It is true that in order to achieve and maintain sobriety, you have to make an individual choice to do so. But that does not mean that you should try to handle addiction recovery without help. In fact, there are compelling reasons for you not to try to travel the road to addiction recovery alone.
Don’t try to travel the road to addiction recovery alone.
Understanding the Nature of Addiction
You may have the idea that if you can only build up enough willpower, you will be able to stop abusing drugs or alcohol. But here is the reality: Addiction has very little to do with willpower or its lack thereof, because alcohol and drug abuse can actually alter the chemical makeup of your brain.
There is a reason some drugs are referred to as being “mind-altering.” Such drugs create a compulsion that is very hard to resist. Addicts are plagued by strong cravings for their drug of choice, and even if they want desperately to break free from addiction, in most cases, they need help to do so.
How Structured Substance Abuse Treatment Programs Help
It is understandable that you might be reluctant to check yourself into a drug or alcohol rehab program. After all, no one likes to think that he or she cannot control an addiction through sheer determination. But, please know that there is no shame in asking for help. Shame emerges from the experiences you have while continuing to live as an addict, not taking steps to get the help you know you need.
How can a substance abuse treatment program really help, though? Here are just a few ways accepting assistance from others can help you overcome an addiction:
1) Rehab gives you a clean head-start
When you have the courage to check yourself into rehab, you begin a process of detox that helps you get a head start on your recovery. When your body is working to remove the drugs from your system, withdrawal symptoms can be difficult to handle. Being in a safe environment with professionals who know how your body functions and how the detox process works is a smart decision on your part.
2) Rehab gives you time to start healing
Once the physical symptoms of withdrawal ease off, rehab gives you time to experience the feeling of being well and truly sober. ChooseHelp notes honestly: “Simply staying sequestered away from access to drug or alcohol for a month or more has incredible value. The clarity of sobriety comes only with time, and none of us are truly ready to participate honestly in the therapies of relapse avoidance until we’ve got a couple of good weeks of sobriety completed. Enforced sobriety also gives our minds a chance to begin the healing process, and we start to relearn how we can enjoy ourselves without a need for intoxication.”
3) Rehab helps you learn how to fight addiction and win
Working with therapists individually and in group sessions, you receive insight into why you abuse drugs and alcohol. Understanding destructive thought patterns and behaviors will help you break them down and learn to live in a healthier, more balanced way.
Counselors and therapists can also help you design a plan of attack to beat back the likelihood of relapse and keep you headed in the right direction. Rehab gives you the beginnings of a support system that will help you throughout your life, and it also gives you the tools you need to succeed.
4) Rehab and meetings provide group therapy sessions that demonstrate addiction recovery is possible
There will be times when you feel that you cannot maintain sobriety. Group sessions during rehab and meetings after rehab let you see living proof of people just like you who are successfully fighting addiction every day.
Group therapy provides continuing support on your journey.
The Takeaway
Addiction recovery is possible, and you absolutely can do it. The good news is that you do not have to do it alone.
We’re Here to Help
Harris House is here for you. Call us now to learn about admissions. Do not wait another day to get the help you deserve; get started on the path to recovery.
