5 Support Group Benefits You Won’t Get Alone
No one should ever have to face addiction alone.
If you’re struggling with addiction and are looking for support, a support group can offer many benefits. Many of these benefits are things you couldn’t get even from expert individual therapy—humans, after all, are social animals.
Don’t take our word for it. Here are five support group benefits you won’t get alone.
1. Proving You’re Not Alone
One common trait of life’s most negative experiences is that they make us feel alone. For some reason, when bad times come, we assume the problem is ours to bear without support. Many of us shut down, feeling isolated.
This is often because we struggle to relate to anyone not going through our experiences, and vice versa.
In reality, you’re never alone. All across the world, there are always people struggling with the same problem you are. Support groups remind you that there’s always someone out there who can relate.
2. Accountability
Accountability is one of the most important tools for countering addictions. The human will can be surprisingly fragile when we think no one’s watching. Accountability gives someone else the power to “keep score” for you, which can help to keep you honest and on the wagon.
3. A Feeling of Community
Knowing you’re not alone isn’t always enough—sometimes you need to feel like you belong somewhere, too.
When you join a support group or shop for AA jewelry, you’re not saying addiction is your identity—you’re saying that you acknowledge you are part of a community and volunteering to make yourself and that community a better place. This creates strong social bonds that may have otherwise disappeared from your life.
A community also brings stability. Knowing where and when to find other people gives you life a distinct shape and foundation on which you can build future growth.
4. Restoring Your Humanity
In the depths of addiction or other personal crises, we often find our sense of humanity stripped away. We feel less like a “real” person and more like we’re playing our part—even that we are an actor in our own lives.
A support group can help to reverse this mentality. By relating with others and receiving validation for your feelings, you can rebuild your sense of being a “real” person whose place in the world matters.
5. Someone to Watch Over You
It’s the sad truth of addiction that relapses are common. Yet the psychological aspect of relapsing can be just as dangerous as the physical one. If we backslide into our isolated worlds, then there’s no one to step in and support us.
Support groups ensure there’s always someone to look out for you and to check in on your welfare. This could literally save your life.
Support Group Benefits Explained
While individual therapy can help with a wide range of issues, it’s hard to ignore these support group benefits and how they could transform your recovery. If you’ve hit a wall in your journey, consider a support group as your next step on the path to a better you.
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