Recreational Therapy for Addiction Treatment

Everyone has their way of dealing with traumas, emotional stressors, and strongholds. However, it is usually not the addiction that causes many to struggle with sobriety but the unpleasant emotions that cause us to use them in the first place.

Engaging in meaningful, healthy activities makes you rewire your brain not to need drugs and alcohol. When you involve yourself in activities that you love and that challenge you, you’ll find it easier to replace those old destructive activities with new healthier ones. Your body will find a new venture that feels good, and drugs or alcohol will no longer be necessary to cope with hidden pains and traumas.

Physical movement has also reset the brain to a chemically healthier state. For example, when we struggle with anxiety, depression, and chemical dependency, exercise helps release feel-good chemicals in the body and reset our brain activity.

Dancing, singing, talking out your problems in a group, coloring, drawing, and playing a group activity are all efficient activities in restoring balance. From these activities, we get a sense of feeling normal again. We learn to socialize and solve our problems instead of holding them in or blocking them out entirely with drugs and alcohol.

We also have a way of distracting our minds healthily and focusing on the present moment called mindfulness. Mindfulness can improve how we perceive stressful situations. Mindfulness also helps us problem-solve because we only see things clearly with a calm mind.

Recreational activities are more than just hobbies; they are life-changing, therapeutic strategies. Incorporating some of these creative, physical activities in your recovery plan can drastically change how you view recovery…and life.