Author: Grace Ogren

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What Is Self-Harm and Why Is It Done?

*Trigger warning: This article includes details and discussions of self-harm.*

Self-harm is self-inflicted and harmful behavior done without the intent of death. Examples include cutting, burning, and bruising the skin. Picking at wounds and pulling hair may also be self-harm. 

Self-harm is often used to manage strong emotional pain, express intense emotions, and escape numbness. It’s not typically done to initiate suicide, but someone who self-harms is more likely to die by suicide1.

Understanding Self-Harm

Self-harm can be confusing and difficult to understand, whether you or a loved one do it. It can seem illogical—causing pain to escape the pain. Knowing the reasons behind it can help you support a loved one or learn more about how treatment can help you. 

Definitions and Forms of Self-Harm

Self-harm is defined as inflicting physical harm to yourself on purpose1. It’s more common in teens and women. Some people will only do it a few times; others may struggle to stop once they start. Media representation (TV shows or movies) commonly portrays self-harm as cutting the skin, but it actually takes many forms. Here’s some examples:

  • Burning the skin with matches, a lighter, or another source of fire. Chemical substances can also cause burns.
  • Punching or hitting to cause bruising or broken bones.
  • Scratching, piercing or cutting the skin with razors and other sharp objects.
  • Pulling out hair. 
  • Ingesting toxic substances, like drugs, high doses of medications, and chemical cleaners to inflict harm.
  • Any self-inflicted behavior intended to cause physical harm. 

Though self-harm can cause injuries that need medical treatment (and even life-threatening injuries), it differs from suicide attempts in that the person does not intend to die. Suicide attempts are often intended to cause death, while self-harm is used as a coping tool. 

For example, someone may cut deeper than intended, requiring immediate medical care for a wound that could have killed them. This differs from a suicide attempt because they did not make that cut with the intention or hope to die.

The Psychology Behind Self-Harm

Self-harm commonly occurs as a way to cope with overwhelming emotions2, including anger, grief, and numbness. It’s also frequently used as a tool for self-punishment. Some people self-harm to gain attention and help from others (also called a cry for help). Others may self-harm for all 3 reasons. In any case, they need and deserve help.

Self-harm also serves as an emotional outlet2 and provides a sense of control. It can provide a more continuous distraction from intense emotional pain, as the inflictor often needs to bandage and care for their recurring wounds, which also offers a sense of control and can provide nurturing not otherwise received. 

Though it seems counterintuitive, self-harm can release endorphins3 as the body responds to pain. This can spike your adrenaline and improve your mood, which offers an escape from numbness and a break in intensely low mood. But it’s only temporary. 

Addressing The Stigma Around Self-Harm

The stigma surrounding self-harm claims it’s a sign of weakness and attention-seeking, which can cause people to feel ashamed and unwilling to ask for help. Cuts, scars, and bruises also don’t align with most beauty standards, which can cause further shame. 

Shame can cause a cycle of self-harming, as continuous harm reinstates shame, which can cause ongoing self-harm. Hiding injuries and crafting cover-up stories can also fuel shame and cause even greater stress, which can feed the cycle.

To break through the stigma, you can practice empathy and compassion—towards yourself and others. Educate yourself on self-harm to better understand its causes; this can help you approach conversations about getting help with greater confidence and compassion. You can also advocate for yourself or others by correcting common misconceptions about self-harm. Discuss it as a symptom of overwhelming pain, not an inability to cope with it. If people don’t understand and are not willing to try, you can leave them out of your journey.

Factors Contributing to Self-Harm

Self-harm isn’t usually the first way people try to manage strong emotions and cope with pain. People may even seek treatment but ultimately not get the relief they need. And since self-harm can offer momentary relief or distraction, stopping may sound pointless and daunting—why quit something that works? Fear can then contribute to repeated self-harm: fear of giving up potentially the only coping tool you have.

Treating underlying conditions, beginning treatment as soon as possible, and catching the signs early can prevent self-harm and the fear of letting it go. 

Emotional Distress and Mental Health Disorders

Conditions like depression, anxiety, trauma, and borderline personality disorder can contribute to and cause self-harm as a symptom. Here’s why:

Pre-existing mental health conditions can largely contribute to and cause self-harm, but so can your environment, the people around you, and the media you take in.

Environmental and Social Influences

Bullying, family dynamics, and peer pressure can lead to self-harm. Media may also create curiosity around self-harm, which could lead to experimentation, and then a habit that becomes hard to break. Some TV shows and movies geared toward teens vividly show (and often romanticize) self-harm. This can prompt teens to replicate the behavior or see it as the only way to deal with negative emotions. 

Similarly, and especially for teens in middle or high school, being in a peer environment where self-harm is normalized and romanticized can lead to experimentation. Teens may self-harm to fit in, to relate to their friends, or to gain sympathy from classmates (which is often a genuine cry for help). Bullying can cause self-harm as a way to cope with emotional pain and as a form of self-punishment.

Signs and Symptoms of Self-Harm

If you’re worried about a loved one or a friend self-harming, you can keep a few warning signs in mind as you note their physical and emotional changes. If you do notice any signs, try to keep your questions gentle and centered on concern. Make sure your emotional state invites vulnerability. Though distressing, self-harm and the causes behind it are treatable.

Warning Signs of Self-Harm

If you’re a parent, a teacher, a sibling, or a concerned friend, you can keep a lookout for the following signs of self-harm in someone you care about.

  1. Suddenly spending time alone, usually in a shut or locked room. This could be their bedroom, bathroom, or another area of your house. 
  2. Unexplained injuries, cuts, or burns.
  3. Taking or hoarding first-aid supplies. 
  4. Finding blood on their clothes, sheets, and used first-aid supplies (like gauze or bandages).
  5. Wearing full-coverage clothes and seeming particular about not revealing their arms, legs, stomach, or other areas they’re normally okay with showing. This may be especially noticeable in the summertime (like wearing a hoodie in hot weather). 
  6. Items like razor blades, knives, lighters, or other self-harm tools going missing in your home. You may find them tucked away into a hiding place in their room or bathroom. School lockers can also hide supplies.
  7. Behavioral changes like seeming down, tearful, and hopeless.
  8. Acting withdrawn and unfocused in social and family situations.
  9. Flinching or seeming in pain when certain parts of their body are bumped or touched. 

Starting The Conversation and Next Steps

Remember: noticing these signs may mean your loved one needs help, but with that help, they’ll learn to heal. Keep that in mind as you bring your concerns to light. You can start with gentle questions about their behaviors and items you may have noticed go missing, like self-harm tools and first-aid supplies. You may ask something like,

“I’ve noticed you seem very down and that you spend a lot of time in your room. I’ve also found band-aid wrappers hidden in the trash. You aren’t in trouble if you say yes, but I want to know if you are hurting yourself.”

If your loved one answers yes, they have been hurting themselves, you may need to see the wounds to make sure they don’t need medical attention. If they’re unwilling to show you but agree they need treatment, you can offer to take them to urgent care or the emergency room. 

If they don’t need immediate medical treatment, you can discuss getting help in other ways. Acknowledge and validate their pain, avoid judgment, and encourage them with the vast array of treatments available to people who self-harm (like therapy, peer support groups, virtual care, outpatient care, and even residential rehabs). When they’re ready, you can help them take the first steps into treatment.

Depending on your relationship, you may be able to control their environment in the meantime. If you’re the parent of a child who self-harms, for example, you may gather and hide all your knives, razors, lighters, and other self-harming tools as a preventive measure. You can also set rules about alone time (like limiting it to an hour a day, keeping their door open, or requiring frequent check-ins) to keep a closer eye on them and their behaviors. 

In some cases, alone time may not be safe in any sense. Consider going to the emergency room to get admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where your loved one receives continuous monitoring in a safe environment. 

Support and Treatment Options

Many forms of treatment and therapy can help you or your loved one heal from self-harm and its underlying causes. 

Professional Help and Therapies

Behavioral therapies address the unhealthy or inaccurate thoughts and emotions leading to behaviors like self-harm. Examples include:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which addresses and challenges the emotions causing self-harm, like anger, shame, and grief. Using CBT, a therapist will help their patient determine the validity of their thoughts, prevent spiraling, and reshape their thought patterns. 
  • Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) helps manage intense emotions and teaches tools for coping and resilience. Rather than challenging or changing thoughts, DBT helps patients accept the thought and manage how they respond to it. For example, someone experiencing intense emotions may respond with a coping tool they learned in therapy, not with self-harm.
  • Problem-Solving Therapy8 uses skill and attitude training to see problems as solvable, promote rationalization, and reduce impulsivity. This therapy can be especially helpful for adolescents with depression, suicidality, and self-harming behaviors.

Self-Care Strategies and Coping Mechanisms

Alongside professional help, you can also practice self-care strategies and at-home coping mechanisms for self-harm. Here are a few of those strategies and practices you can try:

  • The ice-cube method: Hold an ice cube in your hand (or your mouth) when emotions become intense and overwhelming. The cold ice cube serves as a neurological distraction9 and can give you mental clarity. Relief and clearer thinking can then prevent self-harm.
  • Exercise: Fitness can serve as a distraction8 and an action. Let out emotions through weight-lifting, boxing, running, or taking a walk. 
  • Drawing/doodling: Making shapes, lines, or drawings can release emotions and give a sense of accomplishment. You can make angry slashes with your pen over the page, slowly color in shapes, or draw lines over and over. You can even add words and combine journaling with doodling.
  • Busy your hands: Whether you have to sit on them, play with a fidget toy, or simply run them over textured fabric, keeping your hands busy can help distract you until the urge to self-harm fades.
  • Tear something apart: Rip up paper, food, or something you’re okay with tearing. This serves as a distraction and an emotional outlet, which can prevent self-harm by satiating the need to do so.
  • Tell someone: Let a trusted friend or family member know when you feel the urge to self-harm. They can keep you company (even virtually) and keep you accountable by checking in. You don’t even have to specifically mention self-harm, just let them know you need support.
  • Remove yourself from your environment: Physically step away from your current environment and the potential self-harm tools within it. Ideally, you could go on a walk to get outside and separate from your home or other living environment. If you can’t, move to another room or seek company with a family member.
  • Make your environment as safe as you can: As you feel able, remove, destroy, or throw away self-harm tools. Give your stash to someone to get rid of. Tell a trusted family member to hide or lock up other self-harm tools in your home. These could include knives, shaving razors, and other sharp tools.
  • Be kind to yourself: The recovery journey for self-harm isn’t a straight line. You may go one, two, even 10+ days (or months) without self-harming, but end up doing it again. That’s okay. Don’t see it as failing, rather as a bump in your road to recovery—and you’re still on the road. Remind yourself of that often.

Self-care strategies can reduce your overall stress and promote wellness day-to-day. Here are a few techniques you can try:

  1. Set aside time to relax and do something you enjoy. Schedule yourself an hour each night (or however long you can) to read, meditate, craft, or call a friend.
  2. Stay hydrated and incorporate more whole foods into your diet to fuel and nourish your body.
  3. Get outside to soak in sunlight and Vitamin D—try walking through your neighborhood, taking your dog to a park, or sitting on your balcony.
  4. Prioritize good sleep. Follow a nighttime routine and try to wake up at the same time each morning to even out your sleep cycle.
  5. Move your body through exercise, yoga, playing with a pet, or taking walks. You could also take up new sports or hobbies like hiking, swimming, and rollerblading.

Prevention and Building Resilience

Changing the narrative around self-harm and offering education can prevent teens and adults from using it as a coping tool. To combat the glamorization of self-harm, schools, peers, and teachers can instead educate vulnerable teens on the realities of self-harm and what it means for their health. 

Knowing your treatment options can also serve as a prevention tool, as someone may not feel drawn to self-harm if other sources of relief are readily available (like therapy, support groups, or crisis services). The earlier schools and other organizations can make these resources available, the better.

Find Help and Hope

Understanding self-harm is the first step towards offering the necessary support and compassion to those in need. It’s about looking beyond the behavior and recognizing the underlying pain, offering a helping hand in their journey toward healing. Remember, with the right approach and resources, recovery is not just a possibility but a reality. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with self-harm, seek help from a professional to navigate the path to recovery together. You can also find rehabs with self-harm treatment by browsing Recovery.com.

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Understanding the Physical Toll: How Anxiety Impacts the Body and Ways to Cope

Learning how anxiety affects the body can help you understand mysterious symptoms and the impact untreated mental health conditions can have. Although anxiety can manifest in many ways, not everyone will experience physical symptoms. On the other hand, some people may feel the physical symptoms most acutely. 

Anxiety’s physical symptoms could first seem purely like a physical health condition, especially if you’ve never been diagnosed with it. Set an appointment with your doctor if you’re wondering if your symptoms may be caused by or related to anxiety.

What Is Anxiety?

People with anxiety disorders experience frequent and persistent worry1 out of their control.  This can manifest as generalized anxiety disorder or as a specific phobia, such as social anxiety disorder or panic disorder. Even when temporary stressors resolve, people with anxiety disorders don’t experience relief. Anxiety can be thought of as a constant anticipation of future threats2.

For example, someone with anxiety may constantly worry about their job, their health, or the safety of their loved ones. They’ll perseverate on worries like, “What if I’m not performing well and get fired? What if my loved one gets into an accident or gets sick? What if I get sick or hurt?”  It may feel like a preventative measure to prepare for worst-case scenarios, but in reality, these festering worries just lead to stress and anxiety.

A lack of issues does not alleviate their anxiety. That often means they need to learn how to reduce their anxiety manually, since it won’t fade in times without stress. They can learn to counter recurrent and persistent worries, stopping the thoughts from lingering and causing symptoms of anxiety.

Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

Some of the most common physical symptoms of anxiety3 include:

  1. Headaches
  2. Shortness of breath
  3. Nausea
  4. Diarrhea
  5. Back pain
  6. Insomnia
  7. Racing heart (also called tachycardia)

Anxiety affecting your physical health is also called somatization4, where emotions and feelings express as physical pain or discomfort. This can happen with other mental health conditions too, but is especially common with anxiety. 

Cognitive Effects

Anxiety can affect how you process and take in information5. For example, if you’re in a near-constant state of hyperarousal, benign events could seem scary or exacerbate your anxiety. Feeling anxious can also make it harder to make educated decisions and react appropriately.

Anxiety may prevent you from concentrating and remembering dates, information, and tasks you need to get done. If your brain is stressed, it may not feel like those things are important enough to be remembered. Instead, you may perseverate on potential threats and prepare for fear.

Anxiety can also distort your perception5. It can cause stronger reactions to cues of threat, like fearful expressions, an edged tone, or an unwanted task you suddenly must do. The threat itself may not even be a threat or is a small one, but a distorted perception from anxiety makes it feel much scarier. You may experience friends and loved ones questioning your reactions or anxiety levels and telling you “it’s no big deal.” From your perspective, though, it does feel like a big deal. 

Immune System and Stress Response

A perceived threat triggers your body’s stress response2. Since anxiety can alter perceptions and make non-threats seem threatening, it can regularly activate the stress response. This sends floods of stress hormones and other stress responses throughout the body. 

The stress response is intended to help you survive2 and escape threats, so your heart rate increases, you get a spike in adrenaline, your muscles tense for action, and you breathe faster. While this works great in certain situations, it’s not always intended to happen and can feel distressing.

Excess stress hormones can affect the immune system6 similarly to an inflammatory disorder. Hormone-releasing glands may work ineffectively after continued activation and use. This can also make you more susceptible to autoimmune diseases and other health problems, especially if you have chronic stress or long-term untreated anxiety.

Gastrointestinal Effects

Anxiety can sometimes feel like a pit in your stomach. Your brain and gut share a strong connection7, which is why anxiety can cause nausea, pain, and diarrhea. The gut-brain axis is a complex communication network that involves the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system, linking emotional and cognitive areas of the brain to your gut. Anxiety can activate the autonomic nervous system8, which can impact your gut and lead to symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea. These painful and disruptive physical symptoms can also worsen your anxiety, creating a cycle.

Treating one or both parts of the cycle can help you find relief. Therapy and medications for anxiety can relieve gastrointestinal symptoms, and treatment for gastrointestinal symptoms can relieve anxiety. Treatment targeted at both may be most effective for you.

If you’re feeling nauseous before a presentation or other anxiety-inducing event, you can practice coping skills to soothe stress. Deep, mindful breathing can calm your nervous system. You can try box breathing, where you breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 4 seconds, and breathe out through your mouth for 4 seconds, then start again from the top. Physical activity and healthy distractions (like reading, cooking, or watching a show you enjoy) can help, too.

Sleep Disturbances

The hyperarousal state caused by anxiety can make it hard to fall asleep9 and stay asleep. Your brain may wake you up more often if it’s used to feeling under threat, especially if you’re having nightmares that trigger the stress response. Anxiety can also trigger nightmares; for example, a parent may have persistent nightmares of losing a child. 

You may compulsively worry about what happened during your day, replay interactions, or start mentally preparing for tomorrow’s threats as you try to fall asleep. Worrying about what happened and what could happen can trigger your stress response and bar your brain from the relaxed state it needs to sleep. 

Those diagnosed with sleep conditions like insomnia could find their anxiety improves once they get insomnia treatment9, and vice versa. Treatment for insomnia depends on which kind you have (trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both), but often includes therapy and medications. Short-term hypnotics, certain antidepressants, and benzodiazepines can calm the mind and allow sleep.

Muscular Tension and Pain

The stress response causes your muscles to tense2 and prepare to fight or flee. If your anxiety often activates this response, you can experience muscle pain from the prolonged tension. This could also lead to skeletal conditions like low back pain and make pre-existing osteoarthritis more painful. Anxiety can lower your ability to tolerate pain10 and make other musculoskeletal conditions more painful as well. 

Relaxation techniques can help relieve tension and pain. Try progressive muscle relaxation, where you’ll mindfully tense and untense your muscles (head to toes, toes to head, or another pattern.) You can also apply topical remedies to relieve pain.

Respiratory System

The stress responses speeds up breathing to ensure your cardiovascular system has enough oxygen to react to threats. You may experience shortness of breath when anxiety triggers this response11 without a threat to run from or fight. Feeling like you can’t breathe or aren’t getting enough air can intensify your anxiety and create a self-feeding cycle. 

Sometimes, this can worsen to a panic attack, which may cause you to hyperventilate or hold your breath. Both of these can cause someone to pass out (or feel close to it). 

Feeling constantly short of breath or like you’re just barely getting enough air could be a sign of anxiety. Practice deep breaths, filling and expanding your stomach, and bring your concerns to your doctor.

Hormonal Imbalance

Anxiety can interfere with hormone production and release12, which can lead to thyroid problems and menstrual irregularities. This can even extend to reproductive issues. Stress and anxiety can cause endocrine disorders when they go untreated. 

Anxiety treatment can alleviate the disruptions in your endocrine system and restore it to health. Treatment options for anxiety include therapy, medications, and a combination of the two.

Seeking Professional Help

If you notice physical or emotional symptoms of anxiety, you can start your treatment journey by scheduling an appointment with your doctor. They will help you determine the cause of your symptoms and rule out other potential conditions. They may also refer you to therapy and prescribe an anxiety medication. At your appointment, you can ask questions like these to better understand your condition and treatment:

  1. Do I meet diagnostic criteria for anxiety?
  2. Should I be on medications for my symptoms? If so, what are the potential side effects?
  3. What are my next steps in treatment?
  4. Can you refer me to therapy or a different level of care?

Behavioral therapies for anxiety aim to change unhelpful thought patterns and challenge the compulsion to worry. Cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, invites you to notice the thoughts and emotions behind your behaviors and question their validity. Dialectical behavioral therapy encourages you to notice and accept your emotions while also aiming to adjust how you respond. 

Exposure therapies can reduce anxiety around places or situations that trigger anxiety. You may imagine the exposure or go out and experience it. For example, you may take small drives to reduce anxiety around driving, especially if you’ve been in a car accident. Your therapist will be careful to not retraumatize you or suggest anything you don’t feel able to do, but you’ll likely venture outside your comfort zone with their support.

Lifestyle Changes for Anxiety Management

Lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on your overall wellness and anxiety levels, especially when combined with professional treatment. You can try any combination or number of changes to see what works best. 

Strengthen Your Sleep Hygiene 

Good sleep can help you feel more rested and capable of handling challenges. The amount you need varies by person, but you can shoot for 6-8 hours. Set up a nighttime and morning routine to align your circadian rhythm and ease anxiety about falling asleep and waking up. 

Set Boundaries at Home and at Work

Setting emotional boundaries can shield you from additional stress and anxiety. For example, if interactions with a family member cause you anxiety, set a boundary. You could do this by limiting the time you spend with them, how often you text them back, and by what information you share with them. You can verbalize your boundary or let your actions express it.

At work, you can clearly communicate your working hours and set an expectation to work within them closely. Creating a healthy work-life balance can lower anxiety and give you more time to pursue activities you enjoy. 

Eat Well

Healthy eating allows you to function at your full capacity, which can help you manage stress and anxiety. Prioritize whole foods with nutrients and vitamins. As much as you can, avoid processed foods, fast food, and sugar. Sugar rushes can feel like panic attacks13, so limit how much you have. Similarly, excess caffeine can cause a spike in adrenaline, heart rate, and make you feel panicky.  

Make sure you’re drinking enough water, too. Dehydration can sometimes cause or mimic anxiety symptoms13; sip on water throughout the day and shoot to drink an ounce for every 2 pounds of your body weight. Someone who weighs 150 lbs would drink 75 ounces of water following that suggestion.

Exercise

Exercise can help relieve stress and make you feel good (thanks to endorphins). Gentle and intense exercise offers these benefits. You could go on walks, try yoga, or weightlift. Exercise can lower stress levels and help you relax. Align your exercise with your lifestyle and ensure it’s something you enjoy.

Meditation

Meditation can reduce anxiety symptoms14. Many phone apps offer free guided meditation sessions you can attend anytime. You can also meditate with binaural beats, other music you like, or no music at all. 

Meditation can help align your mind and body in a state of calmness. It’s often described as a spiritual experience; you could also use prayer as a form of meditation.

Resources and Hope for Healing

Anxiety has multiple effects on the body and multiple avenues for recovery. Talk with your doctor or mental health provider today to assess your symptoms and seek treatment. 
You can also browse Recovery.com to find treatment centers for anxiety with photos, reviews, pricing information, and more.

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Recovery.com Team Engages with Mental Health Advocate Johnny Crowder at the 2024 Phoenix Retreat

During our 2024 winter retreat in Phoenix, Arizona, the team at Recovery.com was privileged to meet and glean insights from Johnny Crowder, an innovator in the field of mental health advocacy.

In a candid revelation about his personal struggles with mental health, Johnny Crowder shed light on the lack of resources he encountered while seeking help. His frustration with finding the right tools led him on a journey to innovate within the mental health space. Crowder, who grapples with memory loss, a side effect of his medication, found himself relying on numerous sticky notes filled with affirmations and reminders to counteract his forgetfulness. 

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In an emotionally charged retelling, Johnny shared the bitter disappointment of encountering his musical hero—a moment he had dreamed of for years as an aspiring musician. The long-awaited introduction took an unsettling turn when, instead of the supportive encounter he’d envisioned, his idol scornfully mocked those with mental health conditions. The painful irony of this pivotal moment wasn’t just in the mocking tone his idol used, but in the stark contrast it presented to the uplifting and empowering messages woven into the very music that had propelled Johnny’s own artistic journey. Despite the disillusionment, this episode became a defining one for Johnny, fueling him with a resolve to pursue his passion with even greater dedication. He vowed to cherish and uplift others on their paths, never forgetting the sting of his own experience. 

The Beginnings of Cope Notes And Its Promising Future

Crowder’s initial venture provided complimentary peer support and mental health advice. He used feedback from this venture to inform and fuel his current project, Cope Notes, which offers support through texts. The application sends affirming messages, becoming a vanguard in text-based mental health assistance.

Crowder highlights how Cope Notes endeavors to avoid habituation1, the brain’s tendency to tune out repetitive stimuli. By leveraging the psychology behind SMS notifications, typically reserved for personal contacts, Cope Notes captures the user’s attention more effectively. The app ensures novelty in its messages, all crafted by real people to maintain a genuine human connection.

At the core of Cope Notes’ technology is an algorithm that unpredictably selects the timing and recipient of each message from a repository developed by mental health professionals. This strategy ensures each user has a unique experience, reinforcing the service’s personalized touch.

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Drawing from his educational background in psychology and public health, Johnny’s commitment goes beyond personal necessity. He aspires to improve access to mental health tools and bolster public health education. His own aversion to traditional therapy softened as he discovered and developed tools that benefitted not just himself but could aid others. Crowder’s experience underscores a transformative journey from avoidance to advocacy.

The brilliance behind Cope Notes lies in recognizing the human brain’s intricacies—how it engages with and benefits from unexpected, positive interventions. Crowder envisions stronger unity within the recovery community through tools like Cope Notes. His definition of recovery, “Recovery is a continuous dedication to living a healthy life,” encapsulates his vision for a future where support is readily accessible. 

A Refreshing and Insightful Experience

Johnny Crowder praised the culture of Recovery.com (formerly RehabPath), highlighting his deep connection with our group due to their shared understanding of recovery. He appreciated their insight into his experiences and the work they do to help people build healthier futures. Crowder spoke highly of the team, especially Cliff McDonald, Chief Growth Officer, and Amanda Uphoff, Chief of Staff, for their roles in arranging his participation in the retreat, which felt both impactful and intimate despite his 24-hour turnaround. He noted how well he fit in with our group due to the common bond of recovery. His time was filled with engaging activities and discussions, reinforcing the bond with his hosts and the team. Johnny expressed gratitude for the hospitality he received and anticipated a promising ongoing collaboration between Cope Notes® and Recovery.com. 

For more information about Cope Notes visit: https://copenotes.com

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How To Deal With My Husband’s Addiction

Dealing with a loved one’s addiction has no set blueprint, but learning how to cope with your husband’s addiction can help you both heal. Addiction’s deep roots and substantial impacts on life can make dealing with it feel impossible. But with the right treatment and support, you and your husband can find recovery.

What Should I Do About My Husband Being Addicted to Drugs or Alcohol?

If your husband is addicted to drugs or alcohol, know you can’t force them to get better. You can support them in their treatment journey, offer encouragement, and set boundaries, but you can’t cure them. That’s okay; you’re not meant to. 

What you should or shouldn’t do also depends on your unique situation. Spouses in abusive relationships may not feel safe acknowledging their husband’s addiction or suggesting they get treatment. If you’re in an abusive relationship, you have several resources for help. You can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and 911 (or your local emergency number) if you’re in imminent danger. 

Some spouses may feel comfortable with a direct, confrontational approach. How you go about it can differ widely from one relationship to the next. Your unique relationship can determine what you do and don’t do about your husband’s addiction. Here are a few examples:

Have a Discussion About Getting Help

You can raise your concerns during a conversation. For example, you could say:

“I’ve noticed you’re drinking more and regularly getting tipsy or drunk. I don’t think this is good for you, and it makes me uncomfortable. I want to help you get help. What do you think about starting treatment?”

In this discussion, you can gauge their willingness to seek treatment. Be sure you tell your husband how their drinking affects you, your relationship, and the children you may have. Let them know you’re there to support and encourage them through treatment.

Set Boundaries and Avoid Enabling

You likely spend a lot of time with your husband. They live with you, see you daily, and may also parent with you. It’s natural to want to help them in any way you can, but that can lead to enabling behaviors and the loss of your personal boundaries.

You can prevent this by setting healthy boundaries as soon as you can. Establish immediately that you won’t cover their absences, give them money, or make excuses for their behavior. That can help keep your time and emotional wellness intact. You can also refuse to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. 

Giving money, making excuses, or taking on their responsibilities can enable your husband’s addiction. Doing so can make them feel more comfortable not seeking treatment or help.

How to Cope with Husband’s Addiction

Coping strategies can help you stay mentally well. Remember, your coping strategies are to help you cope, not your husband. You’re not responsible for fixing them. What you can do is help yourself; that way, you’ll be in a place to offer support and encouragement.

Spend Time With Them Mindfully

Be watchful of the time you spend with your husband. If they’re actively addicted to drugs or alcohol, spending all your free time with them may negatively impact your mental health. Time away from them can help you set priorities and stay aware of your emotions and feelings. 

Practice Self-Care

Maintaining a self-care regime can help you cope with your husband’s addiction. Self-care could look different for everyone. Examples include:

  • Time set aside for your hobbies and interests
  • Taking care of your body–skincare, exercise, and good sleep
  • Meeting up with friends and loved ones
  • Making yourself nutritious meals and stay hydrated

Get Professional Treatment

Going to therapy can help you cope with your husband’s addiction. Your therapist or counselor can help you process challenges, create a toolset of coping skills, and help you formulate action plans. Loved ones can also join family support groups to connect with other families.

Discover Support for Family Members

Spouses and other family members have options for support. Peer groups meet worldwide to connect, offer encouragement, and share in each other’s challenges. One of these groups is Al-Anon, created for the loved ones of alcoholics. It follows a similar structure of AA/NA meetings.

Family members can also join Nar-Anon, which supports family members of someone struggling with a drug addiction. Learn to Cope offers peer support in person and online. SMART Recovery (non-12-Step) also has groups and resources for families.

In these groups, you’ll meet with other family members and a facilitator will lead the group. You’ll have the chance to share your experiences, offer and receive support, and find encouragement in shared struggles. Your groups may have a theme, like processing grief or trauma from your loved one’s addiction, or be a more broad sharing experience.

You could also find support groups in your local community. Some community centers, churches, or religious organizations have family peer support groups. Check your local resources (webpage for your city, social media groups) to see what’s available. 

You can also attend family therapy with your husband. Many treatment centers offer this service to help you and your spouse heal together. You can also attend family therapy in an outpatient setting.

Treatment Options for Your Husband’s Addiction

When your husband feels ready and committed to treatment, they’ll have many options to choose from. His clinical needs, history of substance use, and preferences determine which level of care will be the best fit. His doctor can assess his current state with addiction and recommend a level of care, or staff at a rehabilitation center may make the assessment before admitting your husband into treatment.

Questions to Ask Your Provider

Your husband can ask several questions at the initial doctor’s appointment to clarify his needs and treatment pathway. Here are a few to keep in mind as he embarks on this journey:

  1. What level of care would suit my situation and symptoms best?
  2. Do I have a co-occurring mental health condition?
  3. Will medications improve my symptoms, and would you recommend them?
  4. What are the potential side effects of those medications?
  5. Will I need to detox?
  6. What other care options and resources would you recommend?

Levels of Care for Addiction

Many people begin their treatment journey in detox to rid their bodies of addictive substances safely. Some people won’t need detox; it’s always best to let your doctor or a treatment facility decide. From there, your husband may progress through each level of care or start and stop at one level.

  • Detox: a safe, monitored phase where your husband will stop taking substances and let them clear from his system. Medications can make this process safer and more comfortable. It’s not recommended to detox at home since detoxing can cause potentially harmful withdrawal symptoms.
  • Residential Treatment: live-in treatment with 24/7 monitoring, structured schedules, and onsite treatment. Your husband will attend various therapies to address the root cause of their addiction. Many residential rehabs allow family visits and provide family therapy.
  • Day Treatment: your husband will live at home or in a sober living residence (living in a house with other peers in sobriety; strict no-substance rules) and attend about 30 hours of weekly treatment. 
  • Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP): similar to day treatment, but your husband will spend less time in treatment. Some IOPs have day or evening programs for greater flexibility. He’ll spend about 20 hours in weekly treatment and have more time for work and family.  
  • General Outpatient: two or three weekly therapy sessions, usually in a group setting. Your husband will live at home or in sober living.

Locate a Detox Center

Detox may be the first step in your husband’s recovery journey. It can also be the first step to a healthier marriage and improved mental health. Detox centers have experience detoxing clients from alcohol and a wide range of illegal and prescribed drugs. 
To find a detox center, use Recovery.com to browse detox centers in your area and view photos, insurance information, and reviews.

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What Causes Depression?

Multiple causes and factors contribute to depression. It can vary between two siblings, and certainly between people all over the world. As clinicians and the general public gradually become more and more aware of what causes depression, more identified causes have come to light—as have treatments. 

Depression is characterized by feelings of low mood, hopelessness, and sadness1 affecting your daily life for 2+ weeks. Some people experience severe symptoms, like suicidality, while others may experience persistent but low-level symptoms. Some types of depression correlate with the seasons. It’s always best to seek a diagnosis from your doctor to determine the type of depression.

Arguably, there’s a treatment solution for every type and cause of depression. Whether it’s caused by genetics, environment, situations, or anything else, you have resources to heal. 

Is Depression Caused by Chemical Imbalance?

Sometimes, yes. An imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain can poorly affect your mood2 and cause clinical depression. But, this popular “cause” of depression is becoming less and less validated. 

Harvard Medical School2, for example, says, “…depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, and stressful life events.”

Chemicals and neurotransmitters are part of the picture, but not nearly all of it. For example, antidepressant medications raise neurotransmitter levels immediately2, but it takes weeks to see results. This suggests the issue goes much deeper than an imbalance; instead, research finds new nerve connections must form2 and strengthen in the brain to bring relief. 

What Is the Leading Cause of Depression?

Everyone reacts differently to life events, adversity, and abuse. Similarly, everyone has their own unique levels of neurotransmitters and nerve connections in the brain. That’s why a leading cause of depression can’t be identified. 

Some events and predispositions can better predict the onset or likelihood of depression. For example, 80% of those who experienced a major negative life event developed an episode of major depression3. A negative life event could include abuse, loss of a loved one, job loss, and homelessness. 

Pregnancy can cause postnatal depression3, due to a sudden change in hormones, stress, and sleep deprivation after birth. Between 10-20% of new mothers develop depression. Like trauma and abuse, pregnancy can make the likelihood of depression higher, but not guarantee its development.

Causes of Depression

The causes of depression can exist independently or overlap. For example, someone with depression may be genetically predisposed to it and experience abuse. The causes will vary for each person. Some people will also experience the causes but not develop depression. 

Family History/Genetics

Depression runs in families4. Children with a depressed parent are 1.5-3% more likely to develop depression than other populations. Bipolar depression has particularly high chances of affecting immediate family members. Identical twins, for example, are 60-80% likely to share their diagnosis of bipolar with the other.  

Several genes affect how we respond to stress4, which can increase or decrease the likelihood of developing depression. Genes turn off and on to help you adapt to life, but they don’t always adapt helpfully. They can change your biology enough to lower your mood and cause depression, even if it doesn’t run in your family.

Medication

Depression and medical illnesses commonly co-occur5, which led researchers to wonder if medications could cause depression (unrelated to the distress of medical conditions). They found that to be the case in some situations.

Several medications 5 were found to potentially cause depressive symptoms and clinical depression. Medications can also cause symptoms like fatigue, sleepiness, or low appetite, which can progress into depression. 

Abuse

Physical, psychological, and sexual abuse can cause depression6. Abuse can change how you see yourself and the world around you, which can lead to feelings of sadness, low self-worth, and hopelessness. Those feelings can then contribute to, or solely cause, depression.

Victims of abuse may also isolate themselves and shut down, which can make depression more likely to develop. Emotional abuse and childhood abuse tend to correlate strongly with adult depression6. Largely, any kind of abuse makes the development of depression more likely. 

Illness

Depression is more common in those with physical illnesses7 like diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and other chronic conditions. Feeling hopeless, unwell, and discouraged because of a health condition contributes to depression developing. Short-term illness, like being hospitalized and immobile after an accident, can also cause an episode of depression. Those with chronic illnesses may experience more frequent and long-lasting depressive episodes. 

Depression can reduce normal functioning, and even life expectancy7, in those with co-occurring physical illnesses. Treatment for depression can improve symptoms of physical ailments, too.

Drugs and Alcohol

Drugs and alcohol can cause physical and emotional symptoms that lead to depression8. For example, feeling dependent on a substance may cause discouragement and hopelessness, which can then progress into depression. Plus, coming down from a substance-induced high mood can make low moods even more profound. Losing relationships due to challenges with drugs and alcohol can erode support systems and lead to isolation. Sickness and ongoing effects of substance use can make you feel physically ill, which also connects to depression.

Effective treatment for substance use and depression addresses each disorder with the proper approach.

Death Or A Loss

Grief can be a powerful catalyst. The loss of a loved one, sudden or not, can cause low mood, hopelessness, and intense emotional pain. Though healthy grief cycles do include pain and depression, these emotions can become severe9 and interfere with your ability to function. 

Sometimes, those in grief need professional help to navigate the loss and feelings associated with it. This is especially true for anyone with thoughts of suicide or experiencing severe loss of function (can’t get up in the morning, can’t work, can’t eat).

Can You Develop Depression?

Anyone can develop depression. It’s most common in young adults10, but anyone of any age, sex, and race can become clinically depressed. You don’t need a history of depression, nor get depression by a certain age, to develop it. 

Depression can come on suddenly, or as a gradual build-up of symptoms. For example, the loss of a loved one could spur a quick onset of depression. On the other hand, stress and anxiety can more slowly progress into depression. In these cases, depression isn’t always noticeable until it’s glaring.  

Sometimes, catching stress, grief, and anxiety early-on can prevent them from progressing or contributing to depression. Other times, situations completely beyond your control can contribute to and cause depression. Examples include genetics, hormones, and simply how your unique brain works.  

Find Additional Help for Depression

Navigating clinical depression isn’t something you have to do on your own. You can begin your journey by talking with your primary care provider, who can refer you to 1:1 and group therapy. They may also prescribe antidepressants to work in tandem with therapy. 

Your therapist may use therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to improve unhealthy thought patterns. You may also try dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), which focuses more on managing emotions and thoughts in a healthy, productive way. 


You can also attend a treatment program for depression. Browse our collection of depression treatment centers to find a facility that fits your needs—see what insurance they accept, reviews, photos, and more.

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Exploring Recovery and Treatment Options: Your Guide to Mental Health and Addiction Support

It’s a powerful decision to seek treatment for addiction and mental health conditions. Once you commit to recovery, you can begin the process of finding treatment that fits your needs. This can be much simpler than you might expect with the myriad of resources and treatment services available. 

This guide explores the various treatment options for addiction and mental health recovery, so you can identify what will work best for you and your recovery needs.

Understanding Treatment Options and Levels of Care

Your condition, its severity, and other factors typically determine your level of care. Consult with your doctor to see which level they recommend based on your unique situation. Treatment options include:

  1. Inpatient detox with the necessary medical support to manage withdrawal symptoms and make detox a more comfortable and safe experience. You’ll have 24/7 monitoring and support in a live-in environment.
  2. Residential treatment for intensive addiction and mental health treatment focused on your psychological needs and providing a safe, structured environment. Here, you live on-site and engage in full-time therapy to heal underlying factors.
  3. Day treatment offers 30+ hours of weekly therapy, and you’ll typically live at home with evenings available for work or family time.
  4. Intensive outpatient programs provide 20+ hours of weekly therapy in morning, afternoon, or evening sessions to accommodate work and personal needs.
  5. General outpatient includes 1-2 weekly therapy sessions to keep you connected to peers and professional support.
  6. Sober living provides peer housing to keep you connected with daily structure, routines, and accountability.
  7. Virtual treatment offers an all-online recovery experience, using secure online platforms to join meetings and speak with treatment providers in a location convenient to you.

Residential treatment, which usually lasts 28-90 days, provides more intensive care and a monitored living environment that’s substance-free and supportive. Outpatient offers less intensive care when you and your care team decide you feel comfortable living at home and having more independence. Some people progress through each level, starting with detox and ending with sober living. Others may only attend day treatment; your path depends on your unique needs.

When considering treatment, you can also get an idea of where you want to go—if you want to stay close to home, travel to another state (like a southern state in the winter), or go abroad for a completely new experience. Going close to home may be more convenient, while out-of-state or international treatment allows you to enjoy a new environment.

Therapy and Counseling

Therapy and counseling provide regular support on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. You’ll talk 1:1 with a therapist or in a group setting to investigate your condition(s) and its root causes, develop coping tools, and adjust negative self-talk. Your therapist will use one or more evidence-based therapies, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), or a trauma-focused therapy like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).

You can also attend Biblical counseling, marriage counseling, and family counseling to recover from addiction and mental health conditions.

Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) relieves withdrawal symptoms from opioids and alcohol. It can also prevent relapse by managing cravings1 and causing unpleasant reactions to substances, like Antabuse for alcohol use disorder2. MAT can also refer to psychopharmaceuticals, which are medications for mental health conditions3 like depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders.

A doctor or psychiatrist prescribes MATs based on your symptoms and preferences. Together, you’ll identify how long you’ll be on the medication, effects you can expect, and any negative side effects to be aware of. They may develop a tapering plan to help you gradually lower your dose until you’re off the medication completely.

Support Groups and Peer Counseling

You can join a wide array of support groups for addiction and mental health recovery. Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous are faith-based and follow the 12 Steps to maintain recovery.

Non-12-Step, peer-led groups include Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) peer groups, and spiritual groups. A therapist leads group therapies focused on a specific therapy, such as DBT groups.

Exploring Different Therapeutic Approaches

You have multiple therapies available to meet your unique needs. They’ll have different focuses and techniques, but all aim to improve your well-being and resilience. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT addresses unhelpful thought patterns and thought distortions4, like black-and-white thinking (something’s either all good or all bad) and discouraging self-talk. Your therapist will help you recognize the thoughts and emotions leading to unhealthy coping behaviors, like addiction. Then, you’ll work on changing or adapting these distortions until they become realistic, positive, and/or manageable. For example, you may recognize shame as a driving factor for taking drugs. CBT helps you challenge that shame, find out where it comes from, and recognize you have other ways to cope. 

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Similar to CBT, DBT is mindfulness-based and addresses unhelpful thought patterns but with the intent of coping, accepting, and adapting5 rather than challenging the thoughts. It’s renowned for its ability to treat borderline personality disorder, suicidality, and depression, but has wide-spread benefits. DBT can feel more validating and motivating for patients with ingrained thought distortions, encouraging them to navigate them without invalidating their experience and emotions. 

Motivational Interviewing

Motivational interviewing uses direct, person-centered motivation6 to encourage beneficial behavior and implement self-sufficient tendencies. It was first developed to treat alcohol use disorder and encouraged clients to “explore and restore ambivalence.” It helps clients recognize issues and how they’re going to cope with them by tapping into their inner values and goals. For example, a patient may recognize they have an issue with explosive anger; they value others and their feelings, and use that value to motivate changes in their behaviors.

Holistic Approaches

Holistic recovery options address each person as a whole, typically using movement or body-based activities to provide mental and physical healing. Examples include yoga, energy therapy, and creative therapies like art therapy and music therapy. These therapies engage mind and body, promoting recovery in the same. When combined with evidence-based therapies, they can be especially effective7. 

Specialized Programs for Dual Diagnosis

Having a dual diagnosis means you have two or more co-occurring conditions, like a substance use disorder and depression. Many rehabs and other treatment centers offer specialized dual-diagnosis care to treat addiction and its underlying causes. That’s because mental health conditions and addiction, or two mental health conditions, can cause the other8 and become an ongoing cycle. Dual-diagnosis treatment aims to address both conditions at once for a more integrated and personalized recovery experience.

A treatment facility with dual-diagnosis care will often begin treatment with in-depth psychological and physical assessments to diagnose co-occurring conditions and tailor your treatment accordingly. They may also have psychologists and psychiatrists on-staff to offer more informed mental health treatment.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Treatment Program

Once you and your care team narrow down the type of treatment and level of care you need, you can then consider some key logistics to help you make a final decision. Keep the following factors in mind:

  • Location and accessibility. Is it easy to get there? Can you realistically make the commute as often as your treatment plan requires? Consider where you’d like to go for treatment, too—close to home, in another state, or abroad.
  • Cost and insurance coverage. Check to see if the treatment facility you have in mind takes your insurance. If they don’t, or if you don’t have insurance, see if you qualify for a scholarship program or if you can set up a payment plan.
  • Accreditation and licensing. Check to make sure your facility is properly accredited and licensed. They’ll typically include this information prominently on their website, like being accredited by the Joint Commission or CARF, LegitScript certified, and/or licensed in their state to provide treatment.
  • Individualized treatment plans. Will your treatment plan be personalized to your needs? You can confirm this by searching their website or speaking directly with staff to see how they’ll individualize your care.

Start Exploring and Forging Your Path to Recovery Today

Your treatment journey is yours and yours alone. The more you learn about your recovery options, the more confident you can feel starting the journey. Doctors and mental health professionals can also guide you through the process and help you figure out which treatment methods and alternative therapies will suit you best.
To browse a variety of treatment centers, use Recovery.com to see photos, insurance information, and an overview of each center’s treatment options.

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Starting Your Journey: A Guide to Addiction and Mental Health Recovery

Seeking help for addiction and mental health recovery is one of the most important steps you can take in your journey; however, beginning the process can seem daunting and confusing. This guide can help you know where to start, understand your options, and make informed decisions that are best for your recovery needs.

Acknowledge the Need for Help

Recognizing the signs of addiction and mental health concerns is a great step towards recovery. The symptoms you experience will vary by your condition and its severity, but you can expect to notice key impacts on your personal and business life if you’re experiencing a mental health concern, eating disorder, addiction, or other behavioral health issue. 

  • Relationships: Your interpersonal relationships may become neglected if you don’t feel mentally well enough to nurture them and spend time with others. For example, you may fall into a pattern of isolation or cut off friends and family.
  • Employment: Your work performance can decline if you’re suffering from the mental and physical effects of substance use or mental health conditions. It may feel hard to concentrate, meet deadlines, and communicate with your coworkers.
  • Personality change: You may not feel like yourself anymore; something seems off and you may feel perpetually down. Friends and loved ones may notice this as well.
  • Change in interests: What used to interest, entertain, or excite you may suddenly feel boring or like too much effort. Neglecting hobbies and self-care are both examples of this.

If you notice similar effects and symptoms in your life, know help is available. 

Overcoming Barriers to Seeking Help

Remember that getting help and taking care of yourself is never weak—it’s quite the opposite. Stigma can prevent people from seeking treatment1, making it seem shameful or weak to get help. When you take care of yourself, you enable yourself to perform better in all areas of life and take care of your loved ones. 

Where you’re at now, even if it’s uncomfortable, is a place you know. Seeking help and going into treatment is a new experience, so it can seem daunting at first. It can even seem easier to stay where you’re at now and hope things get better on their own. 

To overcome this resistance to change and inspire hope, you can try making a list of all the reasons you want to go to treatment. Use this list to continually remind yourself of your goals and why getting help is so important for your wellbeing and success. Write down your dreams too, and know getting help can move you one step closer to them becoming reality.

It’s okay to not be okay, but with the right help, you can start feeling a lot better.

Dr. Malasri Chaudhery-Malgeri, Ph.D.

You can navigate treatment costs and insurance coverage by checking if a facility accepts your insurance. They’ll often have a free insurance verification form you can fill out online. If you don’t have insurance or they don’t accept yours, you can set up a payment plan or apply for a treatment scholarship if it’s available.

Finding the Right Support System

Support from others can help you overcome fear and resistance surrounding treatment. Tell a loved one, mentor, or trusted friend you think you need treatment. They can help you research your options, provide emotional support, and even go with you to appointments. 

Mental health professionals can and should be part of your support system. You may find support through your therapist, peers in group therapy, or in a peer-led support system like 12-Step groups (Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous) or SMART recovery groups (non-12-Step-based). Your religious organization, if you have one, can also offer support and spiritual counseling.

Taking the First Steps Toward Recovery

Taking that first step to ask for help is incredibly brave. It’s a sign of strength.

Dr. Malasri Chaudhery-Malgeri, Ph.D.

After recognizing your need for help, you can then make the decision to get help. Make this promise to yourself and your support system, if applicable. Let this decision encourage you and offer hope, too.

Make sure you also commit to the journey. It likely won’t be perfect, and that’s okay; aim for progress, not perfection. One way you can do this is through realistic goal-setting. For example, you could set a goal to find a treatment program and set a start date, versus looking to be “cured” in the next 3 weeks. Be kind to yourself and remember each person has their own unique journey with ups and downs.

Your primary care provider can help you start the journey. You can ask them any of the following questions to see what they recommend and how they suggest you begin your recovery:

  1. What level of care do you think I need?
  2. What do my symptoms entail? Help me learn more about this condition and its treatment options.
  3. Would medication benefit me? What may the side effects be?
  4. Do I need to detox? (Describe what you’ve been taking, how much, and for how long, if applicable.)
  5. What coping tools or stress-management techniques do you recommend?
  6. What’s my next step after this appointment?

Then, once you find a program or therapist that’s a good fit for you, you can check to see if they take your insurance and figure out how payments work to offer you peace of mind.

Creating a Recovery Plan

Once you’ve contacted treatment providers, you’ll create a recovery plan with your healthcare professionals. This plan outlines your course of treatment and identifies areas you need specialized care, such as trauma recovery. Your plan will detail the level of care you need, which may include one or all of the options below. 

  • Residential treatment, where you live on-site and participate in daily activities, therapy, and peer groups with 24/7 monitoring. You may also detox in this level of care.
  • Day treatment, with 30+ hours of weekly treatment during the day; you go home or to sober living in the evenings.
  • Intensive outpatient, with 20+ hours of weekly therapy typically offered in the morning, afternoon, or evening to accommodate work schedule and personal obligations.
  • General outpatient, which includes 1-3 group sessions weekly.

Your care plan will include skill building and resources to address triggers and potential relapse risks that you may encounter on your road to recovery. Coping tools and relapse prevention strategies can sustain recovery post-treatment. You may also create a safety plan to manage suicidal thoughts and self-harm. 

Implementing Healthy Coping Mechanisms

Negative and intense emotions are both normal and expected in recovery. Having coping mechanisms in-hand can prepare you for low moments and inspire resiliency. A few stress-management and coping strategies you can use (plus the personalized ones you’ll learn in treatment) include:

  • Daily routines to establish structure and normalcy.
  • Exercise to strengthen your mind and body, and to process strong emotions.
  • Self-care such as journaling, hygiene, and resting to manage discomfort and negativity.
  • Creative outlets like drawing, painting, making music, or writing to release and process emotions. 
  • Talking to friends or loved ones when you feel overwhelmed or alone. 
  • Setting time aside to enjoy hobbies and relaxing activities, like reading or watching a movie.
  • Mindfulness practices like meditation, prayer, and yoga to navigate intense emotions and connect with your body.

Building a Supportive Environment

A supportive environment can benefit you before, during, and after treatment. Surround yourself with people who have your best interests in mind. If you’re seeking treatment for addiction, be sure your friends and social circles support recovery. Distance yourself from people who cause turmoil and set boundaries as needed to maintain your mental and physical health.

You can strengthen your support by staying in communication with your friends and family about your recovery process and any needs you have. Let them know how you’re doing and how they can support you. For example, you may call a friend after encountering a trigger to discuss your experience and how it made you feel. Talking through emotions can prevent rumination and relapse.

Celebrating Milestones and Progress

Make sure you’re celebrating your progress! Every positive change, or even just a step toward it, deserves celebration. Milestones may include “X” days, weeks, months, or years sober, or reaching a goal you and your therapist set in treatment. Let your support system know each time you reach a milestone so they can share your joy.

You can also celebrate the evidence of learning coping skills in treatment. For example, you may notice you identified a distorted thought and didn’t let it bring your mood down. Celebrate that skill you learned and take encouragement from its benefits. 

As you go through your journey of ups and downs, keep your long-term goals in mind. Progress and achieving short-term goals can motivate you to keep pursuing larger goals, like being sober for a decade or finishing out a tough degree. Write down your long and short-term goals to reflect on what you accomplish and keep them top of mind.

Start the Journey Today

With professional help, support, and a myriad of resources available, recovery from addiction and mental health conditions is possible. Stay firm in your decision to get help and commit to setting goals. Watch and celebrate your progress as you go to stay dedicated and keep those goals in mind.
And remember, any step towards healing gets you closer than you were before. Take that first step today by browsing Recovery.com for residential rehabs, outpatient facilities, and virtual options that fit your needs. Find insurance information, photos, reviews, and more to help inform your decision and empower you to find the best treatment for you.

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Types of Private Accommodations in Rehab

Not every rehab has the same accommodations—in some, you’ll share a room with multiple people; in others, you could have a whole villa to yourself. It all depends on where you go and what kind of accommodations you feel you need for your recovery.

The more private and luxurious your accommodations, the more expensive costs of care usually are. You’ll find different forms of accommodation across various tiers of rehabs, from state-funded to top-of-the-line, private luxury.

Low-Level Rehabs (Inexpensive Rehabs or State-Funded Rehabs)

State-funded, inexpensive, or free rehabs typically have simpler accommodations. These facilities may welcome those who have been court-ordered into rehab or those who need care but can’t afford it. If you don’t have health insurance, paying for rehab can sometimes be difficult. Low-level rehabs can be a viable answer for many.

Staying at these centers still provides treatment that can be invaluable. You can still access evidence-based therapies, like 12-Step meetings, and have group therapy during your stay. These facilities typically have a higher staff-to-patient ratio, and a small variety of care options. Treatment plans may be impersonal and the same for every patient. You’ll likely receive cafeteria-style meals that aren’t able to accommodate dietary needs due to budget constraints and low staffing.

Usually, you’ll share a bedroom with 2+ roommates. You’ll have a simple bed, a place to put your clothes, and maybe a desk or side table. You’ll likely share a bathroom and showers with others in treatment. Free or low-cost facilities will also have simpler living spaces and therapy rooms; they’ll focus more on functionality than looks.

Mid-Level Rehabs

Mid-level rehabs are typically centers that accept insurance and have room in their budget for more individualized care and nicer accommodations. They may accept Medicare and Medicaid, along with private insurance and non-insurance payments.

A mid-level rehab will usually have a lower staff-to-patient ratio and be able to provide individual therapy, plus an individualized treatment plan for each client. You may also be able to access further care options, like outpatient, after you complete residential treatment.

Mid-level rehabs may also have detox on site. You might learn life skills and have help getting back into work or school, too. Meals will likely be fresh and prepared with dietary restrictions in mind. You’ll eat with your peers in a dining hall and practice socializing without using substances.

In a mid-level rehab, you’ll most likely share a room with at least one other person. You can expect comfortable beds and bedding and rooms that have a few decorations or homey touches. You’ll share a bathroom with your roommates. You’ll likely have a dresser and a couple chairs in your shared room.

The facility may also have amenities like a pool, a small fitness room with a few pieces of equipment, and outdoor spaces. 

Executive Rehabs

Executive rehabs feature personalized care that addresses addiction and its underlying causes. They’ll have more resources available to treat addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions like trauma. You may also have access to specialized treatments like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), brainmapping, biofeedback, and cryotherapy. In some cases, executive rehabs could offer alternative treatments like psilocybin, ketamine, and other psychedelics (depending on legality in their state/country).

Executive rehabs typically provide a full continuum of care, too. This means detox, residential treatment, and one or more levels of outpatient care. They’ll often stay connected with you for a long time after you leave, either through periodic check-ins or through a robust alumni program. 

You’ll have the option of a private or shared room at an executive rehab, with private rooms available for an extra cost ($1,000-3,000+). In shared and private rooms, you’ll enjoy spacious and well-decorated rooms designed with comfort in mind. Private rooms typically have an ensuite bathroom, or you’ll share a large bathroom with your roommate. 

Amenities at an executive rehab could include a pool, a well-stocked gym, a yoga/meditation room, a library, and chef-prepared meals. You’ll have access to snacks, coffee, and tea, along with nutritional counseling. 

As the name implies, many executive rehabs cater to the needs of executive professionals. You’ll typically have partial or full access to electronics (depending on your needs and treatment plan) to maintain crucial work responsibilities. The private nature of executive rehabs makes them a good choice for professionals needing discretion, like pilots, lawyers, doctors, and C-level executives.

Executive rehabs commonly accept private insurance and private payments and do not accept Medicare and Medicaid.  

Luxury Rehabs

Luxury rehabs have the look and feel of a high-end resort. You’ll receive personalized treatment plans and typically have access to whatever treatment modalities you need—some luxury rehabs only welcome one client at a time for highly personalized care. A care team collaborates frequently to tailor your recovery and continuously meet your needs. Luxury rehabs often provide detox, residential treatment, and a form of outpatient care.

Luxury rehabs are usually in a unique location, like on an island or a private countryside estate. Some ultra luxury rehabs provide all their services on a yacht or a private island. You’ll have a spacious room and bathroom to yourself (sometimes, you may have a villa or home completely to yourself). All meals will be chef-prepared and aligned to your individual nutritional needs. You’ll likely have access to your phone and laptop at set hours.

Treatment at a luxury rehab addresses all areas of your mind, body, and spirit for a highly comprehensive experience. Your treatment team may work with outside providers to make sure you get the exact treatment you need. This could include medical specialists, life coaches, personal trainers, and more. 

Luxury rehab amenities include spa rooms, indoor/outdoor pools, saunas, gyms, luxury bedding and furniture, well-designed spaces, theater rooms, and well-appointed outdoor areas with walking trails, beach access (location dependent), and sport courts. 

Benefits of Private Accommodations in Rehab

Private accommodations offer multiple benefits for recovery and personal growth. Not everyone will thrive in a private setting, and that’s okay. For example, those who’d like to build relationships and grow close to their peers in recovery may prefer shared accommodations.  

For those who would like private accommodations, they can expect benefits like these:

  • Privacy. You have a room and bathroom to yourself; you don’t have to share your space.
  • Space to Unwind. You can completely relax in your own space and reflect on what you learned each day.
  • Peace and Quiet. Since you have a room to yourself, you won’t have to worry about noise from a roommate. This can be especially helpful for light sleepers. 
  • Highly Personalized Treatment. In some luxury rehabs, you’ll have an entire villa or home to yourself and a treatment team dedicated solely to your success. And in general, the fewer patients a rehab center admits, the more personalized your care will be.

Find an Addiction Rehab

Many rehabs offer private accommodations, ranging from a bedroom to yourself to a bespoke villa. Private accommodations can help the recovery journey for some, but they’re not always necessary. You may find a roommate and other shared accommodations align better with your recovery needs. 
To find an addiction rehab, browse our list of centers and see photos, reviews, insurance information, and more. 

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What Is Generational Trauma? Definition, Examples, and Effects

Generational trauma affects a generation’s worldview, mental health, and overall well-being, starting with something that happened to the parents. Their children, and their children’s children, can carry the effects of trauma despite not living through it. 

Generational trauma can be passed down through learned behaviors, parenting styles, and can influence children’s genetics, predisposing them to mental and physical health challenges. 

What Causes Generational Trauma?

Generational trauma is caused by a parent, or both parents, experiencing trauma1 and transmitting it to their children. The parents can be part of a collective group, like Holocaust survivors, or singular survivors of a traumatic event like childhood abuse, disasters, or rape. 

Children with generational trauma don’t experience the trauma directly. Instead, the effects of it pass down from their parents and can leave their children with symptoms and worldviews as if they did directly experience it. Without treatment, generational trauma can pass down through multiple generations.

Examples of Generational Trauma

Generational trauma can affect entire groups and races. For example, Indigenous and minority communities still feel the effects of racism, brutality, and segregation. Survivors of war and Holocaust survivors similarly experience collective generational trauma. 

Since generational traumas often impact a group’s culture and way of life, newer generations may collectively seek out more information about their history and the traumas affecting them in the present day. Some groups and races may not be comfortable with that yet, but many are. Here are a few examples of generational trauma in specific groups/races/communities.

Indigenous Communities

Residential schools in America and Canada housed Indigenous children in an attempt to disseminate their culture, impose religion2, and ultimately force Indigenous children to adopt a Western culture. Malnutrition, racism, violence, genocide, and abuse in and out of residential schools imposed trauma that’s extended over generations.

Indigenous communities bear generational trauma as a collective group, with singular instances of trauma in each unique family and community. Children and grandchildren of those who were in residential schools and victims of colonization can feel the effects of their trauma despite not having gone through it themselves.

Asian Communities

Past wars, immigration, imperialism, and racism can all cause generational trauma in Asian families and their community as a whole. Many Asian Americans also bear the “model minority” label3, where generations are continually expected to behave with gratitude towards America and to forget the trauma in their past (and America’s contribution to it). Thus, silence can prevail between generations, which further distributes generational trauma3. 

Black Communities

Slavery, racism, segregation, and violence impacted black communities from the slave trade and continued racism from it. Black families and communities in America share a haunting past of death, brutality, and inhumanity that still carries into the present. As a result, generational trauma can pass through families and affect generation after generation.

African Americans have been segregated and not seen as equals. Racial violence has been hidden and expected to be forgotten. Even in present-day America, issues like these continue to affect new generations and promote further generational trauma. 

Holocaust Survivors

The men, women, and children who survived the Holocaust (1933-1945) can carry the burden of generational trauma. Murder, assault, racism, and genocide impacted Jewish families and left deep scars in their lineage. Survivors experienced unforgettable horrors and developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

The effects of the trauma passed through generations of Jewish families in and outside Europe. The brutality of the Holocaust continues to shake and affect Germany, European countries, and America despite efforts of justice and healing.

Other Genocide Survivors

Several countries and cultural groups within them have experienced genocide. Rwanda, for example, experienced genocide in 1994. Genocide has also happened in Darfur, Bosnia, Herzegovina, China, Ukraine, Armenia, and more. Murder, violence, theft, and rape were often used as weapons. 

Those who survive genocide are often left with emotional scars. Many women and girls, for example, were raped and mutilated. The communities and cultures who survived genocide bear the weight of it and can pass that down in future generations, especially as groups try to rebuild relationships and reestablish harmony. 

How Is Generational Trauma Passed Down? 

Trauma can pass through parenting styles, imposed worldviews, and, as research recently suggests, genetics. For example, mothers in the Holocaust were found to pass on the genetic changes4 that dysregulated their stress response. That’s because of epigenetics, or how your environment and behaviors affect how your genes work5. Biological and genetic changes can make children more disposed to inherited health and mental health conditions.

Silence can be the catalyst3 for generational trauma. Older generations may not feel comfortable talking about, or at all acknowledging, their trauma. Burying their trauma can inadvertently pass it on to their children, who pick up on their traumatized state and adapt in response. 

Children may adapt by becoming overprotective1 of their parents, by holding onto the trauma and attaching to it, and by taking their parent’s view of the world to maintain their idea of safety. They may see the world as unsafe, unfriendly, and feel isolated by what their parents or grandparents went through. 

How Does Generational Trauma Affect Families?

Families can become disconnected and distant as a result of generational trauma. Parents experiencing PTSD and trauma may struggle to form secure attachments to their kids, affecting their emotional growth and wellness. An unwillingness to talk about obvious trauma can frustrate children and derail their desire to heal. 

Children may also feel the burden of fixing the trauma. They may see how it affects their parents and subconsciously decide perfection can fix their parent’s problems and restore their family. Perfectionism, anxiety, and obsessions can then pass down to their children and extend the original trauma’s effects. 

Ultimately, unacknowledged and untreated generational trauma can forfeit familial closeness and intimacy. Parents and children can then turn to maladaptive coping strategies, like substance use, to cope with the initial trauma and its later effects.

Effects of Generational Trauma

Generational trauma has a few key effects6, including:

  • Fused identity with parents and what they experienced
  • Poor self-esteem
  • Self criticism—”Why am I struggling with this when my parents had to go through ___?”
  • Worrying the initial trauma will happen again
  • Guilt
  • Hypervigilance
  • Mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression

Breaking The Cycle of Generational Trauma

If silence is the catalyst of generational trauma, then conversation is its mediator3. Having open conversations about the traumatic experience educates children, helps older generations process, and can prevent trauma’s effects from passing further. 

In these conversations, emphasizing collective resilience can help survivors3 and their children heal. Collective resilience occurs when a group comes together to get through a challenge, rather than isolating, and recognizes their strength. Facing generational trauma can make future generations more adaptive6 and resilient to future challenges. 

Leaning into tradition and culture can empower old and new generations and instill resilience. Storytelling, traditional activities, and other cultural practices can help survivors acknowledge what happened, its effects, and their efforts toward collective healing.

Parents can also prioritize mental health treatment to improve how they communicate with their kids, how they react to challenges, and how they cope with trauma they experienced without it inadvertently affecting their parenting. 

How to Heal Generational Trauma

Parents and their children—and their children—can also heal from generational trauma through mental health treatment. A mental health professional, like a therapist, psychologist, or counselor, can help those affected by generational trauma process the past and move into the present.

A mental health professional can also help challenge worldviews affected by generational trauma and expose truth. They may use evidence-based therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which challenges unhelpful thought patterns and their resulting behavior. 

Internal family systems (IFS) therapy takes a more creative and engaging approach to identifying generational trauma and equipping your inner Self to heal it. In IFS, generational trauma is identified as an outcast part of yourself that your inner Self can heal. You’ll learn to identify generational trauma and how to realize your innate ability to heal.

Find Help for Trauma

Attending a residential rehab center for trauma can help you take focused time for healing in a safe, non-triggering environment. Browse our list of rehabs that treat trauma to see photos, reviews, insurance information, and more.

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Healing Trauma, Brain, and Body with Bessel van der Kolk

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a psychiatrist, researcher, educator, and author of The Body Keeps the Score. His book, published in 2014, explains how and why trauma stays within—and transforms—the body. Decades of experience and research, much of it outside treatment norms, led Bessel to write his best-selling book, now translated into 43 languages. 

Since publishing, clinicians and the general public alike have used his research and insight to develop new understandings of trauma and its effects on the whole body. We’ll dive into the themes and topics covered in van der Kolk’s momentous novel.

Author’s Background

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk began his career in trauma studies/treatment in one of the first-ever clinical research centers studying people with trauma. He began by studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how mental health medications could affect it. Van der Kolk worked directly with traumatized adults, many of them veterans, to study how trauma works and how people heal. 

Bessel van der Kolk’s research and treatment focuses on creating safe connections to the self and others and becoming aware of inner emotional states. He’s studied various treatments for trauma, including yoga, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), neurofeedback, and psychedelic therapy. 

His book encompasses his years of research, what he discovered about trauma (and narratives he found were false), and what he’s found can help people heal. 

Overview of The Body Keeps the Score

The Body Keeps the Score highlights the connection between trauma and the physical body, emotions, and the truth of certain behaviors (like avoidance, substance use, and rage). Bessel’s direct work and study with PTSD patients informed his conclusions, theories, and proven hypotheses. 

He describes and explains the symptoms of PTSD, why they develop into risky behaviors, and why traumatic stress affects and dictates neuroscience. Bessel led the forefront of the notion that the mind and body connect—and he proved it on many accounts. His book explains his findings, reasons how and why trauma lives in the body, and how traumatized patients can find genuine healing. 

Van der Kolk’s proposed and proven treatments for PTSD veered from pharmacotherapy and traditional therapies, where patients were primarily suggested to talk about their experience until it no longer bothered them. As Bessel and his colleagues found, this could lead to retraumatization, avoidance, and treatment failure as a whole. Somatic approaches, EMDR, psychedelic therapy, and more became his new modes of healing. 

Clinicians, patients, and loved ones alike found Bessel van der Kolk’s delivery to be empowering and educational. Despite his book’s clinical complexities and neurological themes, Bessel makes the information easy to read, insightful, and moving for the general public.

Exploring Trauma and the Brain 

Trauma is more than just a feeling or a thing that happened. It has a definable and proven ability to change the brain, altering the way it works until the trauma is treated. 

In his studies and experiences with patients, Bessel found people would re-experience the sensations of trauma at a neurological level, which would then affect breathing, heart rate, and other physical responses (Van der Kolk, 2014).

This often begins in the amygdala, which signals fight-or-flight (producing adrenaline) and releases stress hormones. For many traumatized people, their bodies don’t stop secreting these hormones because they don’t often feel safe. Their brains and the many parts within it adapt to respond to perceived threats, which can affect physical health, mental health, and your wellness as a whole. 

Neurological Impacts of Trauma

Bessel van der Kolk and colleagues found multiple neurological impacts of trauma. In one instance, they found a traumatized person’s brain activated in the visual cortex, right limbic area, and deactivated in the Broca’s cortex (where language is produced) (Van der Kolk, 2014). Additionally, the “self-sensing” areas of the brain simply did not activate when PTSD patients were asked to sit still and think about nothing, which naturally triggers an awareness of self (Van der Kolk, 2014).

These findings meant patients neurologically responded to the intense emotions of relieving their trauma, as expected, but also went into a state of “speechless horror” (when the Broca’s cortex deactivated). Bessel found this to be the reason why many trauma victims are physically unable to relay what happened to them, and he could see it in real-time on the scan. Many also could not feel a sense of self, instead feeling separated from their body and unaware of sensations like touch.

As long as trauma sensations remain stored in the memory, any activation may trigger the same sensations and feelings; as if the trauma is happening again. Bessel saw this through brain imagery and observing his patients’ reactions to stimuli related to their trauma. 

Neuroplasticity for Recovery

Just as the brain can learn to live in a state of arousal, it can also learn to regulate. The areas of the brain, like the amygdala, can go back to healthy functioning. This ability is called neuroplasticity, or “a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes2 to the brain.” 

Neuroplasticity offers hope to those with trauma. In the same way their brains adapted to survive, so they can adapt to live fully. 

Trauma’s Manifestation in The Body

Trauma does not go away without treatment. It lingers in sensations, memories, flashbacks, immune diseases, sleep problems, and asthma attacks. Mysterious illnesses without cause may point to the body simply trying to deal with the effects of being in survival mode long after you’ve survived the event. Such strain on the nervous system can eventually lead to mental and physical illness (Van der Kolk, 2014).

The Body Keeps The Score

Somatic symptoms without a clear physical cause commonly affect traumatized adults and children. Examples include:

  1. Autoimmune disorders
  2. Sleep disorders and insomnia
  3. Skeletal/muscular problems
  4. Asthma 
  5. Numbness
  6. Migraine headaches
  7. Fibromyalgia
  8. Chronic fatigue
  9. Irritable bowel syndrome
  10. Chronic back and neck pain

In one example from Van der Kolk’s book, a woman with asthma attacks requiring hospitalization eventually realized she was experiencing a physical manifestation of intense emotions (related to childhood trauma). By focusing on the connection between them and addressing the emotions, she stopped having the attacks and needing hospitalization. This highlights the powerful connection between mind and body. 

Therapeutic Approaches to Recovery

Dr. van der Kolk found and practiced multiple therapeutic approaches for trauma. He initially sought something other than the suggested mode of trauma healing: talking about it until it lost its effect. Bessel found avoidance, retraumatization, “speechless horror”, and other somatic effects of trauma often made this approach ineffective.

Though his patients sometimes reaped benefits from bringing their trauma to light, Bessel rightly thought they needed to do more than just become desensitized to verbalizing it. 

Mindfulness and Somatic Experiencing

To help his patients first feel what was going on in their bodies, as many traumatized people are unable to do, Bessel practiced mindfulness with them (Van der Kolk, 2014). This strengthens the body’s natural ability to notice what’s going on within it. 

You can practice mindfulness in many ways. One of the most simple ways is through breathing exercises—you can count the seconds you breathe in, hold the breath, and exhale. Becoming aware of basic functions like these can help ground you in the moment and experience the present. By connecting his patients into the present, Bessel aimed to tell their brains, “that [the trauma] was then, this is now.” (Van der Kolk, 2014, p. 181).

Similarly, somatic experiencing aims to help patients notice the physical sensations related to traumatic memories (Van der Kolk, 2014). They would then work on calming the body, mitigating hyperarousal, before ever wading into the trauma itself. Doing so offered a safe, stable baseline to begin parsing through memories. If done in a state of panic or arousal, attempting to relive the memories could cause retraumatization.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Dr. van der Kolk soon adopted EMDR as one of his treatment modalities, though hesitantly at first. It seemed odd—tracking objects (like the therapist’s fingers) back and forth while recalling a traumatic memory allowed people to process it and heal? Bessel van der Kolk soon found that to be the case.

He found EMDR an effective way to orient trauma back to the past, rather than lugging it along into the present. Patients could radically improve in just a few sessions. 

In examples from the book, Bessel guided assault, rape, and other trauma victims through rapid back-and-forth eye movements as they recalled their trauma. Vivid memories and sensations arose almost immediately, but his patients didn’t need to describe them to process them; only notice it. In one example, his patient/fellow student didn’t have to say a word to feel profoundly healed. That’s what Bessel found to be such an intriguing and effective aspect of EMDR: even those plagued by speechless, intolerable horrors could truly heal (Van der Kolk, 2014).

Studies highlighted in The Body Keeps the Score showed EMDR could be a much more effective treatment for PTSD than medications, or therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (Van der Kolk, 2014).

Yoga

Van der Kolk found yoga to be another way his patients could reorient themselves in their present body. It served as a mindfulness tool, a gentle form of exercise, and something his patients could grow an affinity for. 

Poses and breathing techniques helped his patients reconnect to their bodies and feel comfortable being present. Bessel found yoga could be especially helpful for victims of rape and sexual assault as they began to grow more comfortable experiencing physical sensations (Van der Kolk, 2014).

Yoga also helped his patients become more attuned to their emotional states and passing sensations, ultimately helping them separate from past traumas and hold tight to the present.

Many other holistic and alternative therapies were found to alleviate trauma and help patients process it, including theater, psychedelic therapy, neurofeedback, and other forms of creative expression.

Impact on Mental Health Professionals

As one of the pioneers in trauma studies and healing, Bessel van der Kolk influenced many treatment providers and continues to do so. Many found success with their own patients after adopting a mind-body-connection ideology and focusing on helping trauma victims come into the present.  

The revelations found in The Body Keeps the Score ultimately proved what many treatment providers suspected: talking about trauma didn’t cure it; and while prescribed medications could help with symptoms, they weren’t a cure-all either. It also gave them concrete insights and tools into what was found and proven to work. 

Bessel effectively proved how and why traditional therapies didn’t always work for trauma, and how they could even do more harm than good (such as retraumatization). His accumulation of 30 year’s clinical work creates a manual, so to speak, for anyone wanting to deeply understand how people heal. Quotes from appreciative healthcare professionals include:

“With the compelling writing of a good novelist, van der Kolk revisits his fascinating journey of discovery that has challenged established wisdom in psychiatry. … This is a watershed book that will be remembered as tipping the scales within psychiatry and the culture at large towards the recognition of the toll traumatic events and our attempts to deny their impact take on us all.”

-Richard Schwartz, originator of internal family systems (IFS) therapy

“This outstanding volume is absolutely essential reading not only for therapists but for all who seek to understand, prevent, or treat the immense suffering caused by trauma.”

-Pat Ogden, PhD

“This book will provide traumatized individuals with a guide to healing and permanently change how psychologists and psychiatrists think about trauma and recovery.”

-Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD

Lighting The Path to a New Future

Books like The Body Keeps the Score effectively help change how society views trauma. As many reviews state, Dr. van der Kolk’s clinical findings have the power to change how the world sees trauma and trauma recovery.
To see rehabs treating trauma, you can browse our collection of trauma treatment providers with photos, reviews, pricing information, and more.