Finding the support you need outside of treatment may be tough, but you’ll find your way!
Many challenges are faced in addiction treatment by both families, loved ones, user’s and treatment professionals. While healing from addiction is up to the addict, many take comfort in knowing that healing is possible with the right means of commitment, support and treatment. If you’re in treatment, know someone in treatment or thinking about treatment, consider the challenges that you are likely to face merely a stepping stone along the path to recovery.
Relapse
Probably the greatest challenge faced in addiction treatment is relapse. According to SAMHSA’s Treatment Improvement Protocols guide, “Lapses may occur. Frequently, clients are unable or unwilling to adhere to program requirements. [and] Repeated admissions and dropouts can occur.” Yet, these challenges should not prevent you from seeking help nor should they stop you from trying again.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “drug addiction should be treated like any other chronic illness, with relapse serving as a trigger for renewed intervention.” Relapse rates for those addicted to drugs are generally comparable to the relapse rates for other common diseases and chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure. While facing relapse poses a significant challenge, the best thing you can do if you relapse is to pick up the pieces and get back on the path to recovery as quickly as possible.
Support
Often times, family members or friends are also users which can make the support that you receive while in treatment or outside of treatment negligible at best. Treatment will provide you with support from your peers in treatment as well as from the treatment staff, but if your family members or friends are also addicts you may not be receiving adequate support from them when you need it the most. According to the NIDA, “active substance use by someone living in the same place as the patient or who is part of the patient’s social support network clearly threatens [their] recovery.” Fortunately, many treatment programs are able to actively help patients identify methods of ensuring proper and adequate support from friends and family—but you must talk with your counselor or therapist about this challenge in order to receive proper help.
Mental Stability
While in treatment for addiction, you are likely to face a number of challenges associated with your ability to feel at ease with yourself emotionally. Mental stability can make recovery a very long, difficult process. You may feel stable and committed one day, depressed, angry or miserable the next. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Drug addiction, also known as substance dependence, is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by (1) compulsion to seek and take the drug, (2) loss of control in limiting intake, and (3) emergence of a negative emotional state (e.g., dysphoria, anxiety, irritability) when access to the drug is prevented (defined here as dependence).”
An important goal of treatment is to restore the positive emotional balance and mental health of the patient following addiction. It may take time to feel at ease, happy or otherwise comfortable without drugs but you will.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse among Teenagers Drug and alcohol abuse is a common activity for teenagers to engage in and unfortunately it leads to thousands of deaths every year. Many teenagers try drugs due to peer pressure or because they think it will be a fun and enlightened experience. However, even one instance of abusing….
People in the music industry—artists, managers, agents, label executives, lawyers, etc.—are often held accountable for encouraging addiction. It seems there have always been lyrics that celebrate getting drunk and getting high. Authors of the research study “Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs in Popular Music” determined that kids are receiving roughly 35 references….
One of the best things you can do to help prepare yourself to become a patient at a rehab clinic is to tour the facility first. This will allow you to find out if the center will be beneficial to your recovery and if you will be comfortable receiving treatment there. But it is important….
Everyone knows the stereotype of the people who go to drug rehab. They’re junkies. They’re unclean. They live on the streets, they prostitute, and they don’t care about anything but themselves. That’s who people think of when they think of drug rehab. Yet, that’s not the case. Addiction doesn’t have biases and there are thousands….
When you decide to seek treatment, it is extremely important to know what to look for in a treatment center. Evaluating a treatment center is one of the most difficult and most important things that you will do before you enter a facility. Careful evaluation assures you that you will receive the treatment that you….
Alcohol addiction is a disease that negatively impacts the lives of millions of Americans every year, and every year the majority of people who suffer from an alcohol addiction do not get help. Alcohol addiction is not only dangerous to a persons’ heath over time, but it is also a leading cause of death in….
Heroin is an extremely powerful opiate made from opium. Opium is an ancient drug that was used as a painkiller and social distraction for centuries. Its more refined form, heroin, is currently illegal in the United States and several other countries. According to that National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2.4 million people age 12 and….
It is perfectly natural to enter a rehab center filled with guilt and shame and resentments. When you are living as an addict, your drug use becomes the most important thing in your life and it will undermine every important relationship you have. People on both sides of the divide are bound to find themselves….
Addiction is a multifaceted ailment. It is not gender specific. It doesn’t discriminate between child and adult. It cannot recognize your cultural background. It will not care for your family or friends. Whether you have money or not, will make no difference to an addiction. So it would follow then, that the approaches to treatment….
Detox is often the first part of a long-term, effective treatment program for individuals who become addicted to drugs. While it isn’t always necessary (and it certainly isn’t the only component to addiction treatment by far), detox is used at the beginning of many rehab programs for a reason. In addition, patients who attend detox….
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