Home for the Holidays

Even though the holidays are portrayed as the happiest time of the year in television and movies, it can be stressful for those who are dealing with any mental illness or addiction disorders.

People with alcohol or drug abuse issues may see holidays like Thanksgiving as days that simply come with stress, triggers, and chance of relapse. Days with such significance may worsen feelings of shame and depression, especially since there are so many family members around that they may feel inclined to impress.

Since there is such pressure surrounding spending time with family on Thanksgiving, people with addiction issues (and plenty of others who don’t battle addiction) may feel like something’s wrong with them for not looking forward to the interactions. They might feel embarrassed about their disease; or they might feel the need to show their family that they’ve changed in some way over the past year.

For many individuals facing addiction, the best route to take may be to remove yourself from the stressful situation altogether — take a break from your surroundings and focus on your journey to recovery.

While it’s understandable for people to hesitate joining rehab during the holiday season, it could be the best time to start. All the temptations, opinions, and questions that come with the holiday may be too much to handle without the proper treatment.

Reasons for Rehab This Season

Here are some reasons why it might be a good idea for a person with addiction issues to enter rehab during Thanksgiving:

1. No temptations by alcohol in the environment
2. Stay away from Blackout Wednesday, the biggest party day of the year
3. No questions about why you’re choosing to be sober this Thanksgiving
4. Work on yourself before seeing family again
5. Learn to balance stress and find peace
6. Take time to identify triggers regarding family members and holidays
7. Start new Thanksgiving traditions on your own
8. Open up to people outside of the situation

Giving Thanks in Rehab

Being away from family during Thanksgiving can be hard, but it can be rewarding to step away and work on your own challenges before entering such a triggering environment.

Taking time in rehab over Thanksgiving gives those with addiction problems the chance to review their year; they can go over what they did right, along with mistakes they made, to move forward in a healthy way. It can also help prevent people from repeating old patterns, since they won’t be in their familiar surroundings.

Making distance between yourself and tense situations can be a very important step in addiction recovery. Like they say in AA, you need to just take it one day at a time; and spending a holiday or two in rehab may help you develop the skills to do just that.

Learn more about rehabilitation, especially during the holidays, by visiting our recovery center & viewing our treatment options here or giving our team of professionals a call at 866-488-8349.