In recovery, people often learn the specific behaviors that allowed their addiction to continue and then learn how to overcome them. One of these behaviors is a victim mentality, as many individuals struggling with addiction often place themselves in the victim role and blame others for their misfortunes. Learning more about this mentality and its role in addiction will help you heal from it and boost your recovery over time.
What is a Victim Mentality?
To have a victim mentality is to blame your misfortunes on others rather than yourself when there is no evidence that they had anything to do with bad luck. Those with a victim mentality may also point blame on circumstances, always stating that everything is unfair. A person with a victim mentality will never take responsibility for the bad luck in their life and will consistently blame it on external factors.
Victim Mentality and Addiction
In active addiction, individuals often take on behaviors that justify their drug or alcohol use to continue. They don’t want to admit that they are in the wrong or that addiction is causing problems in their life, so they shift blame to other external circumstances. Another aspect of addiction is low self-esteem, which causes the person to search for ways to explain their behavior even if they know it is wrong or hindering their life. By coming up with justifications, they can continue their addiction and stop others from asking too many questions. It also allows them to live in the mindset that they don’t deserve better than drug or alcohol abuse. Over time, the victim mentality is adopted so the person can continue using without admitting that they are destroying their life by doing so.
Breaking Away from Victim Mentality
In recovery, you must learn how to overcome a victim mentality to fully heal and live a happy, sober life. To do so, you should work in therapy to acknowledge your past mistakes and move on from them. You will have to take responsibility for your past actions and make amends with those you hurt, gaining their trust and forgiveness over time. Your self-esteem will also need to improve, so you know your worth and understand you are better than life addiction has to offer you.
Victim mentality plays a crucial role in active addiction because it allows the person to continue using without admitting that they are responsible for upending their lives. When the consequences of addiction hit, the person shifts blame to others or external circumstances to not take responsibility. This often stems from low self-esteem, as many individuals struggling with addiction believe they are undeserving of a life without drugs or alcohol. At Alta Loma Transformational Services, we have seen many young men come in with a victim mentality that hindered their recovery. However, over time, we helped them overcome this and break free of the constraints that a victim mentality often holds. We believe the key to successful, long-term recovery is owning up to your mistakes and past experiences and moving on from them. For more information regarding a victim mentality and how to break free from it, call us today at (866) 457-3843.
