You may have talked to someone who has gone through the rehab process. They will tell you that before they got help, they needed to hit rock bottom. What does hitting rock bottom mean? Why is hitting rock bottom required for so many people before they start to recover?
What Does It Mean to Hit Rock Bottom?
“Rock bottom” is a term you often hear used in connection with addiction to drugs and alcohol. Rock bottom is also used to describe a place a person reaches in their lives when they are dealing with mental health problems. It is not uncommon to hear a person with depression or anxiety also say that they have reached rock bottom because they allowed their conditions to go untreated.
Hitting rock bottom means that a person has gotten to a point where they don’t feel like they can get any worse. The only thing, for many people who hit rock bottom, that is worse than their current condition is death. Rock bottom doesn’t just describe the physical condition a person is in, but it also describes their mental and emotional state. It can be used to describe a person that is so sick and tired of feeling frustrated with themselves, disappointed in themselves, and dealing with the consequences of their abuse that they feel that there is no hope for them now, much less in the future.
Hitting rock bottom is often synonymous with desperate. In fact, desperate means to be deprived of all hope. When people reach rock bottom, they cannot see a solution on their own. They have exhausted their financial, physical, mental, and emotional resources. They have reached a point where they realize that they are done if they don’t get help.
When someone who has reached rock bottom looks for help, the first thing they need to be given is hope. They need to be helped to see that there is a solution to their situation and that they can improve their lives.
What Does Rock Bottom Look Like?
When you see a person has hit rock bottom, they are emotionally shattered. They are so overwhelmed that they can become physically paralyzed because of their emotional stress. They feel compressed. It seems like life has sucked all of the energy out of them. One of the driving emotions in the life of a person who has hit rock bottom is terror. They may try to mask being terrified with fake bravado.
They have so much going on inside them, but they try hiding it from others. However, when a person hits rock bottom, people around them know it. The internal turmoil they are experiencing is so great that other people can feel it. Sadly, someone who hits rock bottom may spend some time suffering alone. They cannot see a way out of their situation. They may stay there for just a couple of days or several years. Someone struggling like this will isolate themselves, leading to tremendous suffering.
Why Do So Many People Need to Hit Rock Bottom Before They Get Help?
For some people, the only way to reach their dream is to travel through their nightmare. It is not until they break down that they wake up. Some people need to be backed into a corner where they have no alternative. They have unsuccessfully tried to break free of substance abuse on their own or live with it and act like they don’t have a problem.
Many people won’t listen to advice until they bottom out. They are not ready to trust others until they are convinced they cannot work out their substance use disorder independently. It’s not because they are bad people. In fact, many people who need to hit rock bottom before they get help for their addiction are successful in other areas of their life, like their careers.
However, once they take the step to get help for their addiction, they start to live life in a way that would have been impossible for them to attain on their own. Have you hit rock bottom? Do you want help finding hope in your life again? We can help you. Our counselors are available when you need them. Call us today at 833-846-5669 to learn more.