Self-Compassion is Essential for Pregnant Women to Heal From Addiction

Developing Self-Compassion

Building awareness is important for pregnant women to make changes and learn new skills. One of these skills is self-compassion. Self-compassion is the ability of a person to forgive themselves. This includes being compassionate to themselves regarding perceived failures, suffering, and challenges that they have had. For pregnant women, this often includes being kind to themselves regarding their challenges with addiction before and during pregnancy. 

Self-compassion is a pattern of how a person interacts with themselves. Therefore, it is highly internal. When a pregnant woman is developing self-compassion, they are learning a new internal process. This process involves many steps that they repeat continuously: awareness, understanding, and kindness. 

The concept of self-compassion is not complex. However, the process of developing self-compassion is not easy. For pregnant women to develop self-compassion, they must first see where they lack self-compassion. This may include thoughts and feelings such as shame or guilt. Then, with awareness and guidance from a treatment center, pregnant women begin to learn how they can be kind to themselves. 

Self-Compassion Helps Pregnant Women Heal

Shame and embarrassment foster negative thoughts and feelings about the self. They are patterns of self-blame and anger directed at the self. For pregnant women struggling with addiction, these patterns are common. However, self-blame and anger do not help pregnant women change and heal. Instead, it often keeps them in a cycle of negative emotions and substance abuse. When a pregnant woman feels these negative emotions, she is less likely to admit to her challenges, face them, and truly make changes in her life. 

Fortunately, self-compassion can help pregnant women heal from addiction. Self-compassion provides pregnant women with an internal process that is forgiving, kind, and open to changes in the future. When a pregnant woman develops self-compassion, she can face herself. As a result, she can truly look at what has been a part of developing and maintaining her challenges with addiction. When she does this, she has the opportunity to make changes in herself and her life that will make a long-term difference in her life. 

While self-compassion helps pregnant women make changes in their lives, it also helps them heal from their past struggles with addiction. This is because healing requires individuals to move forward. When pregnant women cannot forgive themselves and be compassionate to themselves, they can not truly move on. They will always be stuck with the sinking guilt or shame regarding their addiction. However, through self-compassion, pregnant women can take steps into a new life. As a result, they can build a new and better life that helps both themselves and their child thrive. 

When a woman is pregnant and struggling with addiction, she commonly feels shame and embarrassment. While this is normal, it is not helpful in the healing process. At Reviving You Recovery, women are taught to improve their self-awareness, which helps them build self-compassion. As a result, pregnant women at Reviving You Recovery not only receive top-of-line physical care through detox but also mental and emotional care that sets them up for success after treatment. With self-compassion, pregnant women can learn to build a new and improved life for themselves and their children. To learn more about our treatment program for pregnant women struggling with addiction at Reviving You Recovery, call us today at (951) 723-7598.