SMART Recovery vs AA: What’s the Difference? | Inneractions

SMART Recovery vs AA: What’s the Difference?

The common denominator for those living in recovery is a need for support. No matter the nature of your addiction, what you were addicted to, for how long, etc. building a support system you can rely on is critical to maintaining the sobriety you worked so hard to achieve.

To be honest, it’s right near the top of the post-rehab checklist.

Support groups help with everything from dealing with triggers to accountability to just being a place where folks truly understand you, where they just get it.

In that sense, it’s less SMART recovery vs. AA in the competitive sense and more about how each is more uniquely suited, or better suited, to the needs of various people.

What Is SMART Recovery?

The first thing you’ll notice is the all caps and that’s because SMART, like AA, is an acronym; it means Self-Management and Recovery Training.

The fast facts are that SMART was founded back in 1994 and is currently headquartered in Ohio. Their approach focuses on science and self-empowerment in the battle to overcome addiction and meetings can be found across the whole of the United States as well as a number of countries around the world.

You can find their handbook in at least 10 languages.

Their reliance on scientifically validated methods to empower change is a key differentiator from the distinctly more spiritual approach of AA, noting in their purpose and methods statement that their “efforts are based on scientific knowledge and evolve as scientific knowledge evolves”.

Rather than a 12 step program, which AA relies on, SMART is defined by their 4 point program which is:

  1. Building and maintaining the motivation to change
  2. Coping with urges to use
  3. Managing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in an effective way without addictive behaviors
  4. Living a balanced, positive and healthy life

What Is AA?

Arguably the most well-known support group on earth is AA or Alcoholics Anonymous.

AA dates back to 1935 and also has an Ohio link, having been started there. You may sometimes see AA meetings referred to as “Friends of Bill W.” in places like cruise ships with the Bill W. in question being the founder of AA.

They define themselves as “an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem”.

AA is where the concept of the 12 step program originated and it’s these very steps that form the core of the program itself.

A clear difference between the two programs is AA’s emphasis on spirituality in the pursuit of sustained sobriety. It’s not expressly required that you believe in God to join an AA meeting but the spiritual basis of AA is something to keep in mind. For some, it’s a wonderful thing. For others, they may prefer a different approach.

NA, or Narcotics Anonymous, was founded in 1953 and operates with the same 12-step program.

As for the meetings themselves, both SMART and AA are non-profits and their meetings are free of charge. Generally, only a small donation is recommended to cover the costs of putting on the meetings.

How to Overcome Drug and Alcohol Addiction Today

Conquering your addiction to drugs and/or alcohol is doable and among the best ways to go about it is through a professional treatment program that’s customized to your needs.

At Inneractions, that’s exactly what we do.

Moreover, once you complete rehab, we can help you transition back to your day-to-day life at our San Fernando sober living facility.

To learn more about support groups or aftercare, reach out to us today.

How to Learn Coping Skills for Drug Addiction

How to Learn Coping Skills for Drug Addiction

Recovery is a process.

Or, recovery is a journey, not a destination.

You may have come across lines like these when looking into rehab options for yourself or a loved one. Perhaps you even scoffed at them, feeling like you were reading trite cliches or platitudes.

Thing is though, recovery is a journey. Why? Well, let’s look to a definition of drug addiction from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to add some color here:

“Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite adverse consequences. It is considered a brain disorder because it involves functional changes to brain circuits involved in reward, stress, and self-control. Those changes may last a long time after a person has stopped taking drugs”

Because addiction is thought of as a brain disorder and not as a purely physical concept, it’s something you constantly work on and nurture. Moreover, if you stop working on it, a relapse is possible at any point.

Learning coping skills for drug addiction, therefore, becomes imperative to staying on the path of sobriety.

Signs & Symptoms of Drug Addiction

Addiction to drugs manifests itself in several ways that tend to compound the longer a substance use disorder lasts.

  • Intense cravings
  • Trying to quit but unable to
  • Developing a tolerance and thus having to take larger and larger doses
  • Shifting friend groups
  • Secretive behavior
  • Financial issues related to purchasing drugs
  • Legal issues, i.e., theft, from getting the money to buy drugs
  • Work, school and home life are all suffering
  • Engaging in riskier behaviors like driving under the influence
  • Spending a lot of time either getting, using or recovering from drugs
  • Using despite very obvious negative effects 
  • Having withdrawal symptoms whenever the flow of drugs stops
  • Changes in appetite and associated weight loss or gain
  • Shift in sleep patterns, either too much or too little
  • Lack of attention to hygiene and general neglect of appearance
  • Lethargic and no motivation
  • Relationships with family and friends become fraught
  • Mood swings and irritability
  • Paranoia and anxiety

These are just some of the signs you may encounter and if you see any of them, it’s important to take note and monitor. Ignoring symptoms only makes things worse and harder in the future.

How to Learn Coping Skills for Drug Addiction

Coping skills are what help you stay the course, they’re the little “tricks” that help overcome those cravings and inevitable tough times on the journey of sobriety.

Among the best places to learn these new skills is in treatment for addiction.

In rehab, you’re in a place where all your attention is focused squarely on healing and developing the tools necessary to cope with triggers back in the real world.

As the physical addiction to drugs dissipates after detox, working on the mental side is what rehab programs are all about. You’ll work with professional addiction specialists in both individual and group settings to dig deeper into the root causes of addiction.

This is also the time you’ll be introduced to a host of coping skills ranging from practicing mindfulness, breathing exercises as well as general exercise, journaling, the importance of keeping busy, building a support system, 12-step programs and more.

What to Do After Rehab

As mentioned at the top, the journey of recovery doesn’t end when your time in rehab does, it’s something you actively work on but shouldn’t feel like work. Your post-addiction life is meant to be more fulfilling and enjoyable than the days of addiction and developing a routine that you love is crucial to that.

That’s where aftercare planning and sober living come into play, these are important parts of cementing a sober life. Sober living homes are particularly beneficial because you live in a supportive setting with a community that’s going through the same thing and building bonds with them. It also allows you to transition slowly back into your day-to-day life in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.

To learn more about the coping skills you’ll develop or what sober living is like, reach out to us at Inneractions today.

How Heroin Addiction Works

How Heroin Addiction Works

Heroin is an opioid.

The addictive nature of opioids is excruciatingly well known at this point. The lives it’s destroyed and the suffering endured by users and bystanders alike is incalculable.

In regards to heroin specifically, though, the numbers are numbing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

  • Nearly 130,000 died from overdoses related to it from 1999 to 2019 
  • The number of heroin-involved overdose deaths was more than 7 times higher in 2019 than in 1999
  • Almost 1/3rd of all opioid deaths involved heroin

What Is Heroin?

Aside from being an opioid, an illicit one, what exactly is it?

As defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “heroin is an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance taken from the seed pod of the various opium poppy plants grown in Southeast and Southwest Asia, Mexico, and Colombia. Heroin can be a white or brown powder, or a black sticky substance known as black tar heroin”.

It can be injected, sniffed, snorted or smoked.

Since it’s an opioid, you may be wondering if there’s a link between prescription opioids and heroin use.

Unfortunately, that does look to be the case, NIDA notes that “research now suggests that misuse of these medications may actually open the door to heroin use. Some also report switching to heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription opioids”.

A 2013 study found that “nearly 80 percent of heroin users reported using prescription opioids prior to heroin”.

Why Is Heroin Addictive and How Does Heroin Addiction Work?

As a nation, we’ve collectively come to understand the incredibly addictive nature of opioids and heroin is very much part of that mix. The same mechanisms that make prescription opioids so addictive are at play with this illegal alternative.

Heroin is extremely fast-acting, particularly when injected and binds to opioid receptors in the brain. In addition to the pain vanishing in seemingly an instant, heroin also comes with a wave of euphoria and pleasure. It’s largely this euphoric surge and the hours it can last that people crave.

As you continuously seek that “reward”, you find yourself needing to take ever larger doses of heroin because you’ve built a tolerance where the same dose just doesn’t cut it anymore.

To put it in more scientific terms we’ll defer back to the National Institute on Drug Abuse; “heroin binds to and activates specific receptors in the brain called mu-opioid receptors (MORs). Our bodies contain naturally occurring chemicals called neurotransmitters that bind to these receptors throughout the brain and body to regulate pain, hormone release, and feelings of well-being. When MORs are activated in the reward center of the brain, they stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing a reinforcement of drug taking behavior”.

In a nutshell, that’s how heroin addiction works.

How to Get Help With a Heroin Addiction

Deaths from overdose continue to be a widespread issue and the pandemic has only made matters with 93,000 lives lost last year – a tragic record.

Of course, this is on top of the ongoing opioid epidemic, heroin included, that the US has been trying to work through over the past couple of decades.

With respect to highly addictive drugs like heroin, it’s imperative to seek help because these drugs are frequently just too powerful to kick on your own as we’ve come to find.

Fortunately, help is never farther than a phone call away nowadays.

At Inneractions in the San Fernando Valley, our intensive outpatient program utilizes evidence-based methods to help you overcome your heroin addiction and avoid ending up a statistic.

If you or a loved one are struggling with this, don’t hesitate to reach out because as we’ve seen all too many times, opioid addiction can often end in heartbreak.

Is Rage A Sign Of Depression?

 

On the surface, aligning rage and depression seems a bit counterintuitive. Someone who is angry is perceived to behave differently than someone who is clinically depressed. But look a little deeper and you may start to see an interesting connection. This happens to be a point that was recently brought up by NPR and one that we think merits further investigation.

 

Writer Nell Greenfield Boyce pretty much summed up the same statement in the beginning of her article.

 

“Many people — including physicians — associate depression with feelings of hopelessness, sadness and a lack of motivation or concentration, but not anger,” she writes. “And even if you pick up what is often called the ‘bible of psychiatry,’ the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, you’ll find that the list of core symptoms for major depression doesn’t include anger. But irritability — a reduced control over one’s temper that results in angry outbursts — is listed as a core symptom of depression.”

 

Noted Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Maurizio Fava also contributed to the piece and shed some light into why there has been such a disconnect all these years. He explained that when he was trained in the subject, the common thought was that anger is projected inward during depression. In essence, depressed people are angry at themselves and not others.

 

But more recent case studies examined by Dr. Fava have educated him otherwise. In fact, he found that people prone to outbursts share many of the same traits as “depressed” or “anxious” people going through a panic attack. He aligned anger attacks in the same vein and actually saw some success when people prone to rage were treated with antidepressants.

 

And on the flip side, more recent studies have shown that those diagnosed with depression do experience angry emotions on a regular basis.

 

“A recent large study looked at more than 500 people who had been diagnosed with major depression,” Greenfield Boyce added. “It found that more than half showed overt irritability/anger, and that this anger and irritability appeared to be associated with more severe, chronic depression.”

 

Ultimately, these all fall under the category of mental health. Whether you’re consistently angry or sad (or possibly both), it is important to not just zero in on certain emotions. At Inneractions, we specialize in treating co-occurring disorders and believe that healing truly begins when you look at the bigger picture.

 

Coping With A Rageaholic

 

Often times, we write about people who are dealing with anger issues and the ways that they can find resolutions. But what if the “rageaholic,” isn’t you per se, but rather a spouse, friend or family member? Suffering on the sidelines is no easy task and there are certainly techniques to cope with that role as well. Psych Central, in fact, outlined some helpful tips for anyone who’s close to a person exhibiting extreme anger.

 

The first key point that they identified was Not To Get Sucked In To The Drama. Rageaholics often feed off of negative reactions to their behavior. If a loved one is trying to provoke you into a yelling match or crying spell, do your best to turn the other way. Matching their behavior with similar emotions will do neither of you any good and could cause greater damage to the relationship.

 

Another tip is for loved ones to Prepare Themselves for unexpected outbursts. If possible, try to rehearse scenarios in your head before you expect a fit of rage. If there is a sensitive subject, know how to respond in a calm and eloquent manner. The key here is to never be caught off guard. Calmer resolutions can help diffuse an angry situation.

 

If the rageholic is a spouse or significant other, Psych Central fully endorses the concept of Walking Away From The Relationship. This is especially poignant if the other half has resorted to some type of violence. “Certain relationships just aren’t worth struggling to keep,” article writer Tamara Hill explained. “Some people are born toxic and years of therapy may not reduce their toxicity. In cases such as this where verbal, physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual abuse is likely to occur, leave.”

 

Knowing Thyself is another key point singled out in the article. This leads into the concept of self-care and therapy. Yes the rageaholic needs to get help, but (truth be told) so do you. It can be a tremendous emotional strain to have a loved one with anger issues and if you’re not finding an outlet for yourself, there could be negative consequences. Take some time away, talk to a professional and work on yourself as well.

 

In total, Hill outlined 10 important points worth sharing. We definitely encourage our readers to click over to her article. And always know, that the Inneractions team is available for people with anger issues AND their loved ones.

 

Coping With Anger On The Job

A meeting gone wrong. A frustrating co-worker. A missed promotion. These are just a few of the things that can set a person off in corporate America. And truth be told, anger on the job is much more common than people realize. In fact, it is becoming so frequent that the employment site Business Insider wrote an entire feature article devoted to the topic. Emphasizing that these feelings were “very normal” (which we agree with), the mag offered some helpful coping mechanisms and warning indicators illustrating when to seek professional help.

Temple University professor Deanna Geddes was featured in the piece and shared some basic facts that she commonly addresses with her business students.

“Anger is a healthy emotion,” Geddes explained in the Business Insider article. “It signals that something is upsetting us. When we feel anger, it’s helpful to stop and think about what’s really making us angry.”

The BI piece went on to list de-stressing tactics for the workplace. The fist involves removing yourself from a toxic situation. When meetings get tense or you’re having a difficult moment with your boss, it is okay to walk away. Geddes emphasized that exiting gracefully is completely acceptable in the corporate world and cannot be held against you. Simply excuse yourself and perhaps take a walk in the lobby or outside to cool off.

Another tip is to avoid words like “never” or “always.” The article makes a big point to reframe your thoughts and distance yourself from “exaggerated” or “overly dramatic” ruminations. If a bad thing happens at work, it’s easy to go into a spiral and believe the whole day is shot. But that is certainly not the case. BI writer Rachel Premack advises to take a step back and compartmentalize the upsetting moments.

Premack also recommends discussing your frustrations without pointing blame. This could be with the person who upset you or even with a human resources representative. The key is not to bottle up angry emotions inside. You definitely have a right to be heard and many times, your emotions are correct. If there is anger because a co-worker may have taken credit for your work, for example, try and explain it in a calm and straightforward manner (vs. being aggressive). It may not always lead to a perfect resolution, but it can help take away the accusatory and heated feelings.

Of course, work anger can also be the root of deeper rage issues. And that is perfectly normal too. If some of the recommendations above still feel like they’re not solving the problem, our advice is to speak with a counselor and sort through the deeper emotions.

Identifying The Signs Of Rage Disorder

We all experiences angry moments in everyday life, but at what point does it go beyond that? When does frustration turn to rage and when does “rage” become a problem that requires professional help? The website Romper.com did a nice job categorizing the warning signs of rage disorder into six identifiable traits. Certainly there is more that goes into anger analysis than this (deeper therapy discussions, psychiatric evaluations), but they are some good first steps and we are happy to share them below…

Sign #1: You Can’t Control When You Get Angry

The buzzword most closely associated with this trait is “unmanageability.” If the frustration levels continually overheat and simple inconveniences always seem to set you off, consider this a definitive warning sign of rage.

Sign #2: Guilt After Anger

Remorse is a big part of anger management. Embarrassment is a common trait as well. Having guilty feelings after an outburst can often mean that it was unjustified and probably something out of your control. Rather than experience the shame, seek out help after an temper explosion.

Sign #3: Unhealthy Anger Outlets

This is where things can start to get dangerous. If your frustration levels are leading you to turn to substances or self-harm as a soothing mechanism, there is a real problem at hand.

Sign #4: Continuous Frustration

Romper likened this signal to the term Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). In this scenario, you may find yourself constantly volatile and generally unhappy. There is an extremist attitude of “nothing goes my way,” which can lead to depression and even suicidal thoughts.

Sign #5: Forgetting What Happened During A State Of Rage

Think of this like the “blackout” moments that occur when some drinks or uses too much. Yes, rage can most certainly lead to lost memories because of being too caught up in the moment. If you can’t remember what set you off or how you behaved, your anger is at a very unhealthy stage.

Sign #6: Violence

One of the most dangerous warning signs of them all. If your fits of rage lead to fights, breaking objects or the abuse of the loved one, getting immediate help is essential. No upsetting moment merits harming another person. This could also lead to fines, arrests and serious jail time.

Our advice is to peruse these warning signs carefully and if any (or all) pertain to you, reach out to a trained professional who can help you cope and conquer your demons.

  If you’ve been following our blogs, then you may recall our piece a few weeks back about films that are offering inspiration for addiction survivors. Well for every ying there is a yang, and this week there are a handful of movies being called out for just the opposite. Over on Netflix, two films in particular have been singled out for being insensitive about the topic of mental illness.   Interestingly, the two movies in question happen to be the most popular offerings on the platform right now. Bird Box stars Oscar winner Sandra Bullock and received roughly 45 million views over this holiday month. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (the other film in question) has been dominating social media as well, but both cover very dark subject matter.   Bird Box has been criticized for “demonizing” mental illness. The plot concerns invisible monsters who encourage victims to take their own lives. That alone is a very touchy subject and it has been said that the way these suicides are handled leave a lot to be desired. What’s worse though, is that people suffering from mental illness become the villains in this movie and actually contribute to the killings.   The website Popbuzz did an admirable job of summarizing the Twitter backlash (posted below).       Black Mirror isn’t faring much better with fans. The website The Mighty focused on that film, saying the plot features insensitive call outs to psychosis, delusions, paranoia and trauma (not to mention lots of blood and gore).   Though the Black Mirror backlash isn’t quite as intense as the Sandra Bullock movie, site writer Elizabeth Cassidy did mention that a warning should be issued before viewers click “Play.” And to her point…Despite the fact that these may be “trendy” films of the moment, you have every right to turn them away and encourage others to do the same.   “It’s OK to skip Bandersnatch if you’re sensitive to these topics,” Cassidy wrote. “Your health and safety are more important than the latest trendy show or movie. If you want to watch the movie but are concerned it might be too much, try watching it with someone you trust.”