Why You Won’t Succeed at Recovery without Rehab

There are people who reject rehab because they feel that they can treat their addiction independently, and that spirit is admirable. It is also misguided. Addiction is difficult to tackle and the best choice you can make is to take advantage of the addiction specialists at a rehab center. These people have been trained, licensed, and certified in treating addiction and they also have experience in the field.

The following discussion lists reasons that you need rehab to make a successful recovery. To learn more about the benefits offered by professional, structured rehab and to locate a treatment center that can help you begin your recovery, call 888-646-0635Who Answers?. Don’t wait. It’s time.

You Can’t Control Addiction

Addiction is a chronic disease and a lack of control over substance use is a hallmark. If you had the capacity to control your drug and/or alcohol use, you would already have curbed it. But, you haven’t. This is a sign that you need an outside intervention, like rehab.

You Didn’t Develop an Addiction Over Night

Overcoming addiction isn’t a simple matter of willpower.

It took time for your substance use to become something you can no longer control. It makes sense that it would take just as long to counter. Rehab is designed around a specific timetable and makes the most of every minute. Without such an organized plan, your treatment could spiral on for years.

Addiction Is a Brain Disease

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drugs “affect the brain by tapping into its communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information.”

There are drugs, like heroin and marijuana, that have a chemical makeup that mirrors that of existing chemicals in the brain. These drugs can activate neurons in the brain and that fools receptors, allowing drugs to latch onto the neurons and activate them. This is what leads to the euphoria, or high. The messages aren’t the same as the brain would normally send. Instead, these abnormal signals trigger the brain’s reward center and this keeps the brain craving the drug.

Then, there are drugs, like cocaine and amphetamine, that act on the neurons, causing them to release unusually large amounts of normally occurring neurotransmitters or to stop the normal recycling or the neurotransmitters. Both of these actions leads to an abnormal amount of feel good chemicals triggering the brain. Ultimately, it disrupts communication channels.

Both types of drugs cause changes to the way that the brain differentiates between normal and drug rewards. Dopamine (a feel good chemical) levels decrease and it becomes hard for a user to enjoy anything. This can be a permanent change. Scientists have mapped physical changes in the parts of the brain that are necessary to:

• Make decisions
• Exercise judgment
• Learn
• Remember
• Control behavior

Without the expertise provided by professional rehab, how can one expect to treat brain changes? Most people aren’t neuroscientists, we need help from qualified clinicians.

Addiction Is a Behavioral Disease

When you first start taking drugs or drinking, you do so voluntarily. But, your self-control becomes impaired when you begin to and continue to use substances. Over time, you develop a number of unhealthy behaviors that contribute to continued substance abuse.

Rehab centers employ experts in psychology and these people lead behavioral therapy sessions. These therapies will help you to:

• Adjust your behaviors and attitudes linked to drug use
• Develop healthy life skills
• Maintain other forms of treatment, like medication

Treatment is included in both inpatient and outpatient care.

Resentments Will Prevent You from Succeeding in a Rehab Center

You Can’t Prescribe Medication

Numerous addictions, like alcohol and opiates, have Food and Drug Administration approved medications specifically designed to treat them. These drugs control cravings and increase the odds that you will experience positive outcomes. For example, methadone has been shown in evidence based testing to:

• Reduce criminal activity
• Reduce use of illicit drugs
• Reduce needle sharing
• Reduce commercial sex work
• Reduce HIS transmission and infection rates
• Reduce reports of numerous sex partners
• Reduce fatal overdose
• Reduce suicide
• Improve productivity and social health
• Improve health conditions

Rehab can establish medication-assisted treatment that you can continue in recovery. While in rehab, you can adjust to the medication and receive assistance in finding an effective dosage.

To learn more about medication-assisted treatment and other methods employed at rehab centers, call 888-646-0635Who Answers?.