5 Stages of Recovery
In my earlier blog post, we talked about the 5 stages of substance abuse relapse which is important in early recovery. However, on the flip side, the 5 stages are also how we live a life of recovery. By the end of the post, you will have a better understanding of ways to get you on the path of recovery. You will find that stages one and five are reversed when it comes to the 5 stages of recovery vs 5 stages of relapse.
Stage One- Physical Recovery
When it comes to recovery, this is the first stage. This is sobriety. There is a difference between sobriety and recovery. Sobriety is the foundation of recovery. You won’t be able to live a life of recovery if you are not sober. Sobriety can look different for everyone, just as recovery paths are different. This is something for you, your Higher Power, sponsor/mentor, or therapist to decide.
Ways to be Sober
Complete abstinence from all alcohol and drugs
Sober from illegal or prescription drugs but use alcohol, nicotine, or marijuana (where it’s legal).
Medicated Assisted Treatments such as Methadone, Suboxone, Naltrexone, or Vivitrol.
Moderation-decreasing the you were using.
Harm Reduction-stopping your heroin use but still using meth.
Ways to be in Recovery
Recovery Research Institute reviewed a research study that looked at 5 types of recovery that are similar to the definitions above. Both the research study and my blog post can’t even fully describe the number of ways to be sober or be in recovery. At any given point, there is roughly 25 million people in remission from a substance use disorder in the US. However, even this isn’t the best evaluation of how many people are in recovery. You can be in recovery without being diagnosed or every meeting criterion for a substance use disorder.
The one thing about recovery that I love and enjoy helping my clients discover is that you can define recovery for what it looks like for you. You may even start out on one recovery path but life happens and you realize you need to course correct and guess what? You can do that!
Physical Recovery for Mental Health/Co-occurring Disorders
For those with mental health or co-occurring disorders, sobriety for you would be stability.
Do you have stability on your medications or within your treatment?
Do you have employment stability?
Do you have stability with family, friends, or social supports?
Just like with substance abuse recovery, recovery is defined by you. This is universal about recovery. We get to look at what we want recovery path to look like. Like with any path, there could be forks or some really long paths until a turn comes up. You can even make a path where there wasn’t one.
Stage Two-Emotional Recovery
Over time with societal influences, we have lost touch of emotions. We feel emotions, that is not what I am meaning. We have downplayed them so much that we struggle to know how to identity.
Here are some examples of emotional recovery efforts:
Learning about emotions
Learning new coping skills to regulate your emotions
Talking about your emotions with those closest to you such as a therapist, sponsor, family, friends, etc.
Stage Three-Mental Recovery
As previously discussed, our brains like to trick us into thinking we aren’t worth it. Working on our mindset is helpful regardless of the issues we are facing. Mental recovery can come from self-discovery but for some therapy helps aid in processing our mental setbacks.
Some examples of mental recovery include:
Recognizing automatic negative thoughts
Having a strong though stopping and replacement game
Processing cores issues or self-sabotaging thoughts with a therapist
Taking criminal thinking group such as Thinking for a Change or Moral Reconation Therapy
Stage Four-Behavioral Recovery
Routine and structure are strong early recovery skills. In our addiction, we gave into impulses and schedules we none existent. Idle time also gives us time to be in our minds which as we know that is not helpful to our recovery.
Here are some of the behaviors that help us maintain structure on a recovery path:
Having a planner and scheduling your week
Having a daily routine (i.e., waking up making your bed, hygiene tasks, chores, bedtime routine, etc.)
Having weekly appointments, groups, pro-social events, or meetings
Avoiding high-risk locations
Stage Five-Spiritual Recovery
For a lot of us addicts, spirituality is hard. We may have grown up in conservative homes where we faced shame and guilt for choices we made. Maybe we had trauma or hardships in our lives that cause us to question our faith. Some of us may have never had a relationship with religion or have felt our own beliefs were always questions by others. That is okay. Spirituality is not religion.
Spirituality is an umbrella term in which religion is a part of, it is not solely based in religion. Spirituality is about the connection to yourself, your Higher Power, and your community. It’s the first stage we lose in a relapse or in our addiction and the last one we recover.
Connection to Self
The two hardest part of this triangle is the connection to self and connection to Higher Power. This is also why self-work focusing on things like self-esteem, self-worth, and self-value are an important foundation in recovery work. It’s important that we work on us. Often our identity is tied to addiction as well and we have to grieve that loss. After grieving, we have to start rebuilding or redefining who we are as a person without our addiction.
Connection to Higher Power
The connection to a Higher Power is hard for a lot of folks, me included. When I was first in the rooms of recovery, I rolled my eyes every time someone talked about God. I couldn’t handle it. Until a wise old man in Alcoholic Anonymous (I will never forget him as he looked and sounded like Jeff Foxworthy) told me to stop seeing God and see G-O-D. He told me to let it stand for a Group of Drunks. That helped me begin my journey in search of my Higher Power and my spirituality. The point is a Higher Power is just something more than you. The great thing about Spirituality is that you can define it for you!
Connection to Community
The connection to community is the easiest most of us have this. The hardest part is how we often burned or turned away from our community in our addiction. Other times, our community was revolved around our addictive life. When going into recovery it’s important to rebuild or create a new community. You can build a community in support groups, therapy groups, pro-social events, or even volunteering. It’s just about making new sober relationships and connections to people.
Where do I go from here?
If you aren’t sober, the first stage of recovery is where to start. Exploring what sobriety looks like for you is a must. I highly recommend reaching out to a substance abuse provider to help you in those decisions. You can reach me for a free consultation here. For some substances (alcohol, benzodiazepines, or opiates), withdrawals can be dangerous and life threatening. Medical detoxes may need to occur. I highly suggest you visit your local detox center, go to your local ER, or call 911.
Disclaimer: This is in no way a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or substance abuse/mental health services. This is for educational purposes only and should be in used only in conjunction in working with a licensed mental health professional. Reading this blog or responding to it does not constitute a provider-patient relationship. If you are looking for a local mental health professional feel free to use the contact tab to request an appointment or search Mental Health Match, Therapy Den, or Psychology Today for local therapists in your area. If this is a mental health or substance abuse emergency and you need immediate assistance, please call 911, call 988 Crisis Line, go to your local ER, visit your local detox center, or call 211 if you are in Oklahoma.