Support groups and aftercare programs can help you maintain sobriety after reha
Heroin rehab treatment provides addicts with the tools and guidance needed to take back their lives from addiction. During rehab, recovering addicts go through an intensive process thatās designed to lay the foundation for living a drug-free life.
Once a person completes rehab treatment, he or she enters a new stage of the recovery process. Integrating the tools acquired in rehab within their everyday life routines can be challenging when old reminders and memories of drug use confront a person at every turn.
According to the U. S. National Library of Medicine, people who remain engaged in aftercare programs have a considerably better chance of maintaining abstinence after drug rehab. Whether it be regular attendance at 12-Step support groups, ongoing psychotherapy or helping others in recovery find their way, staying engaged in the recovery process provides a person with the daily supports needed to sustain a drug-free lifestyle.
Follow-up Treatment
Transitioning from drug rehab to normal, everyday routines can be a jarring experience for recovering heroin addicts. After completing rehab, a person must learn to manage everyday life without the protective layer of a structured treatment environment.
For this reason, addicts must make it a point to keep follow-up appointments with therapists, physicians and counselors at all costs. These appointments not only help a person stay engaged in the treatment process, but also provide a means to work through the challenges and pressures that everyday life brings.
12-Step Support Groups
Most, if not all, heroin rehab programs encourage participation in some form of support group work. Once a person leaves rehab, community-based 12-Step support groups can prove invaluable in helping recovering addicts maintain abstinence.
Feelings of isolation and shame can easily drive someone in recovery back to using again. Regular attendance at 12-Step support group meetings offers a sense of belonging and understanding that family and friends just canāt provide. Twelve-Step support groups can also become a source of support and guidance, especially when the urge to use is strong.
Lifestyle Changes
SomeoneĀ recovering from a heroin addiction must not only maintain abstinence, but also avoid the lifestyle elements that support addiction behaviors. Old friends and old hangouts can quickly become addiction triggers that reignite the urge to use again.
Lifestyle changes work to replace old memories, friends and activities with healthy, productive habits and routines. Developing new interests, helping other people through the recovery process and building a support network can go a long way towards establishing a drug-free lifestyle. Twelve-Step support groups can be a great help in this area.
Giving Back
In effect, recovering from a heroin addiction becomes a healing process for both the body and the mind. People who successfully complete a treatment program have gained valuable experience that can be used to help others make it through recovery.
Sharing experiences are a vital part of the 12-Step support group process. The act of sharing also helps a person remember what it was like to be lost inside a drug addiction. Likewise, mentoring or sponsoring those just entering recovery helps a person reaffirm his or her conviction to remain drug-free.
You’ve been in drug rehab before, you’ve tried to do what it takes to heal and overcome addiction and yet you have relapsed once, twice or even many timesābut why? Why is it that the drug rehab that you have tried in the past hasn’t worked and what is it going to take to get….
Many people believe they can get over their addictions on their own and without the help of professional rehab. Unfortunately, though, this option is often much more dangerous and usually more unsuccessful than attending professional care in the hands of healthcare workers. Addiction Changes the Brain Most people cannot beat addiction through sheer force of….
A recent survey has found that more teens abuse alcohol and drugs for the first time during the summer than in any other time of the year. Teens are more likely to drink, smoke cigarettes, or try drugs when they are on summer break with the peak of these first time user situations occurring during….
Chronic alcohol consumption can have many negative effects on the body and dramatically impairs brain development. Long term alcohol abuse causes dementia, physical dependence and the shrinkage of the brain. While there is some evidence that suggests that alcohol consumption in a low to moderate manner can have some positive health benefits the literature to….
Teen alcohol abuse is on a significant rise and has been for many years. The result is the need for more teen alcohol rehab centers that can provide specialized treatment for adolescents who abuse alcohol. Alcohol rehab for teens is an essential part of the recovery process and a must since the human brain has….
Bath salts have become the newest family of drugs to hit the market. Classified as both “legal”Ā and “illegal”, access to bath salts only requires users to know where to go to get them. As with any substance of abuse, bath salt addiction rates continue to rise as more and more people are exposed. As….
Alcoholism is an epidemic in the United States. According to NIH, nearly 17 million adults struggle with alcohol use disorders. Overcoming an addiction to alcohol can seem frightening when you’re right in the middle of it. The urge to drink again may be so strong that it can seem impossible to resist, and the physical….
Certainly, addiction crosses all barriers: gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age group, etc. And, all of these people also face the risk of a dual diagnosis, a situation in which a person receives more than one diagnosis for concurrent conditions, like addiction and depression for example. But, a recent study indicates non-heterosexual women who have….
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a person does not necessarily need to want to go to rehab in order for rehab to work. This means coerced or forced rehab does still have a chance to get your loved one back on the right path. There are a number of ways to go….
If you are regularly using marijuana, it has already made changes to your brain. You can try to live in denial or justify your use, but there isnāt any way to erase the reality of the changes. The more chronic your marijuana use is, the more severe and comprehensive the changes will be. In some….
