Addiction can be an isolating experience. Feelings of shame and guilt may cause you to withdraw from others and refuse to seek help. But as difficult as it may seem, social support plays a crucial role in addiction recovery.
Whether through family, friends, support groups, or mental health professionals, the understanding and encouragement of others can greatly increase motivation, reduce the risk of relapse, and help with successful long-term recovery.
At Begin Again Institute, we believe that a strong support network is vital in overcoming sex or pornography addiction. Our addiction recovery programs provide you with the tools necessary to connect with others and cultivate healthier relationships.
Understanding the Types of Social Support
Social support means getting help from the people around you to handle stressful situations, improve well-being, and live a happier and healthier life. It’s the little things people do for one another to make life easier, especially during challenging times.
While there are many ways to show support for others, most can generally be grouped into four main categories.
The four main types of social support:
- Emotional Support. This type of support involves showing empathy, care, and compassion. It may include listening to someone’s problems, validating their feelings, and offering comfort and reassurance during difficult times.
- Esteem Support. Helping to increase someone’s self-esteem through affirmations, encouragement, and compliments is also a form of social support. You can show support by recognizing someone’s accomplishments and celebrating their successes.
- Informational Support. This involves providing advice, suggestions, and information that a person can use to address their problems. You might direct them to a helpful resource or provide personal guidance.
- Tangible/Instrumental Support. This includes offering tangible assistance or services to help another person. It could be lending them money, helping around the house, cooking meals, or driving them to appointments.
What Is Social Support in Addiction Recovery?
Having a strong support network is important for everyone, no matter what you’re going through. Strong social connections provide a sense of belonging, purpose, and well-being that contributes to overall happiness and health. But for those overcoming sex addiction, a supportive network becomes even more vital.
Benefits of social support in addiction recovery include:
- Reduced feelings of loneliness and isolation
- Reduced stress, anxiety, and depression
- A sense of purpose and belonging
- Increased motivation, self-esteem, and self-confidence
- Greater personal accountability
- A chance to learn healthier coping techniques
Emotional Support in Recovery
Overcoming addiction can be a long and challenging journey. There may be times when it feels overwhelming. During these times, simply having someone to listen to your problems and offer a shoulder to cry on can make a huge difference.
In recovery from sex addiction, emotional support can come from friends and family who will listen without judgment and offer comfort. It can also come from taking part in group therapy and meeting people who are going through a similar thing as you.
Emotional support helps reduce feelings of shame, guilt, loneliness, and isolation. It provides a safe space to express your emotions openly, instead of keeping them bottled up.
Esteem Support in Recovery
In addiction recovery, believing in yourself is crucial to success. But maintaining a positive mindset isn’t always easy, especially for those dealing with sex addiction and the low self-esteem that often comes with it. This is why it’s important to have people around who can remind you of your worth, strengths, and accomplishments.
When faced with setbacks and self-doubt, your social network can help encourage and motivate you to keep going. They’ll also be with you to celebrate the milestones and wins in your recovery journey.
This type of support helps contribute to a greater sense of belonging and purpose. When other people believe in you, you’ll believe in yourself too.
Informational Support in Recovery
Informational support is another essential aspect of recovery from sex addiction. Receiving guidance from others is the best way to develop the tools necessary to overcome your addiction long-term.
Informational support can come from a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) who can help you learn about the cause of the addiction and overcome it. It can also come from the people you meet in group therapy and support groups.
By taking part in individual and group therapy, you can learn new coping skills, develop better stress management tactics, and pick up helpful tips for managing your triggers.
Having people around to offer advice and support can reduce stress and anxiety when facing challenges. It can also encourage you to make healthier choices in times of temptation.
Tangible Support in Recovery
While in recovery from addiction, it’s also important to have a healthy and stable environment that fosters healing and growth. Loved ones can support this by offering help with daily tasks and responsibilities.
Tangible support could mean having someone drive you to and from therapy sessions, assist with household chores and errands, or provide financial support. Reducing everyday stressors that may act as triggers or other barriers to treatment can dramatically help with overcoming addiction.
Social Support and Accountability
One of the biggest benefits of social support in addiction recovery is that it helps build and foster personal accountability.
Being accountable means taking responsibility for your actions and their consequences. Within addiction, this means recognizing the impact your behaviors have on yourself and others. You learn to take ownership of your decisions and purposely try to make positive changes in your life.
By being open and honest about your struggles and sharing your recovery goals with others, you’ll develop a network of people who also want to see you succeed.
Having people who believe in you and support you gives you a sense of responsibility towards them, as well as to yourself. This responsibility can significantly increase your motivation, self-confidence, and chances of successful long-term recovery.
Building Your Support Networks
You don’t need a huge network to reap the benefits of social support. A small supportive group can make a huge difference in your recovery journey.
Your support group may comprise existing friends and family members you trust to be nonjudgmental and empathetic. Loved ones are a great source of emotional and tangible support. But to receive this support, you need to be vulnerable enough to confide in them and accept their help.
Specialized mental health professionals are a great source of informational and esteem support. Group therapy and support groups can also help you connect with people with similar issues, learn from each other, and build your support network.
Addiction recovery programs help foster social connections through therapy sessions and group counseling. In group therapy, you’ll connect with others going through similar situations. It’s a great way to meet a relatable group of people who can offer genuine understanding and empathy. You can work on rebuilding your social skills in a safe and nonjudgmental setting. Working toward a common goal with others also creates a sense of mutual support and accountability.
Residential treatment programs amplify this effect even further. Being around a small group of counselors and peers 24/7 offers an instant social network that you can learn from and lean on for support. Inpatient programs can greatly help kickstart your recovery journey.
When building your network, you should be careful about who you accept support from. Not everyone will offer the support you need. Once you learn the triggers for your addictive behaviors, you want to avoid them. You should avoid those who might cause additional stress or negatively influence you.
Recovery With Begin Again Institute
Social support is an invaluable tool in addiction recovery. Having a strong network can significantly improve your chances of successful recovery from sex addiction, making the journey less lonely and more manageable.
At Begin Again Institute, we offer programs for men with intimacy disorders, including sex addiction. Our programs can help you cultivate strong social networks by meeting others going through like experiences and attending group therapy. We’ll also teach you the tools necessary to cultivate healthier relationships and connections once the program ends, assisting with long-term recovery.
Contact Begin Again Institute today to find out more about our treatment options.
Edward Tilton is a proven behavioral healthcare leader with an established track record in the recovery industry space. As an accomplished healthcare leader, Ed has diverse management experience including clinical and business operations, expansion of program development, and clinical service offerings.
