4 Ways to Boost Your Confidence

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Let’s face facts: We can all use a confidence booster now and again – and it’s even more important to monitor your self-esteem during recovery. This is because when you’re feeling low or down on yourself, you’re more likely to relapse or struggle with co-occurring issues like depression and anxiety. To the rescue: Some simple and study-proven strategies to build yourself back up again and take control of your sobriety.

Practice self-care. Skipping a shower and dressing in day-old sweatpants is a surefire way to feed into low self-esteem. Instead, take extra time to get ready for the day ahead. Feeling proud of the person looking back at you in the mirror can really go a long way in boosting your confidence.

Write down your accomplishments. Taking the time to recognize and celebrate even the smallest successes can help you counterbalance any negative self-talk. It will also help motivate you to meet any future goals or upcoming challenges in your addiction recovery.

Offer a helping hand. Switching the focus from you to someone else can serve double-duty: It will distract you from any negative thoughts you’re experiencing and make you feel proud of a good deed done.

Pay attention to your posture. Mom was right: Sitting up straight and walking with your head tall (aka good posture) can really do wonders for your confidence. It will also give others a better perception of you, which never hurts! 

Become a Stronger Man at 10 Acre Ranch
At 10 Acre Ranch, we specialize in helping men who are battling an addiction to drugs or alcohol by using a variety of treatment services, including group therapy, individual therapy, disease education and more. By learning new life skills and healthy coping mechanisms, you can feel more confident about yourself and your sobriety. To learn more, call us today: 877-228-4679.

The Symptoms of Depression in Men

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While depression has been found to be more common among women – likely due to certain biological, hormonal and social factors unique to females – men can certainly be depressed, too. In fact, roughly 20 to 25 percent of men dealing with depression will suffer from a drinking problem – and that number triples if you’re dealing with bipolar disorder.

The symptoms of depression are tricky for men, however. “They tend to show symptoms that aren’t typically what you would associate with depression,” John Greden, MD, executive director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center, told MensHealth.com. And, if left untreated, these symptoms can impact your career, relationships, finances and more.

You may need to seek professional help for depression if …

  • Your sadness becomes more severe and is accompanied by such symptoms as irritability, fatigue and loss of appetite.
  • Your negative mood lasts for weeks (or even months) and begins to interfere with day-to-day living.
  • You’re angry all of the time and for no reason – and your outburst are sparked by no other reason than the fact that you’re mad.
  • You find yourself becoming more reckless and making bad judgment calls, including abusing drugs or alcohol.
  • You feel physical pain, including joint pain, back pain or headaches. This is because neurotransmitters that affect your mood, like serotonin and norepinephrine, also play a part in pain regulation.
  • You are exhausted but have trouble sleep. According to a review published in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, three quarters of depressed patients have symptoms of insomnia.

Get Depression Treatment at 10 Acre Ranch
There’s no shame in seeking help for depression – and we’re here to help. Serving men 18 and over, our affordable depression treatment program will help you or someone you love get out of the darkness and into a full, bright life. To learn more, call today: 877-228-4679.

Study: Health Benefits of Bromances

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Male friendships, often mocked as “bromances” in movies, may have similar health effects as romantic relationships, especially when it comes to stress management, according to a new rat study.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, confirmed what past human studies have found: Social interactions increase the level of the hormone oxytocin in the brain, and oxytocin helps people bond and socialize. It also increases their resilience in the face of stress and has been found to lead to longer, healthier lives.

“A bromance can be a good thing,” said lead author Elizabeth Kirby, who started work on the study while a doctoral student at UC Berkeley and continued it after assuming a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford. “Males are getting a bad rap when you look at animal models of social interactions, because they are assumed to be instinctively aggressive. But even rats can have a good cuddle — essentially a male-male bromance — to help recover from a bad day.”

“Having friends is not un-masculine,” she added. “These rats are using their rat friendships to recover from what would otherwise be a negative experience. If rats can do it, men can do it too. And they definitely are, they just don’t get as much credit in the research for that.”

The research also provides insight for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), said senior author Daniela Kaufer, a UC Berkeley associate professor of integrative biology and member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.

“Social interactions can buffer you against stress, but if a trauma is just too much and there is PTSD, you actually withdraw from social interactions that can be supportive for you,” Kaufer said. “This research suggests that this might be happening through changes in oxytocin; that in the context of life-threatening stress, you lose its effect and you see less prosocial behavior. This really aligns well with what you see with pathological effects of stress on humans.”

Making Lifelong Friends at 10 Acre Ranch
Our Southern California rehab for men is built around a social treatment model that helps residents deal with addiction and/or co-occurring disorders like PTSD and develop healthy interaction patterns. To learn more, call today: 877-228-4679.

The Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

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Based upon the idea that behaviors can be learned and unlearned, cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a form of psychotherapy used to change addictive patterns of thinking. While it’s most widely known for its use in the treatment of cocaine abuse, it has also been used to treat alcohol abuse and other forms of drug addiction, especially as part of an overall recovery program, according to The National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Indeed, cognitive behavioral therapy has many benefits when it’s incorporated into addiction treatment. The CBT groups at 10 Acre Ranch help clients get “unstuck” from unhealthy patterns by using healthy strategies. You’ll learn how to:

  • Explore the positive and negative consequences of continued drug use
  • Identify situations that might put you at risk for use
  • Improve your self-image
  • Develop more positive thought patterns
  • Resist peer pressure
  • Gain a support network

3 Types of CBT Practices
There are many tools and techniques used in CBT, many of which can be used in everyday life after rehab. These include:

  • Journaling: This technique is used to identify thought patterns and emotional tendencies, describe them, and find out how to change, adapt, or cope with them.
  • Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR): This technique instructs you to relax one muscle group at a time until your whole body is in a state of relaxation.
  • Relaxed breathing: This technique teaches you how to bring regularity to your breath, whether through guided and unguided imagery, audio recordings, videos, or scripts.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at 10 Acre Ranch
CBT is a very popular treatment approach for both substance use disorder and mental illness. Let us help you or someone you love change those negative and unproductive thoughts and behaviors that can lead to addictive tendencies. To learn more about CBT at 10 Acre Ranch, call today: 877-228-4679.