The process of overcoming serious and deadly alcohol addiction is often fraught with emotional, mental and physical turmoil. When you are in a recovery program, you must contend with intense side effects that come as your body withdrawals from its dependency on drinking.
To help you with the withdrawal and recovery processes, the alcohol rehab that you enroll in will offer you various activities to take part in each day. You can understand why is art therapy integrated into a PA alcohol rehab by learning more about this activity’s purpose and the benefits that it can offer to program participants.
Distraction
One of the main purposes that art therapy services in alcohol rehab involve distracting patients while they go through withdrawals. Withdrawals themselves can involve symptoms like shaking, sweating, nausea, sleeplessness, and extreme nervousness. Without something to distract themselves with, patients can give into their anxiety and physical distress and want to quit the program.
Art therapy provides a distraction and gives patients something else on which to focus. They may find that they get through their withdrawals with fewer side effects. They also may tolerate their symptoms better. When they tolerate their symptoms better, they need less medical intervention. They do not need their healthcare team to administer medications that are designed to ease the physical withdrawal symptoms involved with detoxing.
Peace and Calming
Art therapy is also a peaceful and calming activity in which to engage. It does not involve the noise and rowdiness found in participating in sports. It also does not require intense physical effort that playing sports, swimming, weight lifting, and other activities require. People who are going through alcohol withdrawal may not have the physical effort to put into taking part in other pastimes. However, they can enjoy a peaceful and calm activity like art therapy.
Taking part in a tranquil pastime can also help patients feel calmer about their rehab experience. They do not get their emotions worked up while they paint, craft, sculpt, and take part in other creative activities. When their emotions are calm, they may feel less tempted to drink. Over the course of a few days, they may even find that their desire to drink becomes less intense, which is critical for their success in the program. They may even find themselves more open to talking to members of their care team while they work on crafts and artworks. They can let their attention to their art therapy serve as a channel for them to speak openly to their doctors, therapists and others who care for them during the time that they are in rehab.
Pride and Sense of Accomplishment
Art therapy likewise gives patients something to take pride in and from which to gain a sense of accomplishment. When they were drinking, they may have become accustomed to feeling like a disappointment to other people. They may have felt like they had nothing positive to contribute and thus were worth nothing themselves. However, art therapy gives them the chance to create something unique and beautiful. They can see the results of their work right away. They can take pride in creating something that derived from their own sense of creativity and inspiration. They feel like they have accomplished something important, which for many alcoholics is a relatively new feeling.
This pastime also lets them focus their creative energies on something productive. It serves as an outlet for pent up emotions, held back frustrations, sadness, and even fear. It serves as a pallet for any happiness that they derive from being sober again. They gain a healthy and productive way to channel those emotions and avoid engaging in harmful activities while in alcohol rehab. For example, they might be less prone to fighting, hiding, arguing, or crying alone in their beds. They especially may feel less prone to drinking. When they are discharged from their program, they can take their works of art with them and remind themselves of the hard work that they put into regaining sobriety.
When you are ready to get help for your serious alcohol addiction, you do not have to fear that you will be left to deal with your physical, emotional, and mental side effects on your own. You will be provided with art therapy to help you through it. Find out more by calling us today. Our counselors are available 24 hours a day. Call 772-266-5320 to get more information on our alcohol rehab services.
