Substance Abuse Archives - Stan Dokmanus, CCJP, CSAC, Addiction Services

Worry about your family, layoffs, work, income loss and your health due to C-19 can wreak havoc on your thinking. This post will not protect you from the virus. Only science, doing what the professionals tell us (shelter in place – isolate) and time can do that.

You do have the strengths and resources to manage your beliefs, thoughts attitude and fear about this. Let’s just focus on your visual resources first.

Make a picture of the stress C-19 is causing. It’s right in your face. It feels scary. It’s a ten, the worst of a scale of 1-10. Let it go. As you let that go, look away, think of your phone number backwards. Take a deep breath and…
Now, make a picture of five things in your life that you are grateful about. See pictures of people in the family that you love and who make you happy. Maybe it is the object of your affection. See that person right in front of you with a big, happy smile. How does that feel? Make the picture a little bigger, a little brighter, a little closer, a little warmer. How does that feel? Better, right?
Okay. Now you have a choice. You can see how one helps you with the other. You have a choice of which one to think about.
Repeat as needed. You can do it ten times to condition the new response. You can use this for anything in the future.
As you consider the future, visualize where you might need this skill again. What picture will you use to give you the strength you will need to overcome that feeling? Focus on that positive, happy picture. See it in rich detail. Is it in color? Is it near, far. Is there any sound? Is it warm?
Now, lightly press your right thumb and forefinger together to “anchor” this feeling for 10 seconds or as needed to capture that feeling.
Let’s test this. Think of a situation where you ordinarily would feel stress. “Fire” your anchor – press your thumb and forefinger together. When you do that your brain gets the message that you want that positive feeling again. What do you see, hear and feel that helps you feel better?

When you think about this – don’t you think you could use this as a relapse prevention skill if you have exercise, diet, alcohol and other drug problems too?

It’a time out for some simple thruths. Families, friends and survivors are hurt deeply by the ravages of AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) use disorders. In short, by alcoholism and addiction problems of their loved one.

As mentioned before, the reason people use is to feel different. They want to feel more up or more down. Anything but the way they feel.

Having made a choice to use AOD once, twice or more times they learned about the effects of drugs and too often paid the price of addiction. These can be poor health, family problems, relationship problems, employment problems and legal problems. And – then there is death. Death by overdose is a common problem. Columbus Ohio had to add a second morgue to accommodate all the bodies of those who overdosed on Opioids.

Who was once a model child, student and significant other is now taken over by the drug(s) of choice. Everyone pays the price for this behavior. Death is the ultimate price for all concerned.

The taxpayers and society pay too.

It’s a shame because the brain is a powerful pharmaceutical organ. It is capable of producing incredible highs and lows. And we can learn how to control our emotional states naturally without illegal, unhealth or deadly consequences.

Want to learn a way to feel better at the speed of light? Youtube Chris Rock or some other comedian or comedy show and watch that. In moments you’ll be laughing outragiously.

But you may have depression problems and could benefit greatly by getting therapy. And,’yougottawanna’ as a friend was known to say often. Comedy can be a great way to deal with depression in the moment. Long term your best bet may be legal medication prescribed by ethical practitioners along with psychotherapy. There is no shame in being smart about how you handle your problems.