Facing your addiction is hard enough. But then you learn of co-occurring conditions of your substance use disorder, such as an attachment disorder. But what are attachment disorders and why do they frequently occur with substance abuse? Can you recover from your attachment disorder to live a happier, healthier life in recovery?
About Attachment Disorders
As humans, we all naturally need socialization. We instinctively attach easily to people we trust, like when infants attach to the people providing their care. This survival instinct of attachment is positive. It helps you bond with others for survival, trust, communication and even your own independence.
Through your healthy childhood with caring people around you, you learn to self-regulate your emotions. But if you don’t receive the healthy attention you can trust and rely on in childhood, you look for other means of calming your discomfort or distress. A childhood of neglect, abuse, trauma or other negative experiences does not help you learn to self-regulate.
There are multiple forms of attachment disorders. One such form is a dependent personality disorder, sometimes called co-dependence. Each attachment disorder causes unique signs and symptoms. But all root in your need for external comforting. You do not soothe yourself as you should.
Addiction in Attachment Disorders
Addiction and attachment disorders go hand-in-hand. As children with healthy family lives and self-regulation grow into adulthood, they leave home and confidently start building a new life. Children without the ability to self-regulate start suffering more in their teen years. This leads to faulty choices for coping, such as drug abuse, eating disorders, self-harm, aggression, perfectionism or hypervigilance.
As young adults, people with attachment disorders develop unhealthy relationships. These relationships suffer under manipulation, avoidance or dependency. They also strain because of low self-esteem, fear of intimacy and feelings of worthlessness. Instead of self-soothing in healthy ways, substance abuse becomes an easy road to dealing with difficult feelings and deep personal needs.
Many people who abuse drugs or alcohol covet their first experience of being high or drunk. They describe it as being at peace for the first time in their lives. This comes from the euphoria of these substances.
In addiction treatment, you need to understand your past, attachment disorder or other problems co-occurring with your addiction. All of these link to each other. To heal the substance abuse, you need to heal its root causes. This healing comes from a quality drug and alcohol rehab center.
In rehab, you learn to build healthy relationships that enable intimacy and honesty. You stop repeating patterns from childhood. In the process of your therapies and recovery services, you gain self-esteem, greater self-awareness, confidence and relationship-building skills. Through this learning, you can put your attachment disorder and addiction behind you.
Treatment for Addiction and Co-Occurring Conditions
Whether you suffer from a co-occurring mental illness like depression and anxiety, or an attachment disorder, Steps to Recovery in Levittown, Pennsylvania provides the treatment you need. At Steps to Recovery, two phases of treatment guide you from early sobriety into healthy recovery. Programs and services of Steps to Recovery include:
- Two-phase PHP and IOP treatment
- Family involvement
- 12-step based philosophy
- Dual diagnosis treatment
- Individual, group and family counseling
- Addiction education
- Basic life skills, sobriety goals, and social integration tools
Pennsylvania addiction recovery services can provide the help you need for your addiction and attachment disorders. Simply call Steps to Recovery now at 267.719.8528 for more information about treatment programs. Call now to get on the road to recovery and healthier, happier relationships.