After Drug Treatment
Transitioning from a drug rehab facility to the outside world can be a traumatic experience. Although clinical treatment is required for lasting recovery, smooth transitions can mean the difference between relapse and long-term sobriety. It is crucial that addicts successfully apply the lifestyle changes they make at their treatment facilities to the consequence-filled environments they encounter in society.
Thankfully, most rehab facilities focus a great deal on their patients’ future transitions – as well as on their long-term recovery efforts. Staying clean in a world filled with temptations and stressors is difficult, but it can absolutely be done. Here are a few of the most important ways in which rehab patients can ensure the lasting success of their treatment programs.
Life in Recovery
The reason why inpatient drug rehab programs are so successful is that they help patients make rapid but long-lasting lifestyle changes. During their one to three-month in-house stays, inpatients undergo incredible changes in their attitudes and thought patterns. Instead of turning to drugs or alcohol to solve their daily problems, they learn a variety of coping strategies and avoidance techniques for staying happy, calm, and clean.
These changes begin with individual counseling sessions in which patients learn the root causes of their addictive behaviors. They also identify their personal triggers – the people, locations, behaviors, and objects which most often cause them to use drugs. By making these personal discoveries, patients gain newfound abilities to control cravings – or avoid them altogether.
To help patients maintain these changes in the outside world, clinicians employ a variety of reality-based therapies. The most important reality method is mimicking lifelike environments in patients’ clinical living spaces. Rehab specialists require addicts to continue to cook, clean, shop, and perform other daily responsibilities as they undergo counseling and other therapies. Receiving treatment in this kind of environment makes it much easier for patients to apply their newfound coping strategies to difficult real-life situations.
Hard Decisions
Most addicts must make a variety of tough choices once they leave their treatment facilities. They have to cut ties with old friends who continue to abuse drugs. They must also make changes to their careers in order to avoid excessive stress and anxiety. Some rehab patients may even have to move to different neighborhoods or cities to avoid compromising environments. These changes are difficult and even painful, but they are crucial for addicts to maintain the progress they made during clinical treatment.
Ongoing Drug Addiction Therapy
Rehab may last only a few months, but addiction recovery takes lifelong effort. While many addicts are able to cope with their cravings with the help of friends and family members, others require additional support from their treatment facilities. To help these people, rehab centers will typically offer additional counseling. Patients who have complete inpatient programs can continue to meet with their counselors and refine their strategies for dealing with their cravings.
Understanding Relapse
Relapse is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it is almost inevitable for people who attend drug rehab. Whether patients experience short slip-ups or long-term returns to drug abuse, rehab specialists can help them get back on the right track. With additional clinical treatment, relapsed addicts can learn why they used drugs and develop better strategies for dealing with their cravings.
Whether you’ve slipped up, experienced a long relapse, or haven’t yet sought treatment, there is hope for you. Addiction is a crippling disease, but clinical drug rehab can help you take back control of your life. Call the number at the top of your screen now to get immediate help. We’ll provide a free, confidential consultation for you regardless of where you are or what time it is. But we can’t help if you don’t call, so pick up the phone now.
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