fbpx
Skip to content

TH: +66 20 385 469     Toll Free USA/CAN: 1 888 806 6776     Toll Free UK: 0 808 189 0393     Toll Free AUS: 1 800 251 994     HK: +852 3008 5841     SG: +65 3158 7621

  • Home
  • What We Treat
    • Addiction
      • Alcohol Addiction Treatment
      • Drug Addiction Treatment
      • Amphetamine Addiction Treatment
      • Cocaine Addiction Treatment
      • GHB Addiction Treatment
      • Heroin Addiction Treatment
      • Ecstasy Addiction Treatment
      • Marijuana Addiction Treatment
      • Methamphetamine Addiction Treatment
    • Mental Health
      • Anxiety disorder treatment programme
      • Depression treatment programme
      • Co-treating Addiction and Trauma Disorders
      • Dual Diagnosis/Co-Occurring Disorders
    • Behavioral Addiction
      • Co-Occurring Disordered Eating Treatment
      • Internet Addiction Treatment
      • Rehab for Gambling Addiction Treatment
  • Our Programme
    • Changing Pathways Addiction Programme
      • Physical Therapy
    • The Kintsugi Programme
    • Disordered Eating Programme
    • Continuing Care
    • Recovery House at The Cabin
    • Sunday Excursions
  • About Our Rehab
    • About the Cabin
    • Accommodation and Facilities
    • Gallery
    • The Cabin Group
    • Our Team
    • Client Testimonials
    • In The Press
    • Blogs
  • Admissions
    • Admissions Process
    • How Rehab Works at The Cabin
    • Online assessment
    • FAQ
    • Family Advice
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Referring a Client

Get Help Now
07/10/2014

How Addicts can Overcome their Fear of Recovery

Home › Blog › Recovery › How Addicts can Overcome their Fear of Recovery

How Addicts can Overcome their Fear of Recovery

Even though you may realise that you need to get clean, the thought of sobriety can be scary. Here are the most common fears, and tips for overcoming them.

Major life changes of any kind add stress to life. Compounding such stress is the fear of the changes themselves. This is certainly true of recovery, where fear of sobriety can be a major obstacle to becoming sober. In this blog, we will explore common fears of sobriety and how to handle them.

#1: Fear of Sobriety

It may seem counter-intuitive, but sobriety itself can induce fear. As the saying goes, better the devil you know, meaning that what we are familiar with is more comfortable than the unknown. Facing sobriety is a major unknown, so even when we recognise the benefits, a lot of fear can come up.

How to handle it: To overcome fear of sobriety, two strategies are helpful. First, acknowledging the fear can go a long way towards dispelling it. Second, focus on the benefits of being sober.

#2: Fear of Failure

This fear focuses on whether or not your attempt at sobriety will fail. You may have tried to clean up your act in the past, and it didn’t work. Or it may be the first time you are attempting to get clean. In either case, choosing sobriety has within it the potential for failure, and with it the fear of failure.

How to handle it: Facing this fear involves acknowledging it, and then building confidence in your ability to succeed based on strategies and resources gained in recovery treatment. It is possible that you may fail. And yet, resolving to be successful is a key to success. Knowing how to be successful will go great lengths in resolving this fear.

#3: Fear of Success

The fear of success is the flipside to the fear of failure. While fearing failure revolves around not believing you can succeed, fearing success focuses on your lack of value as a person who deserves success. You may believe that because of who you are, or because of your past, you cannot be successful.

How to Handle It: Understand that everyone is capable and deserving of sobriety. You are not alone in feeling this fear, and others can support you through this challenge. So, seek out support from people in your life, and this will help you believe in your ability to succeed.

#4: Fear of Rejection

When we make changes to our life, our old friends may not value these changes. This is particularly true in the case of addiction, where a large part of social bonding occurs around substance use. You may therefore fear the rejection of your old friends.

How to Handle It: Make new friends through recovery. Choosing a sober lifestyle means making many changes to your activities, and your social relationships will also change. Embrace these changes and the benefits they bring to your life, and value the new friends you make.

#5: Fear of Losing Identity

Alcoholics and others with addiction have their identity meshed with their addiction. So, when becoming sober, it means changing a part of how they think about themselves. This can invoke fear, as who you are changes and old parts of your identity are absolved.

How to Handle It: Redefine yourself in recovery with the support of your community. It is also beneficial to think about who you really want to be, and your ability to become that person.

#6: Fear of Suffering

Addiction brings its own brand of suffering to your life. However, getting clean does not mean that your life will suddenly become a fairy tale happy ending. On the contrary, remaining sober involves maturely facing life’s challenges without escaping through substance use. As a result, there can be a lot of fear of the suffering that naturally occurs in life.

How to Handle It: See how, as you face life sober, you grow as a person. The process of recovery is about growth, and there are challenges in this process. Believe in your ability to face them. Becoming sober will give you the confidence to face most challenges in life, so long as you remain sober.

Get A Free Consultation
Search

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Alcohol Addiction Treatment
  • Behavioral Addiction
  • Blog
  • Co-occurring Disorders
  • Cocaine Addiction
  • Drug Addiction
  • Food Addiction Treatment
  • Gambling Addiction Treatment
  • Gaming Addiction Treatment
  • Infographic
  • Infosheet
  • Internet Addiction Treatment
  • Prescription Drugs Addiction Treatment
  • Reach
  • Recovery
  • Relapse Prevention
  • Rise
  • Sex Addiction Treatment
  • Trauma and Addiction
  • Video
  • Youth Addiction Treatment
Self-Medicating for Anxiety can Lead to Addiction
Alcohol Addiction Treatment | Blog

Self-Medicating for Anxiety can Lead to Addiction

For some people, when a stressful situation arises – perhaps giving a speech at a friend’s wedding, or having to meet a spouse’s work colleagues at dinner – knocking back a couple of alcoholic drinks for some ‘liquid courage’ helps take the edge off. And for some, the occasional use of a substance to ease...
05/26/2014
Reality Star Josh Duggar Admits Porn Addiction
Blog | Sex Addiction Treatment

Reality Star Josh Duggar Admits Porn Addiction

American reality star, Josh Duggar, admits to porn addiction after the Ashley Madison-dating-service-for-married-individuals data heist revealed he spent $1,000 to have an affair. Josh Duggar, the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of the American reality TV show, ‘19 Kids and Counting’ has made a recent public admission that he suffers from porn...
09/22/2015
successful addiction recovery creative therapies
Blog | Recovery

Sustain your Addiction Recovery through Self-Expression and Creativity

Practicing self-expression and creativity can significantly increase your chances of success in addiction recovery. Learn more about the most useful relapse prevention strategies in this article. Learning how to manage your thoughts, feelings and emotions is an integral part of being successful in addiction recovery. Every single day humans have tens of thousands of thoughts...
07/12/2016
The Cabin Logo

The Cabin Rehab Centre
9 Khua Mung, Saraphi District,
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50140

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Linkedin

OUR TREATMENT

  • Alcohol Addiction Treatment
  • Drug Addiction Treatment
  • Disordered Eating Programme
  • Gambling Addiction Treatment
  • Changing Pathways
  • Kintsugi Programme
  • Sunday Excursions
  • Relapse Prevention

ABOUT THE CABIN

  • About Us
  • The Professional Team
  • Why The Cabin
  • Our Accommodation
  • Admissions Process
  • What is Our Client Say?
  • FAQ
  • The Cabin’s Blog
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms and Conditions

CONTACT US

TH: +66 20 385 469
USA/CAN: 1 888 806 6776
UK: 0 808 189 0393
AUS: 1 800 251 994
HK: +852 3008 5841
SG: +65 3158 7621
Download Our Brochure

© 2023 The Cabin Chiang Mai. All Rights Reserved.

Get Help Today!
Getting the Help You Need Today!

If you require further information, Please do not hesitate to contact us.

  • TH : +662 038 5469
  • US : +1 888 806 6776
  • UK : +44 808 189 0393
  • AU : +61 1 800 251 994
  • HK : +852 3008 5841
  • SG : +65 3158 7621
close
Manage Cookie Consent

To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Scroll to top
  • Home
  • What We Treat
    • Addiction
      • Alcohol Addiction Treatment
      • Drug Addiction Treatment
      • Amphetamine Addiction Treatment
      • Cocaine Addiction Treatment
      • GHB Addiction Treatment
      • Heroin Addiction Treatment
      • Ecstasy Addiction Treatment
      • Marijuana Addiction Treatment
      • Methamphetamine Addiction Treatment
    • Mental Health
      • Anxiety disorder treatment programme
      • Depression treatment programme
      • Co-treating Addiction and Trauma Disorders
      • Dual Diagnosis/Co-Occurring Disorders
    • Behavioral Addiction
      • Co-Occurring Disordered Eating Treatment
      • Internet Addiction Treatment
      • Rehab for Gambling Addiction Treatment
  • Our Programme
    • Changing Pathways Addiction Programme
      • Physical Therapy
    • The Kintsugi Programme
    • Disordered Eating Programme
    • Continuing Care
    • Recovery House at The Cabin
    • Sunday Excursions
  • About Our Rehab
    • About the Cabin
    • Accommodation and Facilities
    • Gallery
    • The Cabin Group
    • Our Team
    • Client Testimonials
    • In The Press
    • Blogs
  • Admissions
    • Admissions Process
    • How Rehab Works at The Cabin
    • Online assessment
    • FAQ
    • Family Advice
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Referring a Client