Steps to Heal Cognitive Dissonance in Recovery Arrowwood

Adolescent exposures to other substances of abuse, such as alcohol, cannabis, and MDMA, also cause persistent disruptions of cognition (Brown et al., 2000; O’Shea, McGregor, and Mallet, 2006; Piper and Meyer, 2004; Stiglick and Kalant, 1982). These findings indicate that the adolescent brain, which is still developing, is susceptible to insult from drug use and abuse, and such insult can result in long-lasting changes in affect and cognition. Cognitive deficits following prenatal exposure to smoking may reflect structural brain changes. In one study, prenatally exposed adolescent smokers had greater visuospatial memory deficits in conjunction with changes in parahippocampal and hippocampal function compared with adolescent smokers not prenatally exposed (Jacobsen et al., 2006). Brain imaging of adolescent smokers and nonsmokers who were prenatally exposed to smoking has revealed reduced cortical thickness (Toro et al., 2008) and structural alterations in cortical white matter (Jacobsen et al., 2007). These deficits persisted into later adulthood among the male rats, but not the females.

Fearful Avoidant Attachment Therapy: Healing and Growth Strategies

The model incorporates cognitive dissonance and addiction the stages of change proposed by Procahska, DiClement and Norcross (1992) and treatment principles are based on social-cognitive theories11,29,30. Motivational Interviewing (MI) and motivational enhancement therapy (MET) are approaches that target motivation and decisional balance of the patient. Although MI incorporates the principles of the trans theoretical model, it has been distinguished from both trans theoretical model and CBT21.

• Rationalizations can serve to reinforce addictive behaviors by providing justifications and excuses for continued use.
• That is, now the negatives (including guilt and shame) dominate the decision, and the lapsed smoker wonders how such a mistake was made.
• Cognitive dissonance is the tension that arises when there is a conflict between a belief and a desire or behavior.

How Does Cognitive Dissonance Affect the Recovery Process?

We want to give recovering addicts the tools to return to the outside world completely substance-free and successful. By implementing these strategies, individuals in recovery can effectively manage cognitive dissonance and move towards a more harmonious and fulfilling life in sobriety. If you or someone you know is facing the psychological struggle of addictive behaviors, it is crucial to seek help and support. Recovery is indeed possible, and there are numerous resources available to assist in the journey toward a healthier and happier life. A more recent development in the area of managing addictive behaviours is the application of the construct of mindfulness to managing experiences related to craving, negative affect and other emotional states that are believed to impact the process of relapse34. The Trans theoretical model (TTM), describes stages of behavioral change, processes of change and the decisional balance and self-efficacy which are believed to be intertwined to determine an individual’s behaviour11.

• Neuroscience research has correlated learning with the elaboration of neural networks in the brain.
• One study compared this feeling of dissonance to the sensations of being hungry or thirsty—we want to get rid of that discomfort, so we eat or get a drink of water (Cooper and Carlsmith, 2002).
• Dan is passionate about disrupting the current addiction treatment model in the USA and wants to see people overcome their addiction issues and not just remain sober, but thrive in life while living their passion.
• The key is to notice when the pattern of delusional thinking starts to exacerbate and to challenge the feelings and thoughts to prevent relapse from occurring.
• But that is difficult, so most smokers convince themselves that the links between smoking and lung cancer are not quite as strong as doctors claim (modify belief, or avoid the information).
• Drawing a person’s attention to the dissonance between their behavior and their values may increase their awareness of the inconsistency and empower them to act.
• The article provides an overview of cognitive behavioural approaches to managing addictions.

DRUGS OF ABUSE AND MENTAL ILLNESS

Counseling can help people recognize their dissonant thoughts and change them to more adaptive thoughts that support the changes they want to make to lead happier and healthier lives. In addition to offering drug and alcohol counseling, Tim Sinnott is a counselor who is highly skilled and experienced in marriage and family counseling, treating anxiety and depression, and offering coping strategies for life transitions. He utilizes positive psychology as much as possible during his counseling sessions. Positive psychology is a treatment approach that believes all people want to lead fulfilling and meaningful personal and professional lives.

Feeling emotional? The difference between feelings and emotions

3.1 In conclusion the present paper was designed to provide a representative sample of contemporary cognitive constructs related to addiction. The study of different kind of cognition and cognitive factors related to addition is particularly valuable because these factors are often malleable and are thus viable targets for interventions. While research in this area has made significant contributions to our understanding of addiction and have provided novel intervention strategies, many questions remain unanswered. For example, challenges remain in the assessment of implicit cognition, including more precise determination regarding what current measures of implicit processes actually assess.

You didn’t think about it much before, but if you continue to make the same clothing choices, you’ll feel some cognitive dissonance. Understand that it is entirely normal, understandable and acceptable to be feeling confused, anxious, and sleep deprived at this current time! Understanding the normality of the feelings and recognising that at the root may well be some dissonance of some kind can hopefully lead to a bit of investigating to find out just what might be in conflict.

While data collection is a necessary aspect of AI-driven systems, it is Substance abuse equally important to implement technical measures to prevent unauthorized disclosure of personal information, thereby preserving the privacy of users. Almost everyone struggles with negative thinking patterns, or what doctors call cognitive distortions. These thinking patterns can range from low self-esteem to assuming the worst after a simple conversation with someone. For those in addiction recovery, cognitive distortions can be especially dangerous.

How to resolve cognitive dissonance

If you experience cognitive dissonance, think about what result each of these actions will have in the long term before adopting them as a coping strategy. If we are not careful, the brain’s attempt to resolve cognitive dissonance can lead us right back to active addiction. This is far more likely to happen if we are ambivalent towards recovery (i.e. not fully committed). Even when the negative effects of alcohol or drug abuse become impossible to ignore, we can still have a strong inner need to justify our behaviour.

This article explores how cognitive dissonance perpetuates substance abuse and allows individuals to rationalize behaviors that would otherwise contradict their beliefs about health, safety, and personal responsibility. This phenomenon leads individuals to rationalize their addictive behaviors and ignore any information that contradicts their beliefs. Consequently, this internal conflict gives rise to negative emotions and discomfort.