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Using Meditation to Break the Bonds of Teen Addiction

Overcoming an addiction can seem like a scary and difficult process if you don’t have the right tools by your side. While a willingness to change is always the first step, you need to understand the nature of addiction in order to avoid making the same mistakes time and time again. Learning how to say “no” is not enough. With regular meditation practice, you can develop a deep awareness of your mental and emotional state of mind and create real lifelong changes.

Drug treatment for teens

The drug treatment process can be understood as three separate yet integrated phases: detox, rehab, and aftercare. While detox and rehab are needed to enable drug discontinuation and address the precedents of addiction, ongoing aftercare services are always recommended to ensure long-term recovery. Meditation plays an important role during rehab and aftercare, with mindfulness techniques and strategies applied to bring attention to the mechanisms of addiction. By using meditation to understanding the mind, you can develop the emotional and mental skills needed to turn your life around.

What is meditation?

Meditation describes a broad range of mind-based practices and techniques, many of which promote mindfulness. While often associated with formal meditation practices, mindfulness simply describes the intentional and non-judgmental focusing of attention on thoughts, feelings and sensations. By tuning in and learning to listen to your internal world, you can avoid making the compulsive and impulsive behavioral responses associated with addiction. The simple act of paying close attention throughout the recovery process can help you avoid relapse.

How meditation helps teens recognize triggers

Even when you want to stay clean, certain situations are known to influence relapse events. By learning to be mindful of your thoughts and feelings as they arise, you can recognize potential triggers and cut them off before they lead to negative behaviors. Examples of triggers include physiological factors such as hunger and tiredness, psychological factors such as anxiety and sadness, and lifestyle factors such as friendship groups and locations. The calming act of meditation helps to remove the noise and chaos from your mind so you can recognize these triggers and focus your attention on the positive act of rehabilitation.

How meditation helps teens avoid relapse

Relapse is an extremely common outcome of drug addiction, which is a learned behavior based on neuroadaptations in the brain. In order to ensure a long and sustainable recovery, it’s important to recognize problematic emotions and thoughts and create new psychological associations. Relapse is both an outcome and a transgression of the recovery process, with different mindfulness techniques needed at different stages of rehabilitation. With regular access to meditation, you can prevent relapse and ensure long-term recovery.

Meditation for teen addiction treatment

Overcoming substance abuse and addiction is a long process that requires ongoing effort and commitment. By learning how to recognize triggers and cope with challenging events as they arise, you can develop all the skills you need to stay clean for life. Rehab centers often provide meditation classes, with aftercare programs also implementing dedicated meditation support. Meditation and mindfulness are two of the best tools to have by your side when overcoming any kind of addiction, especially when combined with other forms of practical and psychological support. To learn more about mental health treatment and services we provide, give us a call at 877-466-0620.