Challenges with substance use disorder (SUD) can have a profound negative impact on every part of your life. SUD can increase your distress as it impairs your ability to function at work and in your relationships. Difficulties with SUD may prevent you from achieving goals and needs like finishing school, getting a job, or paying your bills. Moreover, SUD can also lead to difficulties in your home life, from strained relationships to the loss of custody of children. Whether SUD impedes your individual wants and needs or harms your loved ones, you have hit rock bottom.
At Rancho Recovery, we are your rock when you hit your rock bottom. No matter what rock bottom looks like for you, we are here to provide tools to meet you where you are. Our mission is to provide tailored treatment strategies that address your specific needs for healing and lifelong recovery. Whether you have been overwhelmed with the challenges of SUD for a few months, a few years, or your whole life, recovery is possible. We are committed to finding that unique key that helps you break free of addiction and thrive. Here at Rancho Recovery, we know there is no expiration date on when you can seek healing.
Understandably, it can be difficult to see yourself as someone who can recover or is deserving of recovery. You may think there is no way out of the dark hole you have been in. However, as noted in Facing Addiction in America by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), substance use can make dramatic changes to your brain function. Substance misuse can also impair your ability to make decisions and regulate your emotions.
Moreover, substance use can increase mental and emotional distress and further contribute to the decrease in self-esteem and self-worth. The impact of SUD on your brain can make it difficult to recognize your worthiness for recovery. Thus, hitting rock bottom may help you recognize the need for treatment. Even when you believe you cannot be helped or are deserving of recovery, rock bottom may be a catalyst for treatment. Yet, you may question what exactly does it mean to hit rock bottom.
You have likely heard the term rock bottom many times in the media and even in the recovery community. However, how do you know when you have hit rock bottom? Do you need to hit rock bottom in order to start healing?
What Does Hitting Rock Bottom Mean?
According to the Collins Dictionary, hitting rock bottom means hitting the lowest level. Therefore, rock bottom is being in a state of distress that can leave you feeling depressed about your situation. Moreover, Substance Use and Misuse states, hitting rock bottom has been around since the 1960s. The term rock bottom was used to indicate that you needed to hit this state before change could happen. Hitting rock bottom has also become well-known by its common use in the media like in television and film.
The popularizing of the term has contributed to the general public’s awareness of the concept as a stepping stone toward seeking treatment. Many people consider rock bottom to be a necessary step not only toward entering treatment but also toward treatment compliance. It is argued that if you experience enough negative consequences of SUD, you will move from contemplating change to developing the motivation to change. Moreover, hitting rock bottom has been an important theory in many 12-Step programs.
Hitting rock bottom can help some people progress through the stages of behavioral change to support true commitment to treatment and recovery. However, one of the issues with the concept of rock bottom is the perception that it is an individualized concept. Everyone’s experiences with distress are unique to them and often present in different ways. For example, an injury that feels painful for one person may feel like nothing to another person. If your perception of hitting rock bottom is specific to you, it can present difficulties with seeking treatment. From your loved ones’ perspective, you have hit rock bottom, but you may not agree and refuse treatment.
Therefore, the perception that hitting rock bottom is an individualized concept highlights the need to address misconceptions about it. Looking at the misconceptions about rock bottom can help dismantle assumptions about the role it can play in your adherence to treatment and lifelong recovery.
Addressing Misconceptions About Hitting Rock Bottom
Some common misconceptions about hitting rock bottom include:
- You cannot seek treatment until you hit rock bottom
- Treatment has to be wanted in order for it to be effective
- Hitting rock bottom means you will not relapse after treatment
- You will not voluntarily seek treatment without hitting rock bottom
- Rock bottom is the same for everyone
The myths about rock bottom can be incredibly limiting to what recovery can look like for each individual. Moreover, myths about rock bottom can be detrimental to seeking and receiving the care and support you need to recover. Therefore, dismantling myths about rock bottom can give you the validation and tools to recognize your individual experiences with SUD. With a deeper sense of self-awareness and self-understanding of SUD in your life, you can reach out for support. Listed below are the truths about those common hitting rock bottom misconceptions:
- You do not have to wait to hit rock bottom to seek treatment
- Treatment and recovery can happen at any time
- Substance use changes and harms your brain
- Seeking treatment earlier can decrease risk factors associated with those brain changes
- Truthfully, few people want to go into treatment
- More often than not people enter treatment because of court orders or because of the urging of loved ones
- You do not need to want to go to treatment in order for it to be effective
- The pressure of losing loved ones can support the effectiveness of treatment regardless of why you entered treatment
- Hitting rock bottom is not the final straw that cures all the harmful thinking and behavior patterns that come with SUD
- Dismantling the unhealthy patterns of SUD and other mental health disorders takes time
- There will be bumps, hurdles, and setbacks in recovery
- Relapse is not a failure
- Setbacks are a part of the journey to building and integrating healthy coping skills for lifelong recovery
- The catastrophic nature of hitting rock bottom does not guarantee someone will seek treatment
- Addiction can impair your ability to make healthy decisions
- Perceptions of rock bottom like the loss of housing do not automatically result in voluntary treatment
- There are many other factors other than rock bottom that can encourage you to voluntarily seek treatment
- Personal recognition that there is a problem
- Pressure from an employer
- Concern from school staff
- The concerns of your loved ones
- Addiction can impair your ability to make healthy decisions
- Addiction can significantly change the way you behave and interact with others
- You may do and say things that would have been unthinkable before you developed SUD
- Stealing from loved ones
- Engaging in other risky behaviors
- Yelling at loved ones
- Missing work
- Skipping school
- Dropping activities and hobbies that were once important to you
- There is no one specific way or indicator of hitting rock bottom; rock bottom is a process that is unique to you
- Conflicts with loved ones may be rock bottom for one person and not for another
- You may do and say things that would have been unthinkable before you developed SUD
An important component of healing and finding sustained recovery is understanding that SUD and recovery are unique to each individual person. In order for healing to happen, you must have access to personalized support that addresses your specific experiences and needs. Therefore, the theory of hitting rock bottom can be a life-changing tool for certain people. If you identify losing your job, your home, and or your family as your rock bottom and it spurs you on to seek treatment, that can be your motivator for changing your life. Or you may find increased difficulties with your physical and mental health to be a valuable tool for change that motivates you to seek treatment.
However, difficulties with your family, your health, or mental health do not have to be the only time you seek treatment. The consequences of your SUD do not necessarily mean that is what you need to make this important change in your life. For example, exercising and losing weight can be motivated by chronic health issues, but for some people, it does not. The lack of physical activity after learning about a weight-related chronic health condition does not mean the person does not care. In fact, the person likely strongly desires change for their physical and psychological well-being.
However, the desire for change and the motivation to change are not necessarily one and the same. What each individual needs to make that shift from the desire to change to a lifelong commitment to change and betterment is unique to them. Now, what does the personalized nature of rock bottom mean for you? Is hitting rock bottom all you need to find and build sustained recovery? If rock bottom is unique to each individual and not even necessary for you to seek treatment, when is the right time? When should you seek recovery?
Recognizing When You Should Reach Out for Support
Questioning when to seek support for SUD is a strong indication that you know that your substance use is harmful. However, feeling hesitant about taking the step to actually reach out for support is understandable. The thought of the effort needed to make this big change in your life can feel daunting.
However, the meaning and fulfillment that come with recovery can be far more impactful to your lifelong well-being than the fear of taking that step. Yet, if you are still feeling hesitant, there are some key signs of addiction you can look for in yourself and your life. Looking at the signs of addiction can help you recognize that the benefits of reaching out for support far outweigh the challenges.
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), some signs of addiction that highlight the need to seek support include:
- Increased difficulties at work and or school
- Declining grades
- Poor work performance
- Unable to get to work on time
- Feeling exhausted all the time
- Losing interest in activities and hobbies that once brought you joy
- Overspending and or frequently needing to ask to borrow money
- Stealing money from your loved ones to get substances
- Difficulty managing or neglecting your responsibilities and basic needs
- Paying bills on time or at all
- Taking care of household chores and maintenance
- Hygiene and grooming
- Getting dressed
- Eating
- Sleeping
- Missing and/or forgetting appointments
- Neglecting the needs of your children
- Conflicts with your loved ones over changes in your behavior and or substance use
- Unusual changes in your behavior and difficulty regulating your emotions
- Having angry outbursts at loved ones, co-workers, classmates, and others
- Increased irritability
- Frequent mood swings
- Legal issues
- Fights
- Car accidents and other types of accidents
- Driving under the influence
- Participating in illegal activity
- Engaging in other risky behaviors
- Using dirty needles
- Having unprotected sex
- Spending time in unsafe locations
- Misusing substances more often
- Increasing the amount of the substances you consume
- All your time and energy go into getting and using substances
SUD impacts your well-being and the well-being of those close to you, which helps you recognize the need to seek support. With support, you can start making positive changes in your life to build a meaningful and purposeful life without substances. Therefore, recovery starts with recognizing that there is a problem and you want to do something about it.
Thinking Beyond Rock Bottom to the Dynamic Nature of Motivation
The motivation behind hitting rock bottom hinges on being at the worst moment in your life. Rock bottom is, from your perspective, the catastrophic destruction of your life as you had known it. The distress of rock bottom may be the lynchpin for some people seeking treatment. However, rock bottom focuses more on entering treatment, rather than on what is needed to keep you in treatment to gain the tools you need to support lifelong recovery.
Beyond the almost idealized theory of rock bottom is the real day-to-day work of motivation. As SAMHSA presents in Enhancing Motivation for Change in Substance Use Disorder Treatment, motivation is not purely a static personality trait. Rather, motivation is a dynamic process. Motivation supports the likelihood that you will enter into, continue, and adhere to strategies for change in treatment. The process of motivation can help you recognize that the thing that gets you sober is not the thing that will keep you sober. Thus, with person-centered motivational strategies, you can work with clinicians to find the tools you need for sustained recovery.
Fostering Lifelong Recovery at Every Stage With Rancho Recovery
At Rancho Recovery, our core values include providing a person-centered approach to healing to support lifelong recovery. Through a person-centered approach to care, we can address your specific needs to foster and support your commitment to your recovery. While rock bottom has its benefits, your willingness to change is not rooted purely in the destruction of your life. Rather, your willingness to change is found in a support network that cares for you as a whole person.
Here at Rancho Recovery, we do not believe in taking a cookie-cutter approach to recovery. Everyone’s needs and experiences are unique. Thus, you deserve individualized care that meets you where you are. Hitting rock bottom is not the end-all-be-all of recovery. Therefore, your commitment to change starts with embracing recovery no matter where you are on your journey. Whether you have lost important people from your life or you lean too much on substances in moments of stress, now is the right time to reach out.
Hitting rock bottom can be beneficial in helping some people seek treatment. However, rock bottom can also lead to some misconceptions about what is needed for sustained recovery. Many of the myths surrounding the idea of hitting rock bottom idealize rock bottom as something you must hit before you can seek treatment or experience effective treatment. In reality, lifelong recovery is about more than substance misuse having a catastrophic impact on your life. Everyone’s experiences and needs are specific to them; thus, sustained recovery happens when you have access to person-centered care that supports your commitment to recovery through a variety of personalized motivational strategies. Call Rancho Recovery at (877) 484-1447 to learn how individualized care can support lifelong recovery.