Moral resilience, while still a nascent concept, is related to psychological resilience but distinct in three ways. I have the choice to not drink, therefore I am not powerless over alcohol. Digging a bit deeper it’s clear that we become powerless to control ourselves and the manageability of our lives when we drink. Read on to learn more about the concept of powerlessness, what it really means, and why it’s so critical in the recovery journey.
I had truly become powerless over the choices I was making on my parallel roads to self-destruction and service to humanity. I was suffering from complex PTSD, overworking, destroying my marriage, and trying to anesthetize myself from the pain by filling myself with whatever I could put into my mouth. I was a very sick person who had hit bottom and had the willingness to get better. For some people this willingness seems to come all at once. We live in a society that tells us we should be able to figure out our problems and overcome challenges on our own; that if we can’t, we’re weak. Being open to trying something new requires a great deal of courage because it’s an admission that you don’t have all the answers.
More from Merriam-Webster on powerless
The Narcotics Anonymous (NA) Big Book states that “we were powerless over our drug problem” as its first tenet. Like AA members, NA members believe they cannot control drugs without the help of a higher power. It’s not easy to admit this, but if we don’t accept that we are powerless, then we won’t be able to move forward. Powerlessness means that you are thoroughly convinced that if you put alcohol in your body, disaster will follow.
Although you may be powerless in the fact that you struggle with addiction and have no control over it, you are not powerless over the actions you can take because of that knowledge. By accepting the things you cannot change and understanding that it’s possible to change the things that are within your control, you open yourself up to options that can help you heal. Admitting powerlessness is essentially waving the white flag and recognizing that you cannot try to drink anymore. History has proven that you have no control once a drop of alcohol enters your body. If you can grasp this knowledge, you will become a recovering, strong person.
How to Maintain Long-Term Recovery From Addiction
The accountability and encouragement in meetings and therapy break the power of secrecy where addiction thrives. It helps foster accountability and is a profound place of support. What happens in a group of people admitting powerlessness over addiction is a power in 12 Group Activities For Addiction Recovery itself. I remember the first time I attended a 12-step recovery meeting. I was there to listen to one of my clients tell her story at a treatment center. This was many years before I ever came to realize that I myself needed to be a member of the same fellowship.
Astrid Homan, a professor of work and organisational psychology at the University of Amsterdam, advocates a similar approach. Working with Maria Dijkstra, she recently asked participants to detail their use of seven different coping strategies, alongside questionnaires measuring their perceived control over their lives and their general wellbeing. As you might expect, avoidance tactics are less effective than proactively confronting any problems that are within your reach. And deliberately reframing your thoughts, to put your troubles in perspective, can itself restore a sense of personal autonomy, even when the stress itself is impossible to evade. If a century of psychological science has taught us anything about the fundamental needs of the human mind, it is that we yearn for the feeling of control.
How To Overcome Powerlessness Over Addiction
This includes attending meetings regularly, getting counseling, practicing mindfulness, and staying connected with others who share similar struggles. Our nationally accredited substance abuse detoxification & treatment center is one of the most highly respected programs in the country. Quite the contrary, being able to admit that you can’t drink makes you self-aware and honest.
The original version of the Twelve Steps and The Big Book makes numerous references to God, and this is largely because AA’s founders were Christians. The original references to God were quickly challenged in the early days of AA, and Bill W. Addressed those challenges by explaining that every member was welcome to interpret God to mean whatever higher power they chose to believe in while working the steps. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘powerless.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Write down in detail 3 different examples of how your life during your time of acting out has become unmanageable.
No one makes the conscious choice to lose control and wreck their lives. Many factors go into addiction development, from genetics to untreated mental health symptoms, for which some people turn to alcohol or drugs as a way of self-medicating. It is admittedly off-putting to think of yourself as “powerless.” Many people see asking for help to overcome a particular struggle as a sign of personal failure. This pervasive stigma is a big reason why seeking help for substance abuse, or even admitting you struggle with substance abuse, is so hard.
When this happens, a deluge of stress chemicals are released, which leads to physical, emotional, and cognitive changes. Articulating and appropriately expressing feelings or desires can become difficult or exhausting. Our attention narrows and becomes biased to potential threats. Our capacity for empathy lessens, which interferes with prosocial https://en.forexdata.info/50-substance-abuse-group-therapy-activities-for/ behavior, and we rely on instinctual defensive default patterns of thinking and behavior. Instead of railing against powerlessness or relying on unhealthy ways of getting our needs met, we can simply share our struggles and ask for help in getting our needs met. To admit or even be mindful of powerlessness is a rarity outside of recovery.
We admitted we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable. The effects are particularly problematic if we feel that we have lost power that we once had. In 2008, for instance, Belgian and British researchers asked participants to play a card game, during which they could receive a small electric shock. In the first third of the game, the participants were able to learn which responses in the game would bring the shock, providing them with some level of control over the pain. At a certain point, however, these rules vanished, and the shocks arrived regularly without any link to the participants’ behaviour. Whatever their background, people who perceive that they have power to determine their own fate – from tiny short-term decisions to important life events – tend to be happier, healthier and more productive.
