Stress and Recovery

Part of Hazelden Classics for Continuing Care Series
Author: Patricia Hoolihan

For good and bad, lifestyle changes often involve stressful events.  This is especially true for those making the courageous but tenuous transition from addiction to recovery.  Learning new behaviors, such as expressing anger or asking for help, is a common and stressful experience for everyone in recovery.  Indeed, stressful events can be a wonderful motivator for positive change, or unchecked, they may lead to a high-stress lifestyle.  This pamphlet presents stories of people in recovery and how they found balance in their lives while dealing with stress factors that are common in recovery.

Excerpt from the Introduction:
“There is no such thing as a stress-free life, so before we throw up our hands in surrender, let’s remind ourselves that stress performs an important function in our life….As recovering people, we are constantly dealing with changes in our lives. There seems to be a cyclical relationship between damage and stress.”