Addiction and Grief

1. Addiction and Grief People who abuse substances have been able to medicate pain associated with grief, often for periods of many years. In sobriety, losses that went un-grieved, that were numbed through self-medication rather than felt, understood and integrated, will inevitably surface. Furthermore, the feelings they arouse will be confusing because they may reach back for years, even decades, in the life of the addict or recovering person. Without the coping strategy of self-medication, the sober addict will need to summon the strength to live through the pain that previously felt like too much to tolerate. Addiction itself, along with codependency, carries much grief and loss in its wake. Grief is widely accepted as an issue that needs to be addressed during recovery from either disorder. Oftentimes, treatment programs get legitimately concerned that addressing powerful issues of grief could undermine sobriety. However, not addressing them opens the door to relapse when they eventually do emerge. Some awareness and understanding of the grief process can actually normalize grief so that when it does come up it is somewhat less derailing. Because the addict has relied on a substance to manage their emotions and their inner world, they may have trouble mourning, they have removed their substance and will likely feel pain much more intensely, pain that they have previously managed synthetically can become overwhelming its raw and unnerving form. And their issues may be complex and thorny. They may need to grieve, for example, the life they

2. have lost through addiction, the lost time, the lost years that they could have devoted to getting their lives in order or the pain that they have caused those they love. And they may well be grieving these issues with a weakened or undeveloped set of psychological and emotional tools. Content Source