After years of struggling with the painful effects of addiction, we’d like to think that our recovery will magically solve all of our problems and lift our depression right out of us. The recovery process, however, is not as simple as that. Recovering from our addictions means healing from the deep mental and emotional health issues we are also facing, the co-occurring conditions that have been coexisting alongside our addictions, compounding and exacerbating them. Abstaining from our drug of choice, even having a successful lasting recovery, does not guarantee we won’t still be depressed. We might be able to make great strides in our ability to stay away from addictive substances and behaviors while still living with deeply rooted emotional issues. The causes of our unhappiness can be as varied as we are as people and are unique to us. To recover from depression alongside our addiction, we have to heal these root causes. While some of these factors might have contributed to our addiction as well, simply abstaining does not solve them. We have to address whatever trauma we have yet to heal from, the fears we haven’t resolved, the emotional wounds we’re still carrying. Abstinence can help give us the clarity we need to do to the emotional work it takes to get to these deeper issues, but it alone won’t solve them for us. Abstaining from our addiction can provide the foundation for strength and resolve that we’ll need to tackle our mental health issues, but we can’t expect it to be the solution. Our addictions often functioned as a distraction from our pain. When we were using, we weren’t fully aware of just how depressed we actually were. In recovery, all of the issues we’ve buried within us that we’ve been trying to hide from have a chance to surface. We can be hit with multiple painful issues all at the same time, causing us to become more depressed. Our drugs of choice may have numbed our feelings so much that we weren’t even aware that we were depressed. When we stop using them, the truth of our depression can come to light in shocking and destabilizing ways. We can suddenly feel very hopeless and defeated, even when we’re successfully abstaining. Sometimes the recovery process can feel anticlimactic, like a let-down. We were anticipating feeling totally healed. We were expecting to finally be happy. We were hopeful about how promising our recovery would be. When we are in recovery and aren’t suddenly happy, we can find ourselves disoriented and surprised. We can be bitterly disappointed and very sad. Successful recovery means healing from our depression in addition to abstaining from our addictions. Understanding some of the reasons why we’re still depressed even while in recovery can help us with this process.
The treatment programs at Riverside Recovery include various kinds of therapy to help you heal holistically. Call (800) 871-5440 for more information.
