When Veterans return home from serving their country, it can be difficult to transition back to civilian life. Unfortunately, this transition can lead to a variety of mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
As a result, Veterans are often more susceptible to substance abuse and addiction. Therefore, it is important to understand why Veterans are more prone to addiction and learn more about ways to treat the problem. Indeed, the path to recovery may sometimes be long and difficult. However, with the right support, Veterans can overcome their addiction and live a healthy, fulfilling life.
Causes of Addiction in Veterans
- Causes of Addiction in Veterans
- Mental Health Issues in Veterans
- Challenges Veterans Face Who Have an Addiction
- The Impact of Addiction on Veterans
- How to Support Veterans in Recovery
- Conclusion
- What Are the Advantages of Staying in a Sober Living House?
- Safety Issues: How Can I Tell if the House is a Safe, Healthy Environment?
- Relapse Happens, Even in the Best Communities
- Clean and Sober Living Means Walking Through Pain
The causes of addiction vary from person to person. In many people, various factors can increase a person’s risk of developing an addiction, including genetics, environment, mental health, and personality traits.
Many Veterans experience mental health issues and stressors related to their service, such as PTSD and anxiety. These can increase the risk of substance abuse, as they trigger people to self-medicate to deal with the disorders.
This type of extreme stress can also lead to poor decision-making skills, making Veterans more likely to engage in risky behaviors that could lead to an addiction over time. The transition from leaving the military to civilian life can be intense, as the two experiences are far different.
What the Research Reveals
While the emphasis in the military is in working as a team, civilian life offers more in the way of autonomy. Also, the inherent dangers of serving in a combat zone or experiencing a tragedy represent a major contrast to normal everyday living.
Research shows that Veterans who serve as commissioned officers who graduate from college have an easier time readjusting to post-military life than soldiers who enlist and graduate from high school.
If a Veteran had a clear understanding of their mission during their service, they also experienced fewer problems with getting used to civilian life than the men and women who did not fully understand their assignment.
Statistically, one study showed that about 21% of Veterans found transitioning to be somewhat difficult while 6% had real difficulties getting used to mainstream life once again.
Veterans who experienced an emotionally traumatic event when they were serving in the military, or suffered a severe injury, were also more likely to report re-entry problems.
Veterans who served after the 9/11 attack also stated they had more difficulties with returning home than soldiers who served during the era of the Second World War, Korean War, or who lived through the Vietnam conflict. This is especially true of post 9/11 Veterans who are married.
Moreover, Veterans with a higher level of religious belief had an easier time coping with returning to their former way of life.
Mental Health Issues in Veterans
As discussed above, many Veterans experience trauma and mental health issues as a result of their service enlistment. One of the major issues that develops is post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD.
PTSD in Veterans
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder that evolves following a traumatic or dangerous event. It often results in flashbacks, nightmares, and feelings of anxiety or fear that is triggered. PTSD can be caused by a variety of traumatic events, including combat, sexual assault, or childhood abuse.
Challenges Veterans Face Who Have an Addiction
Veterans often feel a great deal of shame and guilt when they become addicted. They may feel they’ve let their country down. This shame often prevents them from seeking treatment and can worsen the impact of the disease on them physically and emotionally.
Veterans may also have difficulty getting treatment due to various factors, including financial limitations, time constraints, and facility access. These challenges make it even more vital to offer services that will help Veterans with addiction problems recover and avoid a relapse.
The Impact of Addiction on Veterans
The impact of addiction on Veterans varies from person to person, but it can lead to anything from emotional distress to death. Addiction can be dangerous and even life-threatening due to its potential for overdose or the risk for transmission of a blood-borne disease (e.g., HIV and hepatitis B).
Addiction can also lead to financial issues and legal troubles, such as arrest and incarceration.
In addition, the illness may have a negative impact on relationships, often leading to divorce or a lack of family support.
Treatment Options for Veterans
Fortunately, there are various treatment options available for Veterans who are struggling with addiction. These include both inpatient and outpatient programs2 as well as behavioral support such as self-help groups, group therapy, and one-on-one counseling.
Many patients benefit from programs that offer a combination of medication and psychological intervention such as cognitive behavioral therapy.
Getting Help for an Addiction Problem
Veterans may be eligible for various government-sponsored programs and services, such as VA sponsored initiatives. For instance, the VA offers medication options for substance use disorders (SUDs) in the form of the following:1
- Safe medical detoxification to stabilize SUD.
- Drug substitution treatments as well as the administration of medications to reduce drug cravings, such as buprenorphine or methadone (to treat opiate use disorder or OUD)
- Nicotine replacement therapy for stopping smoking
Counseling may take the form of short-term or intensive outpatient therapies, or family and marriage counseling. Veterans with addictions may also opt for residential care or take part in a continuing care program to prevent a relapse.
Special programs are also featured for Veterans, including returning combat Veterans or women who have served in the military.
Addiction-related treatment is provided, as well, for depression and PTSD.
Veterans who receive these services can apply for VA health care online. Intensive outpatient options that are private and personalized are also available for Veterans with SUDs.
How to Support Veterans in Recovery
Available programs can provide Veterans with information about addiction as well as treatment options. If you’re someone who is helping a Veteran with an addiction problem, you can also benefit from the above resources.
The idea is to create an open and non-judgmental; space for Veterans to discuss their addiction while reporting the support they need to navigate a path toward recovery.
We can help Veterans feel less isolated by encouraging them to join a support group or seek out one-on-one therapy.
In addition, it can be helpful to know what words and phrases Veterans might use to describe their feelings, such as “I just need a break” or “I need time to calm down.”
Veterans often possess specialized skills and knowledge from their time in the military, so it can be helpful to get them involved in certain activities – activities that tap into these skills and help them redirect their focus.
Conclusion
Veterans are particularly vulnerable to addiction, as they often face mental health issues upon re-entry. The impact of addiction on Veterans can be both emotional and physical, so it is important to learn the underlying reason for the disease.
This not only allows Veterans to regroup and become stronger, it also lessens the negative impact of experiencing the stresses and traumas associated with military service or combat.
What Are the Advantages of Staying in a Sober Living House?
Chances are that when you were using, you hung out with other people who were doing the same thing. The main thing you had in common with these people was an interest in using your drug of choice. Now that you’re on a different path, you need to connect with others who are on the same path as you in order to avoid becoming so lonely and bored that you go back to your old circle of “friends.”
Another reason to live in community with others who are on the same path is accountability. Your new friends and the house itself will hold you accountable to go forward in recovery by working a 12 step program. A good sober living home has rules, including:
- Not using alcohol or other drugs (and many require regular drug/alcohol screening)
- Working the 12 steps with a sponsor
- Going to a set number of 12 step meetings every week
- Seeking employment if you are able to work
- Respecting the persons and property of other residents
- Attending weekly house meetings
- Doing an assigned household chore
Safety Issues: How Can I Tell if the House is a Safe, Healthy Environment?
You shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that just because a house claims to be for people who are living sober that this is the case. Good sober living houses care just as much about helping people to recover from addiction as they do about making a profit. Some sober livings have another agenda. Signs that a house may not be the safest place to recover include:
- House managers who are disrespectful of residents
- No rules at all
- No regular house meetings
- Residents who are not maintaining sobriety
- Lack of any sense of community
- Residents who do not practice personal hygiene
- The house itself is not safe and sanitary
- Very high turnover of residents
- They ask you to attend their church instead of 12 step meetings
A good sober living home should be safe, stable, well kept and run by managers who care about residents and treat them with respect and dignity.
Relapse Happens, Even in the Best Communities
Even in the healthiest houses, some people will relapse. If you’re close to the recovering addict who has a slip this can be painful. You can view it as an opportunity to experience the anguish you put others through when you were using. A good way to be helpful to the person who has a slip is to try to show compassion while maintaining a healthy distance from the behavior. You can let your friend know that you are sad and worried and that you will be there if he or she chooses to get help.
Clean and Sober Living Means Walking Through Pain
Even in the best of situations, living sober means to experience your feelings instead of using a substance to shut them down. This is how people grow spiritually, and it frequently involves experiencing emotional pain. In his book, New Seeds of Contemplation, Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton wrote that we experience living in a community as the healing of “a body of broken bones.” This metaphor Merton coined is spot-on for the sober living experience.
Living with others is never easy. You are bound to disagree or even dislike some of the residents in a sober living home. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice the 12 step program and grow spiritually if you allow yourself to experience these feelings of discomfort without using. You could talk to your sponsor about how to cope with somebody you cannot get along with at the house. Your sponsor is sure to give you advice that is rich in the opportunity to grow in your recovery, to show tolerance, and to help those around you.
