Jun 4, 2013 | By Tim Stoddart

How to Deal with Anxiety in Recovery

Mental Health

Tips on How to Deal with Anxiety in Recovery

There are so many emotions that a person feels when they enter recovery, especially early recovery. A wave of feelings will hit you hard and head-on, because most of those feelings have been hidden away for years during your active addiction. One of the strongest feelings you might experience is anxiety. Feeling anxious is enough to threaten your sobriety, because using drugs or alcohol was your preferred method of dealing with anxiety in the past.

To learn how to deal with anxiety in recovery, you’ll need to use different tools. Self-medicating is no longer an option. Prescription medication might be necessary for severe cases of anxiety, but that is a decision for you to make along with a doctor who is familiar with your history of addiction. Addictive benzodiazepines are often prescribed for anxiety, but there are non-addictive options that you and your doctor can discuss. Once you learn how to deal with anxiety in recovery, you will no longer feel the need to take benzos and other drugs.

Without the use of medication,  it is still possible to manage your anxiety so that you’re able to live a healthy life. Here are some methods that can help you cope whenever you are feeling particularly anxious in recovery. Here are some tips for how to deal with anxiety in recovery.

Ask for Help

Asking for help is one of the most important skills you need to learn in order to stay sober. When things are difficult, you should reach out to trusted members of your support system. Tell your close family members, drug-free friends, and sponsor or other fellowship members about your feelings of anxiety. Sometimes just talking the problem out will help tremendously. It can also be very helpful to get another person’s perspective when you’re having trouble dealing with an issue.

Meditate

You don’t have to go into a deep meditative state to learn how to deal with anxiety in recovery, although you can learn to through practice if you desire. Anyone can meditate when they are anxious simply by sitting still in silence, closing their eyes, and trying to clear their mind. Concentrate on your slow, deep breaths, and be aware of the way your body feels in that moment. Try to let all thoughts of anything else in the past or future leave your mind so that you’re left with only the present. This technique can help when feelings of anxiety begin to take over.

Pray

If you believe in God or a Higher Power, try prayer. Ask God or your Higher Power to help relieve you of your feelings of anxiety, and ask for help in finding the right path to follow to deal with the problems that worry you. Putting your faith in God or your Higher Power and turning your feelings over to Him can help in many situations. This is a very common and useful tip when learning how to deal with anxiety in recovery.

Distract Yourself

Oftentimes, feelings of anxiety are very temporary. Within a short period of time, feelings of anxiety can pass. One way of learning how to deal with anxiety in recovery is to distract yourself from your feelings of anxiety. Have a plan for this, and know what you will do to distract yourself, whether it be engaging in a hobby, reading, or whatever it is that helps you escape in a healthy way. Just because you know how to deal with anxiety in recovery, doesn’t always mean your anxiety will go away. Distracting yourself is a good method until the anxiety passes.

Be Grateful

When you feel anxious, you can also try connecting to your recovery in order to put things in perspective. Take a moment to think about your sober life versus your past life in addiction, and think of all things that you’re grateful for now. Gratitude can help you switch to a positive and hopeful mindset and free yourself from current anxiety. Gratitude is a great tool which you can use to learn how to deal with anxiety in recovery.

7 responses to “How to Deal with Anxiety in Recovery

  • margarita

    10 years ago

    thanks for this article. My boyfriend who is been sober for over 1 and half yrs has anxiety attacks. I’ve told him to pray and stay busy. i also told him he should develop new friendships and gather a men’s support group to talk things out take the power out of whatever he is feeling. I believe that this first years of getting sober are the hardest because we have to learn how to live without taking anything and that can be hard if we don’t know how to handle it. thank you.

  • After getting sober I still suffered periods of depression and anxiety, my depression has always been a struggle, even as a child. I find that sleep is my favorite way to deal. Of course, I am prescribed antidepressants.
    The anxiety is whole nother story.
    I work with the public on a one on one basis . Aka, hairstylist.
    I had heard of cross addictions but thought I was in control of myself. Until I realized I was a shopaholic.
    Before I knew it, my debt and my plans investing in real estate blew up right in my face, feeling like a failure for allowing this to happen to myself, me hVing to take drastic measures to get out of the hole I’d dug for myself was way more than I could handle. Enter ANXIETY off the charts. I talked my dr and he gave me meds. I really didn’t want to take them. I just needed to know they were there if I did. Then one day while working , having a stressful day, schedule was completely shot I felt that old familiar feeling if panic. My chest felt heavy , my arms felt like I could lift them, my breathing was out if control…… I was scared to death. I hadn’t felt that out if control of myself for yrs. I realized that maybe use ing the meds instead of thinking I could handle it became a joke. I don’t feel Ny need to abuse the meds but I do realize at this time in my life and the weight of my finances hanging over my head, threats if losing my home, not telling anybody what was happening took it’s toll on me.
    Anxiety is a very hard struggle. I found out I’m not in control of what happens day to day just the way I dealt with them was. Social anxiety keeps me from socializing much but also the fear of my “dark secret” about my finances made me more of a loner. I hate the reality of what my struggles are but I don’t want to be a victim and realized that holding secrets from others kept me from developing new relationships and I keeping secrets and not being honest with others. Just kept me from being the authentic. Greg . I feared rejection or ridicule. All in my head….. That good ole ” stinkin-thinkin” we all as people in recovery are so familiar with.
    One day at a time. Worry doesn’t change anything and this too shall pass. Unfortunately not fast enough for my liking. Lol

  • After getting sober I still suffered periods of depression and anxiety, my depression has always been a struggle, even as a child. I find that sleep is my favorite way to deal. Of course, I am prescribed antidepressants.
    The anxiety is whole nother story.
    I work with the public on a one on one basis . Aka, hairstylist.
    I had heard of cross addictions but thought I was in control of myself. Until I realized I was a shopaholic.
    Before I knew it, my debt and my plans investing in real estate blew up right in my face, feeling like a failure for allowing this to happen to myself, me hVing to take drastic measures to get out of the hole I’d dug for myself was way more than I could handle. Enter ANXIETY off the charts. I talked my dr and he gave me meds. I really didn’t want to take them. I just needed to know they were there if I did. Then one day while working , having a stressful day, schedule was completely shot I felt that old familiar feeling if panic. My chest felt heavy , my arms felt like I could lift them, my breathing was out if control…… I was scared to death. I hadn’t felt that out if control of myself for yrs. I realized that maybe use ing the meds instead of thinking I could handle it became a joke. I don’t feel Ny need to abuse the meds but I do realize at this time in my life and the weight of my finances hanging over my head, threats if losing my home, not telling anybody what was happening took it’s toll on me.
    Anxiety is a very hard struggle. I found out I’m not in control of what happens day to day just the way I dealt with them was. Social anxiety keeps me from socializing much but also the fear of my “dark secret” about my finances made me more of a loner. I hate the reality of what my struggles are but I don’t want to be a victim and realized that holding secrets from others kept me from developing new relationships and I keeping secrets and not being honest with others. Just kept me from being the authentic. Greg . I feared rejection or ridicule. All in my head….. That good ole ” stinkin-thinkin” we all as people in recovery are so familiar with.
    One day at a time. Worry doesn’t change anything and this too shall pass. Unfortunately not fast enough for my liking. Lol

  • After 18 years clean and struggling with long periods of anxiety (3-4 months sometimes) I gave in, I surrendered. I ask my sponsor, talked to people in Recovery, had a few discussions with my Doctor, spoke to my sponsees, chatted to Recovery people in an online chat room and asked for knowledge of my Gods will for me. Then, in April 2013 I started taking 100mg of Sertraline (Zoloft) daily. At first I felt like I had relapsed and hated giving in, then things got worse but I stuck with it. After a coulpla months things slowly changed and I felt brighter, less worried and stressed, the anxiety attacks all but disappeared and I dared to believe it would last, I felt hope. Today my life has changed, most days I’m fine, ordinary. Some days I am joyful and carefree. Now and again my old fears and anxieties return but on a much lower scale and for much shorter periods of time, and only fleeting thoughts during those days instead of 18hours a day for months. I’m grateful. I don’t know how or why this works or for how long, but for today I am anxiety free and along with service, sponsorship, meetings do prayer I hope to stay that way. This us just my experience. Love & Fellowship from Ireland.

  • I’m just in my first 6 months of recovery and have found that my anxiety is up and down. I suffer from depression and this doesn’t help?! However when I try and read the Bible I find that this helps immensely and advise it to anyone, who has GOD in there life?! 🙂 He seems to take away my difficulties when I ask, and sometimes he does not! But rest assured the answers come if I’m patient!. I’ve found that my problems are always of my own making, so I’m better off if I can confront myself, about how I feel? If that makes any sense to you folks! All I’ve ever wanted in my life is to help at least one other human being in my life before I leave this world. I’m very glad that I read your article, because it reassures me that I’m on the right path! Thank you for caring!

  • Hi my name is julio i had a panic attack on july 6 2014 due to my drinking and crystal meth use. Ive never used meth before i only used it 2 weeks before my episode. Ive been a alcoholic for about 5 years and my drug of preference was cocaine. Ive been clean since my episode and never plan on taughting bs again bc if god gave me a second chance he did it for a reason for my family and myself, I felt reborn. After july 6th. I went threw the withdrawals the first 2 weeks and it was hell. I wouldn’t wish that opon my worst enemy. So due to my situation i developed “anxiety”, some weeks are good, there was actually a month (August) that wad great ill say the end of August i started feeling like i did the first two weeks with the anxiaty i take medication for it, but it’s so hard sometimes but i have to stay strong . I cant let this take over my life.

  • I’m doing more than well financially, have a perfect beautiful wife, I’m about to have my 1st child(daughter) but I still feel like relapsing. I feel like I have everything going but why can’t I stay clean. I try my hardest but these demons keep coming back and I know this sounds wrong but sometimes I hope bad things happen that’ll hurt me just so I can go back to drugs. I can’t understand how everything is going good and better than I planned which im super grateful with the hand I’ve been dealt with in life but yet I still need pills and coke. It just tears me apart when people contragulate me or think of me as successful when deep down I feel the only reason I’m here was because these drugs helped me, drove me, motivated me to be where I’m at today. When I say this I mean as in I tried my best to set myself financially to where I have no worry about having no money to contribute to my addiction. 6 years ago I was so scared that I was going to have no money for drugs or Was going to have to do illegal stuff to feed my addiction. Sounds so pathetic but it’s the truth. I need to stop this I don’t want to have to OD and leave my 8month pregnant wife or my beautiful daughter in this evil and inhuman world. My wife is a talented strong woman that’s a hard worker but she doesn’t deserve to have to struggle as a widow with an infant. She went through more than most people can handle in life without breaking and turning to drugs so she doesn’t deserve it. I went through almost identical experiences and problems she went through but I broke. I wish one day to tell her I don’t need drugs anymore.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

24/7 Rehab Help (866) 207-7436 Sponsored | Who Answers

Contact Sober Nation's Sponsored Hotline

If you are seeking drug and alcohol related addiction rehab for yourself or a loved one, the SoberNation.com hotline is a confidential and convenient solution.

Calls to any general hotline (non-facility) will be answered by Treatment Addiction Solutions

Alternatives to finding addiction treatment or learning about substance:

If you wish to contact a specific rehab facility then find a specific rehab facility using our treatment locator page or visit SAMHSA.gov.

To learn more about how Sober Nation operates, please contact us