Boredom and Relapse

Finally, we found no studies that specifically explored SIL among people with homelessness experience from a particular ethnicity. Given the significant impact of ethnicity on experiences of homelessness, it is likely that ethnicity plays an important role or has a multiplier effect in the way SIL is experienced [118, 119]. There is also a lack of geographic and regional representation across the studies, since most of them were conducted in the US and Canada. Further, research that includes diverse population and geographic regions would help inform broader policy change and programming for people from different cultural and ethnic groups.

Addiction Lead to Recovery, and Recovery Lead to Being a Good Dad

This raises important questions about the inclusivity and equity of service provision and suggests that personal identity can significantly affect one’s ability to access essential support. Other studies showed relationships between SIL, age and self-identifying as a woman. These findings are not only consistent with broader https://ecosoberhouse.com/ research [95, 96] but also underscore deeper, often systemic issues within social service frameworks [97]. The intersection of SIL with identity-related factors indicates that care and social services may be insufficiently trained and equipped to address the unique challenges faced by different demographic groups [98, 99].

• To provide a thorough overview, we examined both quantitative and qualitative research.
• Idleness is not ideal in recovery, so keep yourself occupied with healthy new hobbies and activities.
• The feeling can be especially noticeable around the holidays, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and times of extreme stress.
• All data generated or analysed during this study are included in supplementary information files.
• The 2020 Pandemic forced much of the world into isolation, taking away many of the opportunities for genuine social interactions.
• Abandoning once-central relationships and pastimes may create a void leading to loneliness.

Arrange and Participate in Social Events Online

It also increases your sense of self-worth when you’re part of a network that can help you, and you can also help them. Ioana has a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and has been a freelance writer for over ten years. Ioana uses loneliness in recovery her passion for psychology, research, and mental health to create reliable resources on various topics relating to addiction and treatment. However, caring for a pet gives you purpose, structure, and unconditional love.

How to Manage Loneliness During Recovery

• However, caring for a pet gives you purpose, structure, and unconditional love.
• For instance, we can create art, write books, make music, and find and make shared communities, all in an effort to connect with others.
• As a human being, you crave being connected to and close to others.
• On the journey to recovery from addiction, loneliness can itself be a glaring risk factor for relapse and an overwhelming obstacle to achieving sobriety in the first place.
• One of the best ways to prevent isolation during recovery is to stay active and healthy.
• If you or a loved one are struggling with a substance abuse problem, make today the day you take action and get the help you need.

It’s not uncommon for people to feel lonely when starting out in addiction recovery. If you’ve just come home from inpatient addiction treatment, where you were around people most of the time, you might suddenly find a normal amount of alone time rather stark. None of the people you are used to chatting with in the dining hall or rec room are around anymore. Instead of dwelling on feelings of loneliness in addiction recovery, take advantage of your solitude. The notion of solitude as beneficial may strike recovering addicts as totally unfamiliar, since they may have spent the last few years high on drugs to avoid being alone with their thoughts, feelings, and memories. Loneliness or depression can result in using alcohol or drugs to deal with those feelings.

• Protect your mental health in recovery by remaining connected to your sober support network, family members and close friends while also cultivating new sober friendships.
• Morgan is freelance mental health and creative writer who regularly contributes to publications including, Psychology Today.
• Further, research that includes diverse population and geographic regions would help inform broader policy change and programming for people from different cultural and ethnic groups.
• Recovering from substance use disorder can be a life-changing journey for many people.
• If that’s the case, you may be able to connect with your group digitally.
• Those with awareness of such stigma can become adept at hiding their loneliness from others.

Can a Pet Help You Recover From Addiction?

It’s important that we stay in touch with people who care about us and who understand us by making an effort to build meaningful connections with them. We should also take time for ourselves and practice mindful meditation, which can help us stay grounded and connected to our emotions. Finding interests outside of substance use can help you deal with issues of loneliness in more than one way. From reading groups or clubs to sports and exercise, new hobbies give you access to new communities and help build relationships with new people. This helps fight loneliness and gives you different things to learn and focus on that aren’t feelings of isolation. No matter what recovery community you join, it’s important that you attend some kind of meeting or group aimed at helping you stay on the road to recovery.

• Therapists experienced in substance use disorders can help you identify and analyze possible triggers.
• Instead of bottling up or burying your anger, release it in a healthy way.
• Lehmann et al. [38] used a revised version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale to examine individual factors including loneliness relevant in people experiencing homelessness to report their victimization to police.
• These conditions can feed into each other, creating a vicious cycle where loneliness exacerbates mental health issues, which in turn, deepen the sense of isolation.
• As governments work to address loneliness as a wider public health and social concern, there have emerged no one-size-fits-all effective solutions.