How to Use Meditation to Help With Addiction?

If you have looked into addiction treatment before, you might have seen primary individual therapy and 12-step programs as your only options. But if you look into it today, you will see a lot of holistic treatments like meditation therapy programs. Read here to learn how to use meditation to help with addiction and find meditation and mindfulness programs in rehab.

Defining Meditation

Meditation treatment is any type of mind-body technique where you focus your attention, setting aside a specific length of time to quiet your thoughts and pay attention to something like your breathing or a single word or mantra.

What Are the Benefits of Meditation in Therapy?

Meditation is a healthy mental exercise where you develop awareness. Under normal circumstances, the mind bounces from topic to topic, frantically switching between worries about the future, reflection on the past, fear, ideas, memories, and everything in between.

When you struggle with addiction, getting stuck in thoughts of previous failures or worrying about the future can be debilitating, but meditation can be a helpful way to redirect your thoughts to the present so that you have reduced reactions to stress and an increased sense of calm.

Meditation brings innumerable benefits, proven scientifically again and again. Some of these benefits include:

Reduced stress

Controlling stress improves physical health and is a significant part of addiction therapy. Regular meditation can help you pause and respond more effectively to difficult situations instead of reacting instinctively or emotionally. It also helps you avoid an anxiety loop where you think about your problems over and over.

Improved physical health

Meditation therapy programs have been proven effective at reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart disease, improving digestive conditions, improving immune system function, and reducing the severity of chronic pain.

Better sleep

Meditation helps you relax and increase your alpha waves, contributing to better sleep. Better sleep is an essential component of addiction recovery.

Better focus

Meditation gives you more significant energy and helps you shift your focus and remain present, improving your concentration.

Increased compassion

Meditation has been shown to reduce activity in the amygdala or fear center of the brain when used to think about yourself or others. Meditation also helps to focus on positive thoughts and feelings, not just about yourself but everyone else, developing better empathy and compassion for others.

Better relationships

By extension, this improved compassion helps you remain calm when struggling with conflict, reduces your stress, and helps build better relationships.

Reduced mental health problems

Meditation treatment has effectively decreased symptoms of anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder.

How to Use Meditation to Help With Addiction?

Studies indicate that a significant factor in successful addiction recovery is related to your ability to develop and use new coping strategies. Meditation therapy programs have been proven to be one of the more successful coping strategies, helping recovering addicts maintain long-term stability. 

Other research has reviewed the usefulness of mindful meditation treatment, indicating that mindfulness provides people with a strategy to identify their emotions in the present or any pain and discomfort, distance themselves from it, and acknowledge it without letting the pain or negative emotion contribute to a relapse.

Meditation to help with addiction has gained traction over the last few decades as scientific papers have evaluated the effectiveness of meditation for addiction recovery, confirming that meditation promotes recovery and improves mental health outcomes by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression.

Finding Holistic Treatment and Meditation Therapy in South Florida

If you are ready to see how meditation can help you with your addiction, come to Atlantic Recovery Center. ARC is a top-rated drug and alcohol treatment center in Florida. 

We know that you have a busy schedule, so if you are looking for meditation to help with addiction, you might need something you can attend in the evenings after work or during the day while the kids are at school. Thankfully, we offer a wide range of meditation therapy programs to accommodate multiple schedules.

Meditation treatment is most effective when it’s coupled with traditional, evidence-based therapy or medication. That is why Atlantic Recovery offers residential treatment, dual diagnosis programs, and ongoing aftercare to ensure you can apply meditation for addiction as part of your bigger recovery plan. 

We work with you to develop a therapy program best suited to your addiction and mental health. As part of something like 12-step programs and CBT, we can facilitate meditation to help with addiction. Our meditation therapy programs represent a key part of your comprehensive individual and group therapy plan. If you are looking for a comprehensive addiction rehab center in South Florida, ARC is here to help. If you are ready, you can tour our facility today or call us at 1-866-824-5193.