The Role of Meditation in Alcohol Addiction Cures

Here are just a few of the ways that alcohol addiction cures incorporating meditation can make a positive difference in your recovery and lasting sobriety.

• Stress Reduction Through Meditation
  Stress is often cited by individuals as one of the primary reasons for their drinking. One role of meditation in curing alcohol addiction is to learn how to cope more effectively with stress. With all the stressors and attempts to escape that pepper our daily lives, many people find that they never get the opportunity to be mindful and purposed in their thoughts and actions. Meditation provides the opportunity to send healing messages to the body, breathe deeply, and get in touch with yourself as a spiritual being. Meditation has also been shown to have a calming effect, which can help you better cope with stress when practiced in the moment, and even help alleviate it after the fact.
• Unlocking Emotions Through Meditation
  One benefit of meditation as part of an alcohol addiction cure is its ability to help unearth and unlock past emotional issues. We do not always have the time or tools to cope with our emotions and fears in the moment, causing our minds to attempt to shield us by repressing these negative thoughts.  However, when these thoughts remain unresolved, emotional stressors have a way of affecting other aspects of our lives. Eventually, these feelings come to the surface—sometimes in emotional outbursts, binge drinking, or even physical issues as the body reacts to mental stress. These reactions lead us to further fear our negative emotions, and the repression cycle begins. However, when meditating, you can create a positive, nonjudgmental environment where emotions can be felt, embraced and released.
• Envisioning the Future With Meditation
  With any alcohol addiction cure, it’s important to be able to envision an alcohol-free future. Meditation can imbue you with power to remove the shackles of traumatic experiences and beliefs about the world that have kept you locked in a continual cycle of addiction. The process of meditation opens the mind to new possibilities and helps develop and reinforce new, creative and inspired patterns of thought. By regularly practicing meditation, you strengthen your ability to maintain dependency-free thinking, allowing yourself to create, accomplish, innovate and grow.

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The Power of a Customized Alcohol Addiction Cure

Many inpatient alcohol rehab centers offer the equivalent of a “one-size-fits-all” solution, with group therapy sessions, rotating chores, and group activities. Unfortunately, the psychological reasons for alcohol addiction are often highly personal—and require individualized attention to your specific mind and body chemistry in order to successfully address and resolve them. Here are just some of the ways that a customized alcohol addiction cure can make a difference in finally achieving lasting sobriety.

• Eliminating Negative Self-Beliefs
  People often turn to alcohol to suppress their negative beliefs about themselves and to quiet inner, self-critical voices. These insidious negative self-perceptions rob us of confidence and train us to assume our own helplessness and worthlessness. Because alcohol serves as a short-term escape, these underlying thoughts never truly resolve while we are in the throes of alcoholism. A customized alcohol addiction cure with intensive individualized therapy can help you identify your specific root causes of low self esteem and eliminate self-destructive patterns of action or thought, replacing them with new ways of thinking.
• Resolving Past Experiences
  Some experiences are too difficult for us to cope with in the moment. We usually process these experiences once the stress, danger, or fear of the moment passes. However, in the case of ongoing problems or extremely traumatic situations, we never find that safe space to understand traumatizing events. Without this understanding, we encounter anxiety, fear, panic, or rage when present situations evoke memories or thoughts from the past.  The power of a customized alcohol addiction cure to unearth these past experiences and resolve our responses to them can bring us to a place of freedom while working in a safe, confidential, one-on-one setting.
• Learning to Cope with Life
  Many people find themselves in situations where they do not have the necessary coping skills. During the course of alcohol addiction, we often tell ourselves that we need a drink to meet a challenge—to cope with anxiety, get through a social event, deal with work pressure, or handle a personal interaction. Alcohol becomes a means of escape. While there are general coping skills you can learn in inpatient rehab, a customized alcohol addiction cure will provide you with specific coping mechanisms for the problems you face in your life, tailored to your style of learning and your individual thought process.
• Treating Chemical Imbalances
  Underlying chemical imbalances in the body and mind can help fuel alcohol dependency. Drinking itself may mask the symptoms of these imbalances in brain hormones (known as “neurotransmitters”), making it sometimes difficult to even identify the problem at hand.  In the controlled setting of inpatient alcohol recovery, it becomes possible to test for these imbalances—and any other medical issues that may be interacting with or complicating alcoholism. Each person’s body, medical history, and chemical makeup is unique, and many contributing bodily issues require dedicated, customized medical attention to resolve.

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The Importance of Therapy in a Personalized Alcohol Addiction Cure

During the inpatient alcohol rehab experience, the therapy sessions take on a new sense of importance. As part of your personalized alcohol addiction cure, therapy sessions can empower you, readjust negative perspectives, solve lingering problems and heal emotional trauma.

• Adjusting Perspectives Through Therapy
  False beliefs can trap us in negative patterns of behavior—and can also contribute to our alcohol dependency. Sometimes, our perspectives on our life experiences, relationships, and even our view of the world lead us to self-defeating behaviors and low self esteem. Therapy provides an objective perspective that reinforces your worth and capabilities, freeing you from negative beliefs about yourself or the world around you.

• Empowerment Through Therapy
  Alcohol dependent individuals find themselves feeling disempowered as the cycle of alcoholism dictates more of their lives than they do. However, through individualized therapy, you can learn how to better empower yourself to take on life’s challenges and achieve healthy relationships, career goals and freedom from alcoholism. By learning healthy coping skills, taking responsibility, and healing your self-esteem, you can tap into inner resources of personal power to overcome challenges you may encounter. As an outside observer, a therapist can help develop your sense of accountability by providing positive reinforcement for achievement and discussing setbacks in a nonjudgmental environment.

• Finding Practical Solutions With Therapy
  People often feel powerless when facing problems in their lives. Alcohol can become a way to escape from problems that seem to have no solution.  One important role of therapy as part of your personalized alcohol addiction cure is to help you develop your own solutions. The therapeutic process allows you to deconstruct stressors and negative cycles, in order to take practical steps to make life more effective and enjoyable.
• Healing Trauma With Therapy
  If you have encountered a traumatic event—be it an assault, death of a loved one, or even heartbreak—you may not have ever received the deep inner healing you need. Therapy provides a safe place to contextualize traumatic events and reestablish a sense of trust, safety and optimism.

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Lifestyle Adjustments for Curing Alcohol Addiction in Inpatient Rehab

The science of integrative medicine reaches beyond merely treating symptoms of health problems—instead, reaching to solve underlying chemical imbalances, nutritional issues, or root medical conditions for lasting health and wellness. In fact, the vast majority of health problems can be positively affected by changes in daily habits and lifestyle. Here are just a few of the ways lifestyle adjustments can help cure alcohol addiction through lasting, healthy changes.

• Diet and Alcohol Addiction
  Many of us are unaware of how imbalanced our diets have become. Deficiency in vital nutrients can create a host of secondary complications—some of which we may use alcohol to self-medicate our way through. Through chemical analysis, exploratory scans, and other physical tests performed at private inpatient rehab facilities, we may also discover that our alcoholism has been affected by a chemical imbalance that is exacerbated by our nutritional choices. Nutritional deficits can also impede proper production levels of certain important neurotransmitters in the brain—putting us at higher risk for addiction.
• Exercise and Alcohol Addiction
  Exercise can play a significant role in alcohol addiction cures. By helping to rid the body of toxins, strengthening the heart and lungs, and releasing mood-enhancing natural endorphins, exercise can bolster our body and mind during the alcohol addiction recovery process.
• Stress Reduction and Alcohol Addiction
  While the underlying causes of alcohol addiction may be more complex, stressors can often create a crisis that leads us to rely on alcohol, leading to dependency. Learning to reduce stressors in our lives involves developing life skills and better coping mechanisms, removing negative self beliefs that impede personal success, and learning meditation and relaxation techniques for crisis management. Additionally, we may find that our environment, job, or circle of associates needs to change in order to remove unnecessary negative stressors from our lives.
• Sleep and Alcohol Addiction
  Alcohol addiction lowers the quality of sleep we receive—and often the quantity of deep sleep, known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. During sleep, our body repairs itself—internally and externally. By amending sleep patterns, we put ourselves in a much better position to deal with the deeper issues of our alcohol addiction for a lasting cure. Treating insomnia, sleep apnea, or other sleep disorders during private inpatient alcohol rehab can influence our alcohol recovery for the better.

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Tips for Finding an Affordable Alcohol Addiction Cure

Fortunately, there are many ways to finance alcohol addiction treatment. Here are a few tips for finding affordable solutions as you seek out successful alcohol addiction cures.

• Talk to Your Medical Insurance Carrier
  Many medical insurance companies offer full or partial coverage for alcohol addiction treatment, which can offset the cost of inpatient alcohol rehab.
• Approach Friends and Family
  Even if alcohol addiction has damaged your relationships and personal reputation, you may still find that friends or family are willing to help you finance alcohol addiction treatment. Let them know that you are finally willing to seek help, and ask for their financial assistance.
• Consider Liquidating Assets
  Nothing that you own is worth as much as your life. Consider selling an extra automobile, clothes, or any unnecessary belongings. While these items can be easily repurchased during your sober life, the damage alcoholism causes to your health, relationships and career are much harder—and sometimes more expensive—to rebuild.
• Take Out a Loan
  Studies show that those who experience a full alcohol addiction cure end up making more money than their still-addicted peers. Consider your alcohol addiction cure the best investment you’ll ever make—by investing in your own healing, treatment, and future. Most homeowners can also refinance their houses, freeing up much-needed credit to finance inpatient rehab for total healing.
• Seek Effective Alcohol Addiction Cures
  Pay attention to the success rate of the alcohol addiction cure program you select. Choosing an alcohol addiction treatment program with a relatively low success rate amounts to little more than an expensive gamble—and may require another investment in a different treatment program if you relapse. Select an effective alcohol addiction cure with success rates of 85 percent or better, so that you can have confidence that your money is well-spent and that you are truly poised for full and total healing of alcoholism.

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Acute Chemical Imbalances From Alcohol Addiction

From the moment alcohol enters the system, endorphins are released, stimulating the brain’s pleasure receptors. This effect continues as long as alcohol is imbibed, releasing more dopamine—the body’s “happy hormone”—creating a fairly immediate imbalance of the important neurotransmitter.

Chemical Imbalances From Long-Term Alcohol Addiction

The body attempts to correct the chronic chemical imbalances caused by alcohol addiction. The body reads the chemical levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, aiming to eliminate excess dopamine from its system. As a result, the body’s systems become overtaxed, charged with processing up to 100 percent more dopamine than they are designed to.

Eventually, bodily systems adjust, both processing and eliminating high levels of dopamine from the body. At this point, the alcohol dependent individual finds themselves in a quandary. If alcohol intake is lowered, they experience a sharp dopamine deficiency, triggering depression, memory problems, anxiety, cognitive problems, anger, and even suicidal ideation. This effect causes alcohol dependent individuals to believe that they need to drink—almost with an accompanying physical urge. The truth is that this urge—commonly known as “withdrawal”—stems from the natural response to high levels of alcohol intake, and is not indicative of the dependent person’s natural brain chemistry.

Further Chemical Imbalances From Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol disrupts levels of other neurotransmitters in the brain—from serotonin and GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) to opioid peptides. When alcohol is removed from the system, pain perception and feelings of pleasure also become affected. Additionally, prolonged alcohol addiction can also lead to a disruption in stress hormones, leading feelings of anxiety, tension and hopelessness, as well as the body’s ability to properly metabolize.

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Alcohol Addiction Related Behaviors That Reduce Longevity

Individuals who become alcohol dependent are likely to experience reduced longevity from impulsive behaviors, if treatment is not sought at a private alcohol recovery facility. Here are a few behaviors that lead to premature death in alcohol dependent individuals.

• Crime Related Deaths
  There is a strong connection between alcohol addiction and criminal behavior, as over 60 percent of homicides and 50 percent of crime are alcohol related.
• Suicide Deaths
  Alcohol is involved in 30 percent of suicides each year in the United States.
• Accidental Deaths
  Over time, excessive alcohol consumption destroys brain cells and can reduce oxygen supply to the brain, impairing decision making skills and cognitive abilities. Alcohol’s resulting lack of coordination and dexterity accounts for over 40 percent of accidental falls, 30 percent of accidental drownings, and 30 percent of fire-related accidents.
• Drunk Driving Deaths
  People, alcohol, and cars make a deadly combination—almost 45% of all deaths in automobile accidents are attributed to alcohol.

Alcohol Addiction Health Problems and Longevity

Some alcohol related deaths do not occur instantly, but affect longevity as they build over time. Here are just a few of the chronic health problems caused by alcohol dependency that remains untreated and unresolved.

• Various Cancer Deaths
  Drinking alcohol can cause irritation to the tissues in the mouth, throat, and stomach promoting cancer in those areas.
• Cirrhosis and Liver Deaths
  As alcohol enters the blood stream, the liver breaks it down. As the liver processed increasing quantities of alcohol, fat cells accumulate and the liver begins to enlarge and inflame. As the liver swells and becomes cirrhotic, it can not longer remove toxins from the blood, ultimately leading to death.
• Cardiac Deaths
  Consumption of large quantities of alcohol can result in cardiac problems such as irregular heart beats, high blood pressure, heart damage, and heart attacks.
• Deaths From Diseases and Infections
  Alcohol can weaken the body’s immune system, leaving the body more vulnerable to disease.

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Advantages of Holistic Recovery in Treating Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol addiction is multifaceted, creating the need to treat more than simply the physical component of dependency. Before healing can begin, the body needs to detoxify, allowing both organ function and neurotransmitter levels in the brain to return to their natural state. The second major component of holistic recovery is professional, individualized therapy aimed at discovering psychological or emotional reasons for drinking alcohol.

While many popular alcohol inpatient treatment programs provide basic group therapy and detox, much of the body and mind’s needs become overlooked. Holistic recovery emphasizes the correction of the complex chemical imbalances alcohol addiction causes within the body even after the detox process has taken place. Alternative therapies such as acupuncture, acupressure, and herbal preparations help the body restore the balance of energy, remove tension, and replace nutrients that years of alcohol addiction have caused, promoting the body’s natural healing powers. Intensive psychological therapies include hypnotherapy for unearthing buried psychological pain, and cognitive therapy to work through negative self-beliefs that so often fuel an individual’s psychological addiction to alcohol.

Though many mainstream treatment programs seek to cure symptoms of alcohol dependency, a holistic approach seeks out underlying causes. Symptoms are seen as valuable information that indicates a condition that requires specific and immediate healing. Because holistic recovery programs shy away from heavy medication, many alcohol dependent individuals learn the specific physical and psychological reasons they began turning to alcohol in the first place. Natural, safe and affordable solutions are favored for the body, eliminating “masking” of underlying conditions or the creation of unnecessary side effects.

Preparation for Sober Living through Holistic Recovery

Holistic recovery also prepares the recovering individual for a lifestyle of sober living. Nutritional and sports medicine experts help previously alcohol dependent individuals establish a custom-tailored plan for continued healing, increased energy and optimal health. Life coaches and therapists help identify problem areas and “triggers” in an alcohol dependent individual’s life, and aftercare specialists create a tailored action plan for the transition to a new, sober lifestyle. Perhaps most importantly, the entire individual is considered during the process—listening to and honoring the patient’s life philosophy, spiritual beliefs, career goals, and family life as they relate to their overall recovery from alcohol addiction.

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Five Little Known Facts About Prolonged Alcohol Addiction

By educating yourself further in alcohol addiction, you can better position yourself—and loved ones—to seek lasting recovery.

• People Drink for a Reason
  Though much has been made of a genetic predisposition to alcohol addiction, the fact is that alcohol dependency has two components—the physical urge to drink and the psychological need to do so. Underneath each alcohol addiction is a root cause that leads drinking to become pleasurable—and for many, indispensable. For some, an underlying chemical imbalance may be creating a neurotransmitter deficiency in the brain. For others, buried abuse and trauma, long-held negative self-beliefs or life challenges they feel they cannot cope with have led them to self-medicate with alcohol. Once detox has been successfully achieved and the root cause of alcohol addiction has been remedied, the need to drink will disappear.
• Age of Alcohol Addiction
  While many people believe that middle-aged individuals make up the majority of the alcohol dependent population, statistics show that in actuality, the majority of alcohol addiction happens in adults under 30. In fact, the highest level of alcohol consumption and binge drinking occurs in adults ages 18 to 29. Furthermore, it’s estimated that in the United States alone, at least half of children as young as 12 have experimented with alcohol.
• Nutrients Factor Heavily Into Alcohol Addiction
  Studies show that as much as 80 percent of alcohol dependent individuals have a thiamine deficiency. In fact, some alcohol dependent individuals will develop a condition known as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, an often enduring, serious condition that can affect motor skills, cause nerve paralysis, oculomotor disruptions, retrograde amnesia and even cognitive delays. This deficiency in thiamine (also known as B1) further contributes to the intense effects of alcohol addiction—and can be treated at a recovery center with qualified addiction specialists and nutritionists.
• Digestion Is Inhibited by Alcohol Addiction
  Many of us are familiar with alcohol’s effects on the heart, kidneys and liver, but our digestive systems pay the price for alcohol addiction as well. Alcohol consumption can lead to duodenal ulcers, acid reflux, and chronic diarrhea. In fact, many cases of malnutrition stem from alcohol addiction, as the body becomes unable to properly absorb nutrients and the immune system becomes heavily compromised.
• Alcohol Addiction Can Make You Obese
  In addition to the high number of calories in alcohol, alcohol addiction alters the body’s neurochemistry—leading it to affect the body’s metabolism. In fact, after prolonged alcohol addiction, the body increases fat content in the cardiovascular system, triggering a spike in triglyceride levels and promoting the production of fat in the body.

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Overcoming the Psychological Addiction to Alcohol

In order to overcome the psychological component of your alcohol addiction, you need to deal with the underlying causes that made you feel the need to drink in the first place.

• Uncover Buried Trauma
  Quite often, verbal, physical or sexual abuse leads us to develop an alcohol addiction. Because trauma triggers our basest survival mechanisms, often we bury it to survive the moment. Unfortunately, buried trauma can have significant effects on our psyche—causing everything from serious anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to severe depression and low self-esteem. When we uncover trauma and truly experience healing, we no longer need to drink alcohol in an attempt to cope with painful scenarios from our past.
• Correct Negative Self Beliefs
  In true recovery, we find freedom from long-held negative beliefs about ourselves. Sometimes, we have owned others’ abusive statements of us, believing ourselves inadequate, incompetent, or unlovable. Over time, we become assured of these beliefs, breeding a defeatist attitude, guilt, shame and anger. In order to combat these effects, we drink alcohol to create a fleeting sense of self confidence, self assurance, or to bury the guilt and shame. Once the physical side of alcohol addiction has been successfully treated by detox, we can work with a professional therapist to assess and change negative self beliefs that hold us back and cause us pain.
• Find Out Why You Drink Alcohol
  Perhaps the most salient part of removing the psychological component of alcohol addiction is the journey of a single question—”why?” When we find out our reasons for drinking alcohol, we find our key to freedom from addiction. Perhaps this “psychic need” has its roots in an early childhood experience, or in a belief that we never measure up. Maybe we have allowed our own definitions of “success” and ensuing self-judgment to create a pressure cooker where our self esteem always suffers. For some, the pain of heartbreak or abuse leads us to avoid confronting our emotional struggles and turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism instead. However, once the reason for drinking has been pinpointed and eliminated, the desire to drink—when combined with the body’s freedom from addiction through physical detox—will disappear.

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