Lauren McQuistin, a popular recovery author and Substack writer, often describes substance use disorder (SUD) as having no obvious opposites. Instead, it’s a disorder characterized by shifting seasons, meanings, and attitudes that we have to make sense of as they happen.
Throughout your recovery, you may experience what feels like the ‘opposite’ of substance dependency: relief, control, solid health—but also something in between all of those things, where patterns pop up after long stints of substance-free success.
At Miramont Behavioral Health Hospital in Wisconsin, we don’t really do stark opposites. Our approach to inpatient treatment is a bit more human-centered, so being substance-free every second is less important than learning how to care for yourself in ways that actually hold when things get hectic once you leave our facility.
We call that type of care self-care, and you can learn it through therapy, in support groups, through outpatient treatment, by building community, and even through daily routines. We believe in self-care because, if and when you experience a relapse, we think it lends itself to better coping skills—ones that help you process and overcome setbacks without losing all your progress.
Self-Care: The Closest Opposite of Substance Use Disorder
To understand the impact of self-care in recovery, we need to understand how SUD works, both medically and on a personal level.
In a clinical setting, it’s described as a long-term pattern that erodes your ability to experience reward, regulate stress, and practice self-control.
SUD as a Clinical Condition
Through a scientific lens, SUD looks like a chronic, relapsing pattern that involves seeking out and using substances compulsively, despite the consequences. It often relates to changes in brain circuits involved in reward and decision-making, which may help explain why stopping can feel impossible in a split second, even when you’re highly motivated most of the time.
In practice, this version of SUD erodes self-care by narrowing your brain’s focus to short-term relief rather than longer-term well-being.
At the same time, SUD isn’t just a medical condition; it’s a reality for many—one that robs you of the chance to care for yourself.
SUD as Real Life Experience
In real life, you may have started using substances to reduce stress, fight depression, cope with painful traumas, or lower anxiety. But then, it gradually shifts into using to feel normal rather than to feel good.
Over time, you may lose interest in other routines or hobbies that felt meaningful and affirming. In that sense, SUD can quietly replace self-care habits with survival-based routines that center the substance instead of you as an individual.
Both perspectives leave room for disagreement, especially when people try to define recovery—and its opposite—in absolute terms. Each view also points to something shared: the need for approaches that rebuild daily self-care in ways that actually fit real life while being grounded in science.
What Is Self-Care?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), self-care is the practice of taking time to improve your mental and physical health.
Here are a few examples:
- Regularly exercising
- Noting what you’re grateful for on a regular basis
- Setting time for relaxation
- Eating and drinking enough water throughout each day
- Creating goals and working toward them
NIMH research on SUD recovery suggests self-care is key in the recovery process. It’s actually involved in every stage: detoxing, early recovery, and beyond — all because it’s multi-layered and encompasses physical routines, emotional regulation, and connection with others.
How Miramont Can Help You Learn Self-Care in Waukesha
We bake self-care strategies into all of our programs, and you can stick with the ones that work best for you:
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- Behavioral Therapies. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) both help you notice thought patterns, beliefs, and unregulated emotions that push you into old coping loops and provide tools to overcome them. Over time, that process may support more flexible responses to stress and stronger follow-through on healthier routines.
- Structured Support. Recovery frameworks often emphasize that support systems can help people stay engaged with care and reduce isolation during difficult periods. This may include group therapy or other community programs that keep you connected when motivation dips or stress rises, helping close self-care gaps you may not be able to fill all the time on your own.
- Treatment for Dual Diagnoses. Many people in recovery also struggle with other mental health conditions—often referred to as comorbidity. For example, you may struggle with alcohol, bipolar disorder, and suicidal thoughts all at the same time. When you treat each of your co-occurring conditions simultaneously, rather than one at a time, you can create lasting self-care habits sooner.
Learn Self-Care in Recovery With Miramont Behavioral Hospital
McQuistin’s writing returns to the idea that SUD doesn’t sit neatly opposite anything, including recovery itself. That framing makes space for something more practical: you don’t need to replace SUD with a perfect opposite; you can slowly build a way of living that includes care, support, and repair, even when you’re not at your best.
For additional resources on recovery tools, support options, and self-care habits, check our health library.
