Hawaii Island Recovery 
The men and women in arms who answer the call of duty put their lives on the line to protect their country, community, and family. However, supporting this commitment to military service also impacts families, with military spouses doing their part at home. Military spouses can be exposed to any number of stresses, even if they are not the ones out on the battlefield, leading to many self-destructive practices. Addressing the challenges that military spouses face and exploring how treatment at Hawaii Island Recovery can help encourage healing is part of supporting military families who serve their country.
The Stresses and Challenges of Military Spouses
Even while loved ones are on tour and deployed, there are still stresses at home. Between the emotional stress of having a loved one deployed and continuing to care for the home and children, military spouses face many challenges due to the unique lifestyle of military families.
Loneliness and Isolation
The most common challenge military spouses face is feeling isolated from friends, family, and loved ones. However, this comes in many forms. For some, feelings of isolation can be birthed from long periods without their spouse while on active duty. Frequent relocations can also station military spouses physically far away from loved ones, friends, and established social groups, leading to further feelings of isolation.
However, some military spouses can experience this isolation even if they have been in a community for a long time. It can be difficult to find peers for military spouses who understand the challenges and stresses at home, from the long deployments to the many other sacrifices that military spouses make to support their loved ones and their country. Feeling isolated from others who truly understand and can sympathize with these challenges can have ramifications, even when surrounded by other people.
The Career Sacrifices of Military Spouses
Relocations can also cause military spouses to sacrifice their careers or career opportunities. It is common for husbands and wives of military personnel to put their careers on hold for various reasons. Relocations can make it difficult to establish oneself within a company and further their professional career. Others may have difficulty finding steady employment, especially in their field of interest or expertise. The job availabilities can also change depending on each new location, making a single career path difficult to maintain for military spouses.
This can be further complicated if a military spouse’s career of choice demands a license, like jobs in healthcare or education. Transferring these licenses to new states during relocations can make pursuing a desired professional career difficult.
Responsibilities at Home
Even while loved ones are deployed on active duty, there are still responsibilities at home. From managing finances to raising children as a solo parent during long tours, home life is exceptionally stressful for military spouses. Not only can these challenges on their own be difficult, but isolation from a support system and with a spouse being deployed, caring for all of these responsibilities can quickly lead to fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout.
For military spouses raising children, not only can these stresses be difficult to process, but they will still have to be active supports for children navigating similar challenges themselves like constant moving, difficulty making friends in school, and other challenges.
Military Spouses Living With Constant Stress and Worry
The nature of military service can cause a lot of worry for a loved one’s well-being. A loved one deployed to an active warzone causes intense anxiety and many may be hoping and praying each day for when that phone call comes through to know that their loved one is okay. Constant worry about a spouse’s health and well-being during times and areas of conflict is common, and it can be extremely difficult to process this level of stress and anxiety while still being asked to tend to all of the other household responsibilities.
Coping With the Stress
Military personnel face a myriad of stresses and challenges every single day. However, military spouses at home must overcome their own challenges, with entire families committing in various ways to protect their country and community. These stresses can be complicated, and many military spouses may feel left to overcome these stresses alone, often leading to self-destructive coping strategies, especially substance use.
Using drugs or alcohol to push down feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress can be common, but also dangerous, often having further adverse effects on the mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual health of military spouses. Hawaii Island Recovery is prepared to help military spouses address these specific challenges and the role that addiction may play in their lives for effective healing.
The Role of Drugs and Alcohol in the Life of Military Spouses
Isolation, stress, and more can leave many military spouses not just facing a myriad of stress, anxiety, and much more, but also feeling like they have to confront these challenges alone. Expectations to “hold down the fort” at home and be a resilient, stalwart force while a loved one is deployed are a heavy burden to bear, and there is no easy way to process these challenges.
For many military spouses, the use of drugs or alcohol can become common to push down these anxieties, stresses, and more. However, this can quickly develop into addiction and can leave many of these feelings unaddressed, resurfacing the moment that the effects of these substances wear off and often with even more intense feelings and ramifications.
Addiction can also bring new stress and introduce new challenges into the already difficult daily life of military spouses and military families. In many cases, professional treatment to address addiction in military spouses is necessary. Hawaii Island Recovery is available to create a dedicated program for military personnel and spouses that addresses these unique challenges for effective treatment and healing.
Embracing Healing for Military Spouses
Overcoming the daily challenges and stresses of military spouses is difficult, especially if drugs or alcohol become involved in an attempt to self-medicate their effects. Addressing these difficulties in a new way while engaging in healthy and sober care is paramount, and there are always things that military spouses can do to embrace effective healing at home or in a professional treatment program.
Create Consistency
A consistent daily routine and structure can be helpful for anyone navigating any form of stress or personal challenges. For military spouses, these routines can be instrumental in keeping each day organized while addressing feelings of anxiety, depression, and other emotional needs.
A healthy daily routine can be structured to ensure time for self-care and personal hobbies. The stresses of daily life and the deluge of responsibilities at home, especially without the support of a loved one while they are deployed, can feel overwhelming. Daily schedules can keep structure while empowering military spouses to incorporate mindfulness practices and healthy habits. Using clearly defined schedules, setting realistic expectations and daily lists, and taking breaks are all part of a healthy consistent routine.
These consistent self-care outlets and mindfulness practices can be necessary for identifying stress, as well as recognizing when anxiety, depression, stress, and more may be increasing and negatively affecting a person’s mental and emotional health, informing further healing practices at home.
Manage Substance Use
Addictive substances like drugs or alcohol can be dangerous, especially when paired with elevated levels of stress or anxiety for military spouses. Managing substance use means tracking how much is being used, such as how often a person purchases wine, but also tracking the expectations and attitudes around their use.
Realizing that these substances are becoming more common during times of stress, or even expecting stress and preemptively engaging with drugs or alcohol, can all be a sign that change is necessary. Likewise, drinking more than intended, or using prescription medications in ways not directed by medical professionals, can also be signs to explore a person’s relationship with addictive substances as a coping mechanism with dedicated professionals.
Addiction can manifest quickly, and being cognizant of the role of addictive substances, expectations around their use, and the harm they can do to emotional health is crucial. For some, proactively removing these substances from the house can be necessary to help prevent the development of addiction. Talking to a professional about these stresses and the role that drugs or alcohol may play in daily life may be necessary, with Hawaii Island Recovery always one call away to help each person explore this relationship and the possibility of treatment.
Find Ways to Stay Connected
Isolation is a major challenge for military spouses, and finding a way to stay connected is paramount for each person’s mental and emotional health. Being connected to others can help tend to social needs while also benefitting from emotional support. For some, this means having an established way of keeping in contact with family and loved ones regardless of physical location.
Daily or weekly phone calls with family members, keeping group text chains active, and more can all be a way of staying connected with family members. Military spouses can also search for local military support groups to meet with other military spouses who are understanding and sympathetic to the challenges these families face every day. Meeting with peers for support, or even just talking to peers to develop a feeling of camaraderie, can go a long way in beginning effective healing and garnering necessary support. Military spouses can even explore digital options and online communities that can be used regardless of whether a person is relocated, connecting them to others at any time.
Staying connected is also paramount with a spouse on deployment. Keeping regular call times with military loved ones, tracking changes in time zones, and even writing letters can all help to maintain emotional closeness to a spouse while deployed.
Limit Negative News
Consciously omitting negative news outlets, especially during times of conflict, can also limit exposure to anxiety-inducing material that may otherwise impact stress levels or sobriety. Limiting access to social media, avoiding running news programs in the background, and avoiding doomscrolling on one’s phone can all ensure that when a person does engage with news outlets, it is deliberate. This can also ensure that a person is equally exposing themselves to positive outlets and stories instead of only focusing on the negative.
Treat Yourself Fairly
It is important to recognize the immense stresses and challenges that military spouses face. Still, many may feel pressure to keep a resilient, stoic face when confronted with stress to maintain the facade of strength on the homefront. However, treating oneself fairly means recognizing that this mentality is not sustainable.
Using journals to process difficult feelings, acknowledging the impact of stress, or even expressing vulnerability and personal needs is incredibly important. Letting these feelings of isolation, stress, anxiety, and more build up without having an outlet to process it can quickly lead to further emotional distress and unhealthy coping strategies, including the use of drugs or alcohol to push down these stresses despite the negative consequences.
This also means being willing to reward oneself for goals accomplished. Having a hobby, treating oneself to various gifts, or taking a moment to relax after a job well done can be essential. Not only can rewarding oneself help to reduce the impact and effects of burnout, but it can also help military spouses pace themselves while tending to responsibilities at home while a loved one is deployed.
Talk to Professionals
It can be difficult to recognize when the use of addictive substances has become problematic, or when stresses are profoundly negatively affecting daily life. The challenges military spouses face make it easy to get trapped in daily stresses, anxiety, and more. Talking to professionals like those at Hawaii Island Recovery can be a great way of exploring the role of addictive substances and stress in daily life while connecting with peers in treatment.
Hawaii Island Recovery’s Role in Healing for Military Spouses
The treatment centers in Hawaii use a dedicated support program for military personnel and military families, helping to address the specific challenges that military families face daily but also developing a community of peer support and communication to overcome these changes. Knowing when it is time for treatment can be difficult, and having an opportunity to talk to a professional about various programs, advantages, and how they can relate to each person’s unique situation can be important when deciding if professional treatment is right for each person.
Creating Community
By connecting military spouses with other military families, each person can more effectively embrace their own healing. Engaging in a sympathetic and understanding community of peers can make it easier for military spouses to feel understood in their challenges. It can be difficult for non-military families to truly understand the difficulties that military life demands, both for active military personnel and the effects on their families. This dedicated military community at Hawaii Island Recovery, filled with active service members, military spouses, veterans, and more, can be instrumental in creating effective healing opportunities.
Blending Addiction Recovery and Emotional Support
Addiction, anxiety, depression, and more can all be deeply connected. Finding treatment that addresses not just the use of addictive substances, but the emotional challenges that inform the use of drugs or alcohol, is necessary for effective healing and change. Professional support to explore these connections alongside a community of peers can empower the most comprehensive healing possible.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness practices, nature-based healing opportunities, and more are all available to explore this relationship and develop strategies to overcome their effects.
Spiritual Healing Opportunities
Military life is difficult. It is common for military personnel and their families to experience many stressful and even traumatic events, each of which can profoundly impact their spiritual health and beliefs. By engaging in professional addiction and mental health support alongside spiritual healing, military spouses can most effectively embrace change and healing while challenging pessimism, fear, and other effects of military life.
Military spouses face many challenges in supporting their husbands and wives while they serve in the line of duty. Finding effective treatment, staying connected to family, friends, and active service members, and acknowledging when professional treatment to address addiction, anxiety, depression, and more may be necessary are all part of creating a healthy homefront for military families.
Military spouses face stress, anxiety, isolation, and even addiction, all while still having to tend to daily responsibilities and care. At Hawaii Island Recovery’s treatment centers in Hawaii, we understand how mentally and emotionally taxing military life can be for entire families, from active service members to military spouses. We blend effective mental health support and proven addiction recovery methods and therapies with personalized case management and support, all with the backing of a community of peers and professionals alike. Healing from addiction for military spouses is complicated, and we can help you not just challenge the use of drugs or alcohol as a coping strategy for these stresses but engage in truly transformative healing. Call us at (866) 390-5070.
