Addiction Recovery is never out of reach for anyone. No matter how hopeless or bleak your situation may seem. With the right treatment and support change is possible for you.
Even if you’ve tried and failed many times before - please don’t give up on yourself. The road to recovery often comes with its fair amount of bumps and challenges. However, by examining the situation and thinking about the changes that need to be made, you’re on your way to a better healthier and happier life.
It is important for you to commit to life changes, find the best treatment option for you and get the support you need from others.
Commit to Make Life Changes
For those struggling with an addiction, the first step towards recovery is the most challenging step.
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By committing to your recovery, you can overcome your addiction, take control of your life again, and start a fresh chapter in your life. Committing to these life changes can be a challenging, so it is important for you to remember why you want to do this for yourself and to have a supportive people around you.
Explore Treatment Options Available
Once you’ve committed to your recovery journey it’s time to explore treatment options that are available to you. Here are different types of treatments available. Read more about them to see which one would be a good fit for you. The following information was gathered from the Help Guide website:
Residential Treatment – Typically involves living at a facility while undergoing intensive treatment. Residential treatment can last from a few days to several months.
Day Treatment or Partial Hospitalization – This is for people who require ongoing medical monitoring. People will usually meet at a treatment center for 7- 8 hours during the day and they have the option to return home at night.
Outpatient treatment – Typically have the flexibility to be scheduled around work or school. You’re treated during the day or evening but aren’t required to stay overnight. The major focus of outpatient treatment is relapse
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You live with others in a safe, supportive, and completely drug-free environment. Sober living facilities are helpful if you have no place to go or you’re worried that returning home too soon will lead to relapse.
As you consider treatment options that are available it’s important to keep in mind the following:
Some treatment options don't work for everyone.
Treatment should address more than just your addiction.
Commitment and follow-through are essential to your recovery.
As you seek help for your addiction, it’s also important to get treatment for all medical conditions. To improve your chances of recovery get a comprehensive treatment plan. By getting combined mental health and addiction treatment from the same treatment provider it would be the option for you.
Find the Support You Need
Don’t try to get sober alone. Reach out to others for support. Whatever treatment option you choose, it is important to have positive and supportive influences and a solid support system. The more people you can turn to for encouragement and guidance will improve your chances for a successful recovery. Create a network with people who support your recovery and with others who are going through the same things as
Gorski, T. T., & Miller, M. (1986). Staying Sober: A Guide for Relapse Prevention. New
.... One such step would be going into a rehabilitation program. Here you would learn how to get over your addictions and how to deal with the other spiraled effects of it.
Your long-term treatment does not stop in the facility. You need an after-care program to keep track of the progress you make in the outside world.
Medication management – Pharmacotherapy with anti-addiction medications or psychiatric drugs can reinforce the benefits of psychosocial treatment. These services may be provided as part of a comprehensive aftercare program.
Overcoming an addiction to alcohol can be a long and bumpy road. Many people feel that it is impossible to overcome an alcohol addiction. Many people feel that is it easier to be an addict than to be a recovering addict. However, recovering from alcoholism is possible if one is ready to seek the help and support they need on their road to recovery. Recovery is taking the time to regain one’s normal mind, health and strength. Recovery is process. It takes time to stop the alcohol cravings and pressure to drink. For most, rehab and professional help is needed, while others can stop drinking on their own. Recovery never ends. After rehab, professional help or quitting on your own, many people still need help staying sober. A lot of time, recovering
In the book, Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions, May explores how addiction develops and can be treated from a psychological, physiological, and spiritual standpoint. This theme is clearly shown throughout the text as it shows addiction from a whole person's perspective. The book covers the development of addiction from desire through the experience of addiction. The key focus is on looking at the matter of addiction from multiple stand points then broken down by explaining how addiction is an issue psychologically, physiologically, and spiritually. By focusing on these three areas, the author is able to present the reader with a clear understanding of addiction from all sides of the problem.
This experience helped me to recognize the internal struggle that a substance abuser faces on a continuous basis. In addition, I know that an individual can have a difficult time changing their behavior even when they have a strong desire to change; the smallest thing can cause a person to relapse.
A person that realizes his problem with alcohol has made an important step towards recovery. Next, they must choose the way in which he rehabilitates himself. One option is one-on-one counseling with a psychologist, alcohol counselor, etc. From the point, alternatives like group meetings or medication may be suggested. Also, a serious alcohol-dependency problem may need special attention in a recovery center. Another option is completely being independent in the sobering process. Often times these alternatives are used in a combination or in a series for more effectiveness.
Drug addiction is more complicated than medicine thought in previous years. It’s not because someone is weak or unable to control themselves. They are chemical such a dopamine in the human body that makes the process difficult. The brain works in a neuropath way and drug interrupt the normal process which stops the frontal lobe to work as it should. Treatment isn’t done right and patients tend to repeat their habit after they get out of rehab. Psychological treatment is not as effective as chemical injection for dopamine to reward the brain. However, even after the treatment is complete, it will be a life struggle to stay away from drugs since the brain will always look for a simpler way to reward itself.
...g the extent to which addiction affected the brain system resulting into changes and adaptations that the addict has no control. In addition to this, I learnt of the innate struggle that they experience with every attempt made towards becoming “clean” again; a struggle which almost always ends in defeat. A situation that can be described as “baffling”, an expression used by one of Dr, Volkow’s interviewees. Learning the involuntary nature of addiction and relapse that occur during recovery and the immense efforts required from the recovering addicts greatly changed the way I perceived the recovery process. Now I know it takes intervention from others, in addition to the effort made by the affected individual desiring to recover. Indeed, one cannot easily recover from drug addiction and avoid relapsing without help from family, friends and the society at large.
I think the first way to help beat your addiction is to create a vision of your ideal life. (What makes you excited when you simply think about it?)
Something that I have learned after overcoming this battle is that life is very unpredictable and it is up to the individual to rise above and choose the right path. This excerpt from the poem “Recovery” by Maya Angelou has given me encouragement and inspiration to move on with my life and become the best person that I can be: “A last love, proper in conclusion, should snip the wings forbidding further flight. But I now reft of that confusion, am lifted up and speeding towards the light.” I live by these words everyday because they motivate me to succeed and overcome the impossible.
However, recovery is based on core aspects such as hope and meaning whereby an individual tries to overcome discrimination, stigma and trauma attributed to the diagnosis of a mental illness. Also, it requires a person to assume the control over his or her life and empowered to make his or her own decision in full engagement. There are two types of recovery, i.e. clinical recovery and personal recovery. Therefore, it is vital for an individual to have a clear understanding of the two as well as identify the differences since recovery is considered to have a medical meaning. According to Rethinks, clinical recovery is a treatment outcome emerged from the designated experts of mental health professionals which encompasses the restoration of social functioning and getting rid of symptoms, hence making an individual to get back to normal. (Unger,
When people hear the word addiction, most people picture an alcoholic that spends hours a night at the bar, or meth addict that sleeps in the streets and prostitutes herself out to obtain money for another hit, but what various people refuse to realize is that addiction has become an epidemic in the United States. Addiction is everywhere from the UPS man that takes smoke breaks every few delivery’s, to your best friend 's dad whose appears to have everything put together but spends his evenings at the casino. In my opinion, it 's essential to share your story, I’m restless to tell you experience with addiction.
In conclusion drug addiction is a very terrible and challenging problem. It affects individuals, families, and the people around them. It is important that drug addicts realize that they must want to stop and seek help for the problem. The drug addict needs the support of friends and family, so they can make it through this process. The process to recover from drug addiction can take a lifetime. There is hope for a drug addict who wants to change their life for the better.