Author: James Anderson

Understanding Nifaliophobia: The Fear of Being Sober

The most effective addiction treatment requires compassion, warmth and empathy. And this is the approach that your rehab team will take. Drug addiction specialists will always try to instill your recovery process with optimism and hope. They will help you to build self-confidence and allow you to realize the power you have to maintain sobriety.

Sobriety means having to face uncomfortable truths about ourselves and others and having to stand up and be who we are. We may have to face all kinds of adversities and personal challenges while we come clean. Finding happiness in sobriety is a process that takes time but is totally achievable with the right daily supports, priorities, and commitments. While you’re in active addiction, the life you imagine without drugs seems awful. Sobriety seems like a lot of hard work, boring, and downright miserable—not to mention impossible.

If all of your friends abuse alcohol and/or your spouse abuses alcohol, it makes a lot of sense to fear what will happen next. What you’re really afraid of is the unknown and that you may be unable to handle it. Depending on how deeply ingrained alcohol is in your life, you may be staring down an entire life makeover.

Recovery Support

After all, it’s been a long time since you were sober, and maybe your last experiences of sobriety were traumatic. That’s why you started using in the first place. The truth is, you have been using drugs or alcohol to cope with your feelings and maybe even symptoms of mental illness. If you give substance abuse up, you’ll have to face those emotions and find a new way to cope. If you have been abusing substances to tamp down feelings, you are in for a boatload of overwhelming emotions as you come clean. Get over your fear of being sober by facing it head on.

There’s always the fear of a ride malfunction on a roller coaster. Your brain knows this, and, as a result, it becomes afraid. You may again seek out the people and situations that support your alcohol use. Some people who move from a controlled and protective setting find themselves awash in the environmental cues that lead to their drinking. Getting sober may seem difficult, but there are strategies you can use to get and maintain sobriety. Some are structured in programs, such as the 12-step approach used by Alcoholics Anonymous and similar addiction recovery programs.

Sobriety Fear #9: You won’t be able to handle your feelings without alcohol.

However, addiction treatment involves support in this respect. During rehab, you can take up fitness classes, as well as engage in meditation, yoga, cooking, nutrition classes and art. By exploring healthy living during rehab, you will find it much easier to carry on with these positive habits in your regular life.

1. A life of drugs and alcohol feels normal because that’s what you’ve focused on for so long.
2. The idea that you don’t get to chemically check out of reality now and then is horrifying, especially when you think that reality is pretty terrible.
3. Maybe you’re ready—you’re practically desperate—to get sober and to change your life.
4. Of course, on the surface, asking if there is such a thing as a fear of being sober might seem like a rhetorical question.
5. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

Sobriety can also bring more responsibility. Addicts will have to face their relationships with people again, with their families, friends, and co-workers. They may have wronged some of these people, or they might be embarrassed about how they once acted. They’ll have to feel emotions again without numbing them with drink or drug and maneuver their way through tricky family and relationship dynamics. Addiction can be a way to avoid the things we don’t want to deal with.

Another common fear in recovery is rejection from friends and family. You may think that your loved ones will think less of you or not want to be around you. The truth is they probably already know you have a problem. And if they care about you, they will support your choice to get help.

Fear of Failing at Sobriety

Many people drink and do drugs precisely because they don’t like who they are and want to dull the sensation of their shame, self-loathing—even self-hatred. The prospect of being without the one thing that relieves their sense of low self-esteem and lack of self-love can be very scary. When you are facing these challenges and downright fear of recovery, just focus on what is happening right now. You’re post-detox and ready to take that first step into recovery. Just focus on talking to your therapist, working through today’s challenges and making it another 24 hours without using.

Make a commitment to go to rehab and to get sober and impress upon your loved ones that you will need their love and support. The ones that might are your drinking and drug buddies. Their own addictions may prevent them from being excited about your change of lifestyle. Those aren’t the friends you need to be spending time with right now.

Reality Check

It’s a convenient cop-out we’re all guilty of using. Those who are overly pessimistic and say, “I’m going to be miserable forever,” will inevitably fail. Being at a party or trying to find the perfect romantic partner without alcohol is the stuff of nightmares for many people.