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In 2016, the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs joined with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation to conduct a thorough study of substance use and mental health concerns within the U.S. legal profession.
The results were startling, showing that attorneys were at a heightened risk of experiencing mental health and substance use problems when compared with the general population, especially when it came to problematic alcohol use. By now most of us have heard of, seen or even experienced the unfortunate aftermath of addiction to alcohol or drugs: the ruined careers, broken hearts and lives cut short.
In my opinion, we tend to talk less about the journey of recovery from addiction — what that looks like, the hope it brings and the challenges that come with it.
Awareness of addiction only leaves us with a general understanding of the problem. If we can better grasp recovery, then we are much closer — individually and globally — to uncovering a solution. Recognizing challenges in maintaining sobriety is imperative to supporting recovery efforts in the legal community, whether for yourself, a loved one or a colleague.
The reality is that initially getting sober from alcohol or drugs is often the easy part. The difficulty comes with staying sober and learning to live a life in long-term recovery. In fact, early recovery carries the highest risk of relapse, in part because of the following challenges.
Prioritizing recovery
People in early sobriety are still learning coping skills to deal with stress without using substances. It’s not an easy process, and it requires a lot of support. This often includes going to a treatment program, therapy and community-based support groups several times a week to get the help needed to stay sober. While this is time-consuming, it’s also vital. People find they can’t work the same long hours they used to, or they must sacrifice some time with family or hobbies to prioritize their recovery. These aren’t easy decisions, and maintaining balance can be difficult.
Navigating events while sober
Many who experience addiction are used to going places and socializing under the influence, so doing these things sober can be a transition.
It’s highly advised that people in early recovery avoid any situation where drinking or any addictive substances are present, as it can cause the urge to drink or use those substances. Attorneys face additional pressure because alcohol is commonplace at networking and work events. People often worry about how to refuse alcohol in those settings and, further, how people will perceive them if they say no.
Another pressure is the extent to which others are consuming alcohol and becoming intoxicated around them. This can mean making the hard decision not to attend a social gathering or work event to safeguard their sobriety. Society could make improvements to include more sober-friendly spaces in these networking and work environments.
Feeling feelings
Addiction is recognized as a way to self-medicate uncomfortable emotions. People tend to numb or dull their feelings for long periods of time. Once people achieve sobriety, they now have access to their feelings in ways they haven’t in some time. There’s a saying in recovery that “the good news is you get your feelings back; the bad news is you get your feelings back.”
For this reason, people in early recovery are often emotionally raw. They sometimes find themselves experiencing significant mood swings and big emotional reactions. The challenge lies with learning new coping skills and tolerating uncomfortable emotions without turning to substances to numb them again. Thankfully, as the brain heals and people build more coping skills, emotions tend to even out.
Transforming shame
The disease of addiction tricks the brain into associating alcohol or drugs as necessary for survival. Impulses drive behaviors that prioritize drinking or using drugs to the extent that people end up doing things that don’t align with their values and sacrificing what is most important to them.
When people get sober, they often look at their past actions and think “How could I have done such a thing?” or question their moral character. Shame is a feeling associated with the toxic belief that one is a bad person. Shame destroys self-esteem, contributes to depression and is a known precursor to relapses in addiction.
It’s common to feel shame in early recovery. The challenge lies in transforming shame into guilt. Shame communicates the internal message of “I am bad,” while guilt communicates the internal message of “I did something bad.” One is a belief about one’s identity; the other is a belief about one’s behavior. Shame is toxic and destructive, while guilt can be a motivator for behavior change and a helpful reminder to not repeat past mistakes. Making this transformation requires honest self-reflection, emotional vulnerability with others and self-forgiveness.
Mending relationships, trust
All too often, relationships suffer collateral damage from addiction. While people who suffer from addiction aren’t inherently dishonest, the disease of addiction often creates situations where people find themselves lying or hiding things to cover up their drinking or substance use.
As a result, people do things that come across as selfish, or they hurt people they care about. There can be a lot of broken relationships in early recovery. An important part of recovery focuses on doing what is within one’s power to right wrongs and restore trust. Rebuilding trust is a process that requires the recovering person to practice humility, consistency and patience.
While sobriety is the goal and premise of recovery, the journey is far more complex. The journey often starts in a rehab or treatment center, but recovery is a long-term process that requires daily effort. This is just a small window into what the recovery experience can look like and some of the challenges that people face.
We all have something at stake when it comes to the impact of addiction, whether it’s yourself, someone you care about or people in your community who are affected.
Understanding addiction as a disease isn’t enough. We must understand and support recovery if we want to see real change in our community.•
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Soeurt is a clinical case manager with the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program and a licensed clinical social worker.
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