Research has found that passionate self-care enables women who are currently recovering from addiction to transcend negative messages they might receive from themselves or from others. It also empowers individuals to focus on embracing all of themselves, knowing who they are, and focusing on positive relationships, which improves long-term outcomes.
While long-term recovery from addiction is a complex process, one of the psychological mechanisms that has been found to improve recovery is the practice of acceptance.
Where to Learn About Self-Acceptance in Recovery
Self-acceptance is something that is regularly taught in 12-step programs and through different therapeutic modalities. When you start a recovery program, learning to accept yourself even with your faults and any previous struggles plays a critical role in the foundation of long-term recovery.
- Within NA and AA programs, in particular, people are taught the importance of self-acceptance
- In dialectical behavioral therapy and mindfulness programs, people are taught the importance of self-acceptance
Why does this matter?
The Importance of Self-Acceptance in Recovery
Self-acceptance can address the underlying mechanism responsible for cycles of shame, guilt, and relapse. Not only that, self-acceptance can help with:
- Improved emotional regulation
- Improved psychological well-being
- Changes to the cycle of addiction
Current research indicates that the promotion of self-acceptance in AA, NA, and other therapeutic programs can encourage a substantial change in the recovery process, one that lends itself to long-term sobriety.
Research also indicates that those who have trouble with mental health disorders either on their own or in addition to addiction can benefit from self-acceptance as a tool for recognizing strengths and flaws, being comfortable with your whole self, taking responsibility, and achieving better balance in life.
What Does Self-Acceptance Do?
When you learn to accept yourself, you put yourself in a position to build healthy relationships with others, heal from any mistakes or damage that addiction may have caused, and increase your emotional resilience toward future triggers and setbacks.
All of this lays the foundation for a stronger and more successful recovery in sobriety.
Positive Self-Image
When you work on self-acceptance in recovery, it helps you move away from the guilt and shame associated with your previous actions. Too often, people in recovery get stuck focused on the regrets they have about behaviors or things that they said while struggling with addiction.
When you improve your self-image you are able to focus on the present, except the flaws of your past and recognize that you still deserve to live a happy life despite any mistakes you may have made in the past.
Emotional Resilience
Working on self-acceptance is very important because it helps to build your emotional resilience. Emotional resilience is a tool that is incorporated into individual and group therapy in recovery programs designed to help reduce your risk of relapse.
This works by teaching you to view any setback in your life as an opportunity to learn from those mistakes or challenges rather than to view them as something negative. This helps you stay motivated in your recovery and sobriety, overcome setbacks, and deal with triggers in a loving and compassionate way.
Positive Self-Awareness
When you work on self-acceptance in recovery you can also make more informed decisions for how you want to live the next chapter in your life. Increasing your self-awareness and developing healthy coping mechanisms can encourage a more sustained recovery where you allow yourself the opportunity to live a life you deserve, without getting in your own way.
Learn About the Importance of Self-Acceptance with Sequoia Recovery
At Sequoia Recovery, we empower all of our clients to make informed decisions about their sobriety and their treatment. With each level of care we offer individual and group therapy combined with evidence-based holistic practices to promote personal growth, develop stronger empathy, and build emotional resilience.
Our addiction treatment programs provide motivation for real change and reduce the risk of relapse with ongoing support and aftercare. We know what it is like to struggle with low self-esteem and the impact that this can have on relationships and growth.
Reach out to our team to start your inpatient or outpatient program and learn the importance of self-acceptance in recovery. Let us help you today.
FAQs
Why is acceptance important for change?
Self acceptance means that you accept who you are including all of your flaws and who you were. From there you put yourself in a position to create change.
For example, when you participate in a recovery program that offers cognitive behavioral therapy, you might learn to accept the relationship between your thoughts and your behaviors. Until, however, you can recognize that you are prone to things like catastrophizing, you won’t be able to make any substantial change in those catastrophic thoughts or the subsequent emotions and behaviors that they cause.
Instead, learning to accept yourself for who you are lets you focus on where you want to make changes. If you can recognize that you tend to catastrophize things, the next time you are triggered and you end up catastrophizing the situation, you’ll be able to take a step back and use your coping mechanisms to prevent that thought from causing negative behaviors.
Can self-acceptance reduce relapse?
Yes, learning about self-acceptance can provide a buffer that prevents relapse. Relapse typically happens when someone who has gone through treatment is triggered or experiences negative emotions and challenges. When they don’t know how to deal with those, something small might trigger emotional despair, cycles of guilt, and returning to substance abuse as a way to cope.
When you have learned to accept yourself, both good and bad, you are less likely to relapse when faced with these same difficulties and more likely to recognize that you have the power to continue on your path to recovery and overcome your challenges.
Does self-acceptance improve relationships?
Yes, self-acceptance is an integral part of healthy and sustainable relationships. If you haven’t accepted your whole self, flaws and failures as well as strengths and successes, it is more challenging to understand or empathize with other people. It is also more challenging to build honest relationships or set boundaries.
Why is self-acceptance in recovery important?
Self-acceptance is a necessary part of the healing process. If you are starting a recovery program for addiction or mental health disorders, it’s important that you recognize all of your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions from the past and the present.
In many cases, not all of these are good or comfortable, but self-acceptance lets you take care of them and accept them for what they are without overly criticizing yourself or falling into a cycle of shame and guilt.
