San Diego Sober Living - Recovery

Understanding Anger in Recovering Alcoholics

Like many other substance abuse disorders, alcoholism presents strong emotional and behavioral aspects intertwined with neurochemical anomalies. For many alcoholics, the moment of clarity happens when they realize they hate the way they feel and act when they’re under the influence or going through withdrawals. This is when they say to themselves, “I detest who I am at this point in my life. Why am I angry all the time?” This kind of realization assumes anger will dissipate through recovery. It’s a safe assumption, but only to a certain extent. Anger lingers for many people in recovery, and sometimes it can worsen. Let’s review why this happens and how it can be handled.

Anger Is Expected in Recovery

When it comes to understanding alcohol use disorder (AUD), it always helps to check the Alcoholics Anonymous literature, which includes guidance about the importance of anger management during recovery. In 2015, researchers from Mass General Brigham in Boston evaluated 1,076 adults going through AUD recovery and measured their levels of anger and intensely negative affect. The findings suggest AUD patients are 98 percent angrier than the median population. During the 15-month research period, 82 percent of the patients who lapsed and relapsed dealt with intense feelings of anger. Just like lapses happen to nearly 80 percent of AUD patients, anger is also ever-present in recovery.

Recovery Sometimes Stokes the Flames of Anger

The angriest AUD patients, at least during the beginning of recovery, are those who arrived through interventions, followed by those who need to go through clinical detoxification. Withdrawing from liquor can be highly unpleasant. Going through detox can cause fatigue, insomnia, and headaches, and these discomforts often lower emotional tolerance, thus triggering outbursts. If drinking was your coping mechanism before it got out of hand, your feelings of anger, frustration, and shame may hit you even harder because the neurochemical numbing effect of ethanol molecules is gone.

Self-Loathing Is a Main Cause of Anger in Recovery

At AA meetings, many people come to terms with shameful pasts as they ponder uncertain futures. The feelings of shame and regret expressed in AA rooms are the building blocks of self-loathing, which is anger directed inward. 

Then you have people who go through recovery with unrealistic expectations about how quickly they’ll get better. These AUD patients are at greater risk for lapsing and relapsing when their expectations aren’t met. An intense fear of relapse and slipping back into old habits and behaviors can exacerbate self-loathing, invariably triggering anger.

Anger Management Helps with Recovery

Seasoned AA sponsors can tell you the journey to recovery can be described as a long exercise in learning to love yourself by not being angry at yourself. This assertion acknowledges the pesky self-loathing many alcoholics deal with. Effective anger management and self-control can be achieved through group therapy, talk therapy, or even classical conditioning for some AUD patients. Others may need strategies such as staying in a Solana Beach sober living home when there are fears and frustrations related to life changes and uncertainty. Prescription antidepressants work for some patients, and the same can be said about those who practice mindful meditation on their own or with guides.

If you’re newly sober and you need help dealing with the difficult emotions that come with sobriety, call on the compassionate team at Casa Pacifica. Along with providing Solana Beach sober living housing for men, we work with our individual residents to develop customized plans that integrate treatment, aftercare, and recovery support. Our services include sober companionship, coaching, and mentorship for those who are recovering from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. For more information about our sober living facilities, call us today.