For individuals of faith, drug addiction and alcoholism can cause secrecy and intense shame. Many Christians struggle with alcohol and substance use disorders with the fear of being judged by their peers. Others worry that addiction might interfere with their witness for the risen Christ. Unfortunately, these feelings hinder a spiritual person’s or Christian’s ability to seek treatment for drug addiction.
However, there are faith-based ways to fight addiction. Currently, there are faith-based addiction treatment programs that help religious people overcome this problem. Additionally, faith-based ways of fighting addiction enable individuals to participate in activities that bring people of the same faith together. Thus, recovering addicts enjoy a sense of belonging, support, and fellowship. This further enhances their recovery.
Perhaps, you could be wondering how a Christian drug rehab https://addictionresource.com/drug-rehab/christian/ can help you fight addiction. Well, religious beliefs have always been a discussion topic in therapy and counseling sessions. Some addiction treatment experts have argued that religious belief can provide a foundation for patients to achieve improved mental health.
Today, several faith-based rehabs have models that provide a self-improvement and healing structure to patients. Here are some of the faith-based ways to fight addiction.
1. Feeling the Spirit
Feeling the spirit is a concept that is described as a tingle and warm shiver that goes through the body. When a person feels the spirit, the brain parts that deal with reinforcement and reward are activated. What’s more, feeling the spirit stimulates the brain lobes that are responsible for regulating decision-making and attention. Perhaps, it’s not a coincidence that the same brain sections trigger the dopamine neurotransmitter release when a person consumes drugs. This is the main addiction mechanism.
2. Search for a Purpose
Substance addiction and religious belief have surprisingly the same neurological mechanisms. Risk factors that lead individuals to alcohol and drug use may also play into or overcome the spirituality or faith function. When some people distance themselves from religious communities, they experience withdrawal just like they experience it when quitting the use of addictive substances.
Search for purpose and identity among adolescents might be a strong factor that makes them find important markers in bad peer groups and religious gatherings.
Religion may protect youths against substance abuse. Faith-based recovery programs may help young people find their purpose and identity in life. This can prompt them to stop using drugs. However, young people from minority and low-income groups face multiple social and developmental changes. These changes can be overwhelming to a point where the hypothesis that religion has a protective influence might be challenged.
3. The Higher Power
The Book of James in the Bible teaches Christians to confess sins to each other and pray for one another. The classic 12-step model applies this notion. Addiction recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous ask participants to acknowledge before other people and God the true nature of their wrongs.
Thus, the 12-step model requires individuals to invest their recovery process in a concept that is greater than them. This philosophy, therefore, reassures the recovering addicts that their religious beliefs are capable of doing what they can’t do for themselves.
Faith-based rehab programs may, however, differ from the standard programs. Secular courses, for instance, can focus on teaching clients to re-enter the workforce eventually. However, a faith-based program can place more emphasis on personal discipline and structure concepts. Keen emphasis is put on community and family values.
That’s why recovery programs with Christian teaching as their basis are likely to involve practices of individual and group worship as their functions.
4. Reading the Cravings Away
Books can be great buddies for individuals that want to fight addiction. Some books can be a great reminder for a person to remain sober. When a person that is fighting addiction finds themselves in a weak spot in terms of addictive temptations, reading a religious-based book can help. It’s not surprising that some people keep their Bible close to the liquor cabinet.
One of the best ways to fight cravings is to get distracted. Reading the bible or a religion-based book is a good distraction for some people whenever cravings strike. In addition to providing a distraction that keeps cravings away, reading religion-based books helps recovering addicts connect with their maker.
5. Getting on the Knees
This concept is at the core of almost every Christian addiction recovery program. In most cases, the recovering addicts that choose faith-based rehabs believe in the existence of a superior being called God. As such, praying and requesting this superior being to take addiction from them is usually the first step.
Being humans, recovering addicts acknowledge the fact that quitting the use of the addictive substance or alcohol won’t be easy. Therefore, they request the intervention of a superior being through prayers. Some faith-based rehabs teach the recovering addicts how to pray. Nevertheless, the goal of prayers is to request their Maker to take addiction and cravings away.
In some cases, patients in these facilities make friends with whom they pray after undergoing treatment. These become the buddies they call and talk to whenever cravings strike or they are tempted to start using the addictive substances again.
The Bottom Line
Faith-based ways of fighting addiction incorporate religious and faith values of the patients. They are beneficial to patients because they provide a chance to find and forge close relationships with people of like-minded faith. These are familiar with the addiction struggles that these individuals are going through.
And, the relationships that individuals establish in faith-based drug treatment centers provide additional and ongoing, faith-centered encouragement and support.
If you or a loved one is battling drug addiction, don’t hesitate to seek help from a treatment facility that is based on the faith that you or they confess. Many facilities incorporate spiritual and biblical teachings, as well as, scientific and medical breakthroughs.
That means you can undergo medically-supervised treatment for addiction in a faith-based facility. Nevertheless, take your time to find a facility that provides addiction treatment that suits your specific needs.
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