Tips for Handling the Holidays with Addiction

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Tips for Handling the Holidays with Addiction
• Tips for Handling Addictions During the Holidays
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Video: Hey Doc! Bipolar Treatment Isn't Just about Stability
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Mental Health Quote

Tips for Handling the Holidays with Addiction

Beginning with Thanksgiving and extending to New Year’s Day, the holiday season can be rough. Stress spikes for many people, especially so for those dealing with addiction and recovery.

Many types of addictions are triggered during the holiday season. Festivities intensify cravings for alcohol, nicotine, and other substances. Behavioral addictions such as eating addiction and shopping addiction are aggravated, too.

You don’t have to avoid the whole season. These tips will let you enjoy yourself without succumbing to addiction triggers.

Tips for Handling Addictions During the Holidays

Know your “why.” Having a purpose for staying sober or resisting food or shopping will help you stay focused. Create visual representations, such as phrases or images, of your life goals, the reason you’re in recovery, and keep them handy wherever you go.

Know your “how.” You have your reasons for resisting triggers. Now you need a plan for how to do it.

• Determine which holiday events are safe for you to attend, which ones you can attend with caution and time limits, and which ones are so triggering that you should opt out of.
• Intentionally practice self-care so you can avoid the HALT triggers. It’s harder stay true to your “why” when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.
• Give yourself choices. Rather than thinking of what you can’t have or do, focus on what you can do. Take your own food or drinks with you to events.

Go to an outdoor shopping center after hours to see the festive decorations. Think about replacing or adding new experiences rather than having to eliminate what you used to enjoy.
Know your “why” and your “how,” your purpose and your plan, and you can enjoy the holiday season despite addiction.

Related Articles Dealing with Holidays and Addiction

• Alcohol Addiction and Holiday Sobriety
• How to Enjoy Your Holiday in Binge Eating Recovery
• Tips for a Clean and Sober Holiday
• Holidays in Sobriety: Learning to be Comfortable at a Party

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: What triggers your addiction during the holidays and how do you handle it? We invited you to participate by sharing your thoughts, knowledge, and experiences on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• The Excessive Labeling of Our Bipolar Emotions
• Talking About Mental Health When You’re Afraid of Stigma
• A Daily Journal Helps You Heal in Mental Illness Recovery
• 5 Things Parents of Children with Mental Illness Don’t Do
• Being a Mom with Mental Illness: My Questions and Concerns
• Holiday Mental Health Plans for Families with Mental Illness
• The Rules of Living with Bipolar Disorder
• Talk Back to Negative Self-Talk and Make It Go Away
• How Using Mindfulness for Depression Helps You Get Well
• Three Mindfulness Tools for Do-It-Yourself Anxiety Relief
• Sexism Fuels Eating Disorders in Women But Feminism Can Help
• Helping a Spouse with Schizoaffective Disorder
• Cognitive Restructuring: A CBT Technique for Social Anxiety
• How to Help Mental Illness Medications Work for You

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

I'm Hannah. I Have Bipolar 2

Hey Doc! Bipolar Treatment Isn't Just about Stability

I have received many messages from people with bipolar disorder who are beginning to lose hope when it comes to finding a good bipolar disorder treatment plan. I can relate to these feelings of disappointment and despair. For years, doctor after doctor talked to me about bipolar treatment in terms of stability, as if stability was the be all and end all of treating bipolar disorder. (Watch Hannah)

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Coping with PTSD Triggers in Social Settings
2. Do Your Life Goals Accept Anxiety? Here’s Why They Should
3. How EMDR Treatment Can Help Eating Disorder Recovery

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Mental Health Quote

"I am not afraid of the dark, I’m more afraid of not finding the light once again."

Read more mental health quotes.

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