Urges and Cravings

Recovery begins with a commitment to change. Being motivated to overcome addiction is essential to dealing with urges effectively. Learning to cope with urges is crucial for maintaining abstinence. It can be challenging because these feelings can be intense, and giving in to them is a familiar pattern. Coping requires strong mental and emotional commitment.

People's experiences with urges vary: Some may report having no urges after deciding to stop, while others may experience them later on. Regardless of when they occur, it's essential to learn to manage them.

Psychological Nature of Urges: Urges are psychological in nature, different from the physiological withdrawal symptoms experienced when initially stopping drug use. Resisting urges may lead to physical or emotional discomfort.

Understanding why urges happen is key to coping with them effectively: Instead of using them as an excuse to relapse, individuals can use urges as a catalyst for emotional growth.

Recovery involves learning to recognize urges without acting on them: This skill becomes easier with practice. Over time, as healthier behaviors replace addiction, urges often diminish and may eventually disappear. In the early days and weeks of abstinence, urges can be particularly strong and may even intensify for a while. However, with persistence and the adoption of healthier alternatives, they tend to subside over time.

Beliefs about Urges

It’s likely that you’ve been feeding your urges for so long that you don’t even think about them. They feel like they’re part of who you are. You may hold beliefs about your urges that are unrealistic or untrue, and that actually make them worse. When your beliefs about urges are accurate and true, it’s possible to ease them or even prevent them. Here are some opposing beliefs about urges that may help you understand them:

Unbearable Urges vs. Bearable Urges

Unrealistic Belief: My urges are unbearable.

Realistic Belief: Urges are uncomfortable but manageable. They won't harm you or drive you crazy; they're just uncomfortable.

Duration of Urges

Unrealistic Belief: Urges only stop when I give in.

Realistic Belief: Urges typically last only seconds to minutes, and they eventually subside. You can learn to ride them out, and it gets easier with time.

Choice in Using

Unrealistic Belief: Urges make me use.

Realistic Belief: Using is always a choice. When an urge arises, you have the choice to use or to wait until it passes.

Urges as a Sign of Recovery

Unrealistic Belief: Urges indicate that my addictive behavior is getting worse.

Realistic Belief: Urges are a normal part of recovery. They may be stronger initially but weaken over time and eventually disappear.

Harm in Giving In to Urges

Unrealistic Belief: Giving in to an urge isn't harmful.

Realistic Belief: Giving in to urges reinforces the behavior pattern, making it harder to stop. It leads to more frequent and intense urges.

Getting Rid of Urges

Unrealistic Belief: I must get rid of urges.

Realistic Belief: Urges are normal due to changes in the brain caused by addiction. You can't control urges but can control your response to them.

Complexity of Addiction

Unrealistic Belief: I use because I like to.

Realistic Belief: Addiction is more complicated than mere pleasure-seeking. Over time, addiction may become a trap where short-term pleasure conflicts with long-term goals.

Coping with Urges and Cravings

Basic Strategies to cope with urges and cravings include:

 Avoid: Stay away from triggers that lead to urges. Identify high-risk cues early in recovery and avoid situations, sensations, or stimulations that may provoke an urge.

 Escape: If you find yourself in an urge-provoking situation, leave immediately to distance yourself from the trigger.

 Distract yourself: Focus your attention on activities you enjoy, especially when urges are intense. Simple activities or concentrating on your Hierarchy of Values can divert your attention away from the urge.

 Develop Coping Statements: Challenge thoughts that justify giving in to the urge. Replace them with coping statements that reinforce your commitment to resist the urge.

 Review Your CBA: Continually review your Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) to maintain your motivation to resist urges, even when you're not experiencing them.

 Rate Your Urge: Use an urge log to rate the intensity of your urge on a scale from one to ten. This helps you put the urge in perspective and identify exaggerations.

 Recall Moments of Clarity: Remember moments when you realized that your addictive behavior was a problem and that recovery was the right choice for you.

 Recall Negative Consequences: Extend your thinking beyond the immediate benefits of giving in to the urge. Consider the negative consequences that follow indulging in the urge.

 Picture Your Future: Visualize a positive future without succumbing to the urge. Create mental images of the benefits of resisting, such as waking up without a hangover.

 Use the Past: Recall instances when you successfully resisted urges in the past. Remind yourself of your ability to overcome urges.

 Ride the Wave: Visualize the urge as a wave that grows, crests, weakens, and ultimately disappears. Observe the urge without acting on it.

 Call on counsellor, sponsor or supportive friends: Seek guidance from individuals who have successfully coped with their urges. Attend AA meetings or engage with supportive communities for encouragement.

 Reach Out for Social Support: Contact a nonjudgmental and supportive person when you're struggling with an urge. Maintain a list of people who can assist you during these moments.

 Accept the Urge: Acknowledge that the urge is uncomfortable, but don't make it a bigger issue than it is. Experience it as a passing thought and return your attention to your activities.

These strategies provide a comprehensive toolkit for individuals in addiction recovery to effectively manage and resist urges, ultimately supporting their long-term sobriety and wellbeing.

Relating with people who still use drugs

For most of us recovering addicts, active drug users are prime dangers. Whether or not we want to get clean, just being with them can re-stimulate old attitudes, behaviors and cravings. Therefore, as much as practical you should dissociate yourself physically and mentally from these people. This is often easier said than done. If it is a problem to you, consider:

First, maybe you do have other friends. Naturally the pull of old associates and old activities is strong if nothing is pulling the other way. You need to find a new group of people who are not using, make new friends and find new activities.

Secondly, ending close relationships can be very hard. It takes courage. It can hurt both parties. You may need to tell a person face to face, ‘’we can't continue to hang out together as long as you use drugs. Get Support to cope with the pain of the loss. Maybe the loss will help your friends see the light.

Some of us have hidden motives for continuing to be with active drug users such as:

• You want to show off that you are clean and doing well.

• You still want to be part of fast life-just not the drug life.

• You want to prove that you are an exception-friends won’t influence you.

• You want them to stay with you because you want them to share the blame for you relapsing.

These attitudes suggest that we need to think about who we want to be, our reasons for getting clean, and what it really takes to stay clean.

Honest self-assessment and reflection with a solid trusted friend you talk to regularly- a counsellor, or a special friend- might save you from your own hidden motives.

The following TIPS can help you through it.:

• Truths: The other person needs to know why you cannot spend time with them, say it out truthfully to them that, ‘’It's not personal. I can't be with an active user".

• Information: You must know that a recovering addict can be re-infected by an active drug user.

• Priority: The first priority is always to stay clean during recovery.

• Support: If at all possible, have a supportive person with you. It will make a difference.