According to SMART Recovery, faulty thinking often leads to addictive behavior by negatively affecting your mood, well-being, and enjoyment. To live fuller lives, we must examine our thinking and question our assumptions to avoid faulty thinking. Toxic positivity represents one form of faulty thinking. For people with substance use disorders, toxic positivity’s simplistic approach may prove dangerous to a person’s recovery. Addiction treatment and recovery can be less difficult when people look at their entire emotional spectrum and accept the less positive parts.
What Is Toxic Positivity?
According to a 2018 study about college students, positive thinking was shown to reduce the risk of suicidal ideation and improve self-esteem. That research also revealed the limits of positive thinking, though. Elements like social support and self-efficacy played a greater role in the healing process. Both of these other techniques cultivate a person's ability to cope. Hence, positive thinking fails as an end-all solution to every problem in life. Failure to acknowledge the limitations of positive thinking leads to what is known as “toxic positivity.”
Excessive dependence on positive thinking creates toxic positivity. Toxic positivity avoids the expression of negative emotions, regardless of one’s circumstances. It can lead to people ignoring limitations and danger in return for false optimism and hope.
How Does Toxic Positivity Affect Recovery?
The constant high levels of pressure, competition, and dishonesty associated with toxic positivity can prove detrimental to recovery. In time, this destructive attitude can impede one’s self-esteem and self-growth. Avoiding painful emotions often results in not accepting the feelings as valid. Toxic positivity seeks to numb the emotional pain and consequences that come with living with a substance use disorder.
Destructive attitudes or behaviors often show a need for healing. The following list includes examples of the dangers of toxic positivity and the detriment they have to recovery:
Toxic positivity makes you blind to real harm. A positive bias might cause people experiencing harmful situations to underestimate its severity and remain in abusive situations. These people choose to hold on to false optimism, hope, and forgiveness as the mistreatment continues to escalate.
Toxic positivity can make you feel isolated. Pressure to smile in the face of adversity can lead to mental health issues, deterring people from seeking support. Some feel shame over their emotions if they fall short of being happy. This self-stigmatization hinders their healing.
Toxic positivity can negatively affect relationships: Toxic positivity is an attitude that encourages people to ignore problems and focus on the good in their relationships. This can lead to poor communication and a lack of conflict resolution.
Toxic positivity hinders healing. Toxic positivity may lead to you behaving in an uncharacteristically rational and unfeeling way, which can be harmful to your healing. Unpacking and addressing emotions helps the healing process.
Methods to Combat Toxic Positivity
A beneficial skill for recovery is the consistent reinforcement that, despite being imperfect, we are still good. Why? Being authentic with “who you are” reduces toxic positivity while supporting acceptance of one’s self and emotions. Ultimately, a person must learn to be in more positive places to avoid the toxic positivity habit. Here are some ways to combat toxic positivity:
Daily exercise and healthy habits: A combination of regular physical activity, proper nutrition, and sleep is integral to avoiding toxic positivity. Individuals who exercise regularly can feel a wide range of positive emotions. These emotions include happiness, joy, and calmness. Regular exercise also produces a profound calming effect on a person's psyche, reducing overall stress.
Communication: When a person is feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or angry, it helps to share your thoughts. Begin by saying, “I’m feeling this way. Can you help me?” Learning to communicate with an open mind can help you shift perspective and get the help that you desire.
Reframing thoughts: To achieve a more authentic outlook, begin with reframing your thoughts and words. To do so, attempt to acknowledge and express your emotions. Next, look for an alternative way of viewing your emerging thought pattern. To help, consider implementing strategies, such as self-reflective journaling in the morning or at night.
Adopt a growth mindset: When your mindset is ready to accept constructive feedback, you’re far more likely to open yourself up to new possibilities for recovery and healing. Constructive feedback helps us to see areas in our lives in need of growth.
Give yourself permission: Often, people who are trying to learn to live a healthier, more positive life adopt the “fake it till you make it” ethos. However, this attitude does not foster genuine acceptance of the difficulties we face in life. Rather, it perpetuates the idea that the only path to successful living equals pretending that one lacks any struggles on this path of growth and healing. If we continue down this path, we can become our own biggest impediment to recovery. Instead, give yourself permission to make mistakes and the time for improving one's life.
Overall, make time for compassion and empathy for yourself. This mindset can help you as you navigate the path of recovery.
Toxic positivity can lead to a falsely reassuring mindset that leads to feelings of inadequacy. As a result, you may fail to develop healthy coping skills. There are some common traits of toxic positivity, and most of the symptoms are rooted in distorted thinking. Those who have fallen into toxic positivity can become trapped in a cycle of avoidance and diminishment. In actuality, toxic positive is a distorted version of negative thinking. As such, it holds us back from experiencing the full joy of recovery. At Monte Cristo Recovery, we know the journey of recovery doesn’t promise an endless happy-go-lucky experience. Instead, recovery teaches how to thrive and appreciate the valleys, mountains, and plains of this journey. If you are recovering from an SUD, look for honest, realistic alternatives to toxic positivity. These alternatives provide authentic honesty that makes recovery possible. If you need help with toxic positivity, Monte Cristo Recovery can help. Call us today at (714) 824-9896.