contribute to healing ourselves and our relationship with the Earth.
How rehabs create opportunities for building community
There are few spaces in life where we can feel whole and allowed to express ourselves. For this reason, the connection between peers at rehabs is vital for recovery. ‘We are all in this together’ and ‘we need each other to recover’ are important lessons of recovery. Community building and forging connection helps during the modern age where technology and disconnection from self and others is growing.
Can rehabs offer opportunities to engage with difficulties related to the addiction?
Addiction often leads to a range of other difficulties. Here are just a few that addicts often deal with:
- Anxiety;
- Bereavement;
- Depression;
- Dealing with mental or physical illness;
- A need to improve, remediate or rehabilitate cognitive, physical, emotional and psychosocial functioning;
- Gender difficulties;
- Obsessive compulsive behaviours;
- The effects of trauma (including childhood emotional deprivation, difficult parent-child match and sexual abuse);
- Relationship problems;
- Eating disorders;
- A sense of wanting to fill an inner emptiness or work with blockages to growth and healing.
Holistic treatment works with the whole person and their lived experience, addressing all of the above difficulties and more. Even the National Institute on Drug Abuse agrees that effective treatment in rehabs addresses not just drug abuse, but other needs. Those of body, mind and spirit.
Rehabs and Recovery
Recovery is a process of change through which people improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential. Therefore, there are four major dimensions that support recovery in rehabs:
- Health—overcoming or managing one’s disease(s) or symptoms and making informed, healthy choices that support physical and emotional well-being.
- Home—having a stable and safe place to live.
- Purpose—conducting meaningful daily activities and having the independence, income, and resources to participate in society.
- Community—having relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love, and hope.
Rehabs and building resilience as part of recovery
Families of people in recovery often experience feelings such as guilt, shame, anger, fear, anxiety, loss, grief, and isolation. Recovery is consequently vital for family members who need access to intentional support that promote their health and well-being. Conversely, the support of peers and friends is crucial in engaging and supporting individuals in recovery.
Who do rehabs cater to?
Substance use disorders affect people from all walks of life and all age groups. These illnesses are common, recurrent, and often serious, but they are treatable and many people do recover. These disorders can affect how we relate to others and make choices. Substance use disorders occur when the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant impairment. Thus, formal diagnosis often depends on the disorder so severely affecting a person that they can no longer function. Common symptoms include health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home.
How rehabs support behavioural and physical health?
Substance abuse can make daily activities difficult, impairing someone’s ability to work, interact with family, and fulfil major life functions. Preventing substance use disorders or co-occurring disorders and related problems is critical to behavioural and physical health. Rehab treatment consequently helps with developing the skills and lifestyle needed to be successful in recovery for the long-term. We do this by addressing aspects of physical, mental and emotional health. Mind-body therapies improve overall mental and physical health while improving brain function. Ultimately, these are practices that we should all engage in regularly, just like eating well and exercising.
A holistic approach to an addiction-free life in rehabs
Rehabs have varying degrees of success in terms of recovery from substance abuse disorder. At Rustenburg Clinic we use a holistic approach to recovery from substance abuse. Our approach meets the needs of you as a whole person and is more likely to lead to a successful recovery. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a holistic approach offers the best possible recovery outcomes.
How rehabs bring recovery and balance to your mind, spirit, and body?
Substance misuse and addiction are complex, and therefore, a holistic approach acknowledges the complexity of recovery. That’s why holistic rehab is the best option for you to continue your life addiction-free. While no single treatment works for every individual, holistic treatment programs address all of an individual’s multiple needs. Ultimately, the process of recovery is highly personal and occurs via many pathways.
How do rehabs support recovery from substance abuse?
The foundation of recovery is hope; the belief that these challenges and conditions can be overcome. Recovery is therefore characterised by continual growth and improvement in one’s health and wellness, but may also involve setbacks. Because setbacks are a natural part of life, resilience becomes a key component of recovery.
Rehabs and non-verbal expressive arts therapies
Rehabs support the drive to healing and becoming whole without the addiction. Basically, rehab practitioners address the mind, body, and spirit connections to help you fully break the chains of addiction. Additionally, integrative approaches that include non-verbal expressive arts therapies offer the best opportunity for long-term success.
Verbal and nonverbal expressive therapies help individuals and groups in rehabs by:
- Reaching the therapeutic goals of relief, and the development and integration of emotional, cognitive, psychosocial and physical functioning and personal growth;
- Improving intra-personal and interpersonal relationships with an awareness of individuals and groups as part of a wider matrix of community and ecological networks;
- Enhancing resilience through the development of creative capacity;
- Improving, remediating and /or rehabilitating cognitive, physical, emotional and psychosocial functioning;
- Promoting health and quality of life.
The focus in rehabs on how experience is thought of and felt in the body
Mind and body are interrelated. This means that changes in the one will facilitate changes in the other. In other words, experience is not simply thought of, it is felt; it can often even defy language’s ability to express it. Holistic programmes in rehabs work with the innate human capacity to express and create in multiple non-verbal ways. They therefore overcome language’s inability to fully convey the lived experience of internal and external factors. In other words, it is an approach where mind, heart and body combine in going beyond what can be described in words, in dealing with what sometimes may seem unspeakable.
Rehabs and the importance of getting professional treatment
Struggling with addiction has devastating and complicated long-term effects. The best way to overcome substance use disorders is certainly to get professional treatment. This allows individuals to get unique treatment at rehabs, physical and psychological help, and a deeper understanding of their addiction. When someone battling addiction enters rehabs, they receive medication and have access to innovative treatments within rehabs.
Rehabs and exercise
Health professionals have found that exercise provided important support to those engaged in drug addiction treatment. Certainly, a maintained exercise program often translates into maintained abstinence. That’s great news because it’s one of the easiest things you can do to help yourself in recovery. It’s also something that you can pick up no matter where you are in the journey to recovery. At Rustenburg Clinic our holistic approach to recovery includes exercise as part of overall wellbeing and healing from addiction.
If you or a loved one needs help with addiction, there is no need to travel this path alone. Contact Rustenburg Addiction Care today, or learn more about our treatment programme here.