How to Cope with Addiction in College

Addiction can seriously affect your life. Coping with your addiction is difficult, and it can be even more difficult if you add the stress of college to that. There is hope for you to overcome and cope with your addiction while maintaining your college experience. Learn how to cope with your addiction in college so you can get the most out of your education.

Method 1 - Getting Help For Your Addiction

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→ Talk to a counselor. The help you get for your addiction depends on the type of addiction you have. Substance abuse problems will require different treatment methods than addiction to porn, sex, the internet, video games, or food. One way you can start getting help is to go see an addiction counselor.

→ A counselor can be a good first step for figuring out what kind of treatment you need for recovery.

→ You may go a therapist or psychologist, or you may start by going to one of the counselors who works at your college or university.

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→ Find addiction recovery resources on campus. Many campuses have addiction recovery programs for their students. These programs are confidential, and the aim is to help college students through addiction recovery while staying in school and maintaining academic success.

→ Check the college or university website or handbook. These resources should list any addiction recovery help the college offers.

→ Go talk to the college’s counseling or health services. If your college offers a recovery program, they will know about it.

→ Many college recovery programs offer educational sessions, 12-step programs, peer support groups, socials with others in the program, and other activities to help promote recovery, socializing with others in similar situations, and success.

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→ Decide if you need medical help. Some addictions, like severe substance abuse problems or eating disorders, may require medical help at the beginning of the recovery. You may need a medical detox or to go to an in-patient rehab center. Talk to your counselor or your doctor to help you decide if medical treatment is right for you.

→ If you need a medical detox or to go into rehab, you need to talk to the college about working with you if you have to miss school. You may be able to miss a few classes if your treatment won’t take very long, or you may need to withdraw for the semester and come back in the next one. Talk to the school’s counselors and health professionals for advice, and discuss your situation with the dean.

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→ Join a support group. One trigger for your addiction may be loneliness or isolation. Because you are coping with addiction in college, you may feel different than your peers. You may feel like you can’t share your addiction with them or feel like you can connect with them. This may lead you to seek out your addiction to feel better. To help with this, find a support group so you can connect with others going through the same thing you are.

→ Your campus may offer an addiction recovery program with support groups of your peers.

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→ Find a support network. If you have been spending time with friends who have the same addiction as you, they may not be happy you have decided to quit and go into recovery. They may try to pressure you back into your addiction. If you find yourself in this situation, it will help you to have a support network of people who want to see you through recovery and living a healthier lifestyle.

→ Your support network may be your family, your boyfriend or girlfriend, or your friends who don’t have your addiction.

→ Don’t be afraid to ask your family or friends for help. Even if it’s just to talk during an intense craving, to help you make a good decision, or to listen when you need to vent about school.

Method 2 - Dealing With Triggers

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→ Make a list of triggers. You have enough stress as a college student. You don’t want to add more stress by knowingly putting yourself into contact with things that trigger your addiction. Make a list of people, places, things, or situations that trigger your addiction. Keep this list with you and work on avoiding these situations.

→ For example, if you have an alcohol addiction, you may want to add bars or parties to your list. If you have a drug addiction, parties or certain people may need to be on there.

→ For food addictions, you may write down going to the dining hall alone, or for a gaming addiction, you may add names of friends who encourage you to spend all your time playing video games.

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→ Avoid trigger situations. After you make your list of triggers, you will see that there are people, places, and situations that trigger your addiction. These people may encourage you to give in to your addiction, the places may make it easier to partake in your addiction, or the situation may lead to problematic behavior. Now that you have identified the triggers, you should actively avoid them.

→ On your road to recovery, you may need to change things about your life to avoid any triggers. You may need to find new friends who participate in healthier activities that won’t lead to your addictive behavior.

→ Find alternate social situations or activities that don’t lead to unhealthy behaviors. For example, instead of going to parties where drugs and alcohol may be everywhere, you may instead go bowling, to the movies, to dinner, or camping with friends.

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→ Prepare for vulnerable times of day. The end of the day is the worst for your addiction cravings. At the end of the day, you are tired from a long day of classes, work, or internships. You may be run down, you may be irritated because of a tough assignment, or you may be frustrated with a friend. No matter how you feel at the end of the day, you should be prepared for potential triggers.

→ You can’t control your day. However, you can control what you do and how you respond to these emotional triggers.

→ Come up with a way to fight cravings on these nights. This may be relaxation techniques, a night in watching movies, or hanging out with a friend.

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→ Refrain from giving in to peer pressure. If you have an addiction in college, you may find yourself in many situations where you will face peer pressure to give into your addiction. Your friends may try to convince you at a party to drink or do drugs, or your friends may want you to share drinks with them at dinner. When you are coping with an addiction, be strong and don’t let others encourage you to give in.

→ For example, you may have to tell your friends, “I’m sorry, I don’t drink. But we can still have fun” or “I’ll come to the party, but I won’t do drugs or drink.”

→ If you find yourself surrounded by people who keep trying to get you to give into your addiction, walk away.

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→ Take an advocate with you. When you go out, you may need to take someone with you who will be your advocate. This person will know about your addiction, and they will be there to help you stay strong and not give in to your addiction. This person may be firm with you or remind you of your goals.

→ You and your friend should discuss ahead of time what they should do if you start to give into problematic behavior.

→ For example, your friend may pull you aside and say, “You don’t want to do this. You are stronger than this. You do not need to drink this” or “You gave me permission to remind you of how you should not be doing this activity. If you cannot handle being around the substance, we should leave.”

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→ Think about how you will feel after you use. If you have a craving or are tempted to partake in your addictive behavior, think about what will happen afterwards. How will you feel afterwards? Will you feel good? Or will you feel bad about yourself and disappointed because you gave into the addiction? Thinking about the consequences and the time after the temporary high can help you avoid giving in.

→ Think about the disappointment and broken trust of the people who have been helping you overcome your addiction.

→ Remember the negatives connected to your addiction: feeling sick, grades slipping, social isolation, missing class, or losing chunks of time.

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→ Learn how to manage academic triggers. If academic stress is your trigger, it can cause a potential problem. You don't want to drop out, but you also have to take care of yourself. You can start by talking to professors or campus counselors for help, creating an organized plan for your semester work, and learning to manage your stress.

→ Create a class management schedule. This schedule helps you manage your time, so that you can have enough time for class, studying, homework, work, and any social activities. Being organized and managing your time is one of the most important things for reducing stress while in school.

→ Lighten your load if you have to. Consider taking one less class, getting involved in one less club or activity, or cut a few hours at work each week. Don't overload yourself because that could lead to emotional exhaustion and cause you to give into your addiction.

→ Find academic buddies. These are people who can study with you, help you stay organized and on schedule, and support you if you are having a bad day.

Method 3 - Managing Your Stress

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→ Distract yourself from powerful emotions. Powerful emotions can be dangerous when you are trying to recover from drug and alcohol addiction, but the stress of college can make powerful emotions arise frequently. One of the best things you can do when you experience a powerful emotion is to distract yourself from it. You can do this in a number of ways, such as by:

→ Going for a long walk, run, or bike ride.

→ Calling a friend to talk.

→ Reading a book or writing in a journal.

→ Watching a movie or favorite TV show.

→ Visiting the library and getting started on a project or studying for an exam.

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→ Find a way to relieve stress. One reason you may turn to drugs, alcohol, or video games while you are in college is because you cannot deal with the stress that accompanies all your responsibilities. You may use your addiction to relax and relieve tension. One of the main reasons for addiction and relapses is an inability to deal with stress in a healthy way. You may have large course loads, jobs, extra-curriculars, social obligations, and family responsibilities. Instead of turning to an addiction, find healthy ways to relieve stress.

→ One of the main ways you can cope with addiction is to learn how to relax. You must make this a habit and daily routine. If you don’t learn how to relax, all of the pressures of quitting your addiction and college will cause tension and stress, and you may relapse to try and relieve the stress.

→ The stress relief technique that helps another person may not help you. You have to discover a healthier way to reduce your stress than your addiction. This may include listening to soothing music, exercising, spending time with friends, yoga, or watching television.

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→ Try breathing exercises. Deep breathing is an easy, effective relaxation technique. You can practice deep breathing anywhere, even in a crowd full of people or in the middle of class. You should work on breathing from your abdomen instead of your chest. Place a hand on your belly as you breathe in. If you are breathing properly, your hand will move as your belly expands outwards.

→ Start by sitting straight in a comfortable position. Place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. Take a deep inhale through your nose, which should cause the hand on your belly to move outward. Exhale through your mouth. Try to exhale as much air as possible while your belly goes back flat.

→ Once you get the hang of this, inhale to a count of four, hold for a count of four, then exhale for a count of four.

→ When you learn to belly breathe, you don’t have to place your hand on your stomach and can do these breathing exercises anywhere.

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→ Consider meditation. Meditation is a great way to relieve stress. Meditation is easy and can be done in a few minutes each day. To try mindful meditation, sit or lay in a quiet room with no distractions. Turn on soothing music or keep it quiet. Focus on the now, on the sounds around you, the feeling of your body, and your breath as you inhale and exhale. Don’t think about the past or the future. Just stay present in the moment.

→ You can sit or lay in a quiet room and repeat a word or mantra to yourself. Think of a word, phrase, or saying that can help you keep focused on your recovery or stay positive. Repeat this mantra over and over to yourself.

→ As you practice mindfulness, let yourself feel any emotions. Your recovery may cause you to feel a lot of emotions. As you sit or lay in the quiet room, let those emotions pass through your without judgment. Just name them as they float through your brain and then out again.

→ You can find guided meditation audio and video files online to help you with meditation if you are unsure how to do it.

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→ Exercise. Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress and fight against any depression or anxiety that accompanies your addiction and recovery. Exercises increases the endorphins in your brain, which makes you feel better. It also helps you feel better about yourself and increases your self-esteem. Exercise also promotes a healthier lifestyle by keeping you active and helping you maintain a healthy weight.

→ Try walking, jogging, sports, cycling, dance, yoga, kickboxing, or strength training. Go for a hike or kayaking. Join a gym or take a class offered by your college’s athletic department. Join a group activity, like kickball or recreational softball.

→ See if your friends want to get together and exercise. Exercise can be more fun and challenging if you do it in a group.

→ Use your exercise time as a time to be alone and regroup. Put on your favorite music or an audiobook as you go for a jog, lift weights, or use the elliptical.

Method 4 - Changing Your Lifestyle

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→ Decide to change. One of the hardest things to do when coping with addiction is to actually make the decision to stop your addiction and change your life. In college, this can be difficult. You are away from your parents, living on your own for maybe the first time, and surrounded by temptation and stress. Even so, you can make the decision to stand strong and change your life.

→ As you cope with your addiction, you will probably have to change a lot of things. You may have to change who you hang out with, what you do on the weekends, and how you deal with the stress of college.

→ You may decide to refocus your priorities. For example, you may decide to put school first, and then do something you’ve never done before, like learning a new skill, sport, or hobby.

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→ Reduce your load. College should be challenging, but there may come a time when you have put too much on your plate. Maybe you have taken too many classes, or you have one too many jobs or internships. Because of this course load, you may have turned to drugs to help keep you awake, or you drink because you can’t handle the stress. Reduce the amount of stuff on your plate to help take some of the pressure off of yourself.

→ College is the time to challenge yourself, but you don’t have to do it all. If the pressure and inability to meet your obligations has led you to an unhealthy addiction, you should take a step back and focus on getting yourself back on the right track.

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→ Discover new activities. One way to help you fight addiction and cravings is to find new ways to occupy yourself. In college, there are many different opportunities for you to try new things. You can get involved in campus clubs, join an intramural sport, or take a class in something you know nothing about.

→ Trying new things is a good way to meet new people who are not connected to your addiction. You also can start spending your time doing things that have nothing to do with your previous addiction as you move forward with your life.

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→ Set goals. One way to help yourself on your road to recovery is to look towards the future. Set goals for things you want to do. Take this time to focus on yourself and bettering yourself instead of going back to your addiction. Your goals don’t have to be large or life-altering. They just need to be something you can achieve to make yourself feel better.

→ For example, you may set a goal to make a higher grade on your next exam, try one new activity each month, make one healthy diet change each week, or exercise one additional day each week.