Drug Rehab - Good for Relapse or Recovery?

When you consider choosing a Drug Rehab or Alcohol Treatment Center for your Recovery needs, look for the QUALITY OF CARE that will get you or your loved one well. Most programs tout service QUANITY in hopes of ‘selling’ treatment packages. We all want to know what we will get for our money. And we can see the sense of a fitness membership and experienced counselors. But those same programs try to offer something unique to catch the eye of a potential customer. Sauna baths, horses, charter boat fishing, well, you get the picture. No one can ever say a horse got them sober. Frills are fine, but look for treatment that makes RECOVERY its service. That is the purpose of this letter and it is a bit different. I hope I communicate my point clearly. I think you will appreciate its honesty, and I would intend that you derive real hope at the end.

The experience of Chemical Dependency Treatment can be so many things, to so many people. Hopefully, the next drug treatment program you try is the first program you try, and your loved one comes home sober and clean. First program, stay sober and clean forever! That’s the ideal. But addiction is tough to beat; it is ‘bigger’ than the person who has it. In many cases across this country, the Recovery Journey is long and frustrating. One drug and alcohol treatment facility quotes to prospective clients this: “It takes an average of 5 to 7 treatment programs before a person gets sober.” That’s not good to hear.

A NEW VEIW OF RELAPSE

Relapse does occur. It is included in the nature of drug addiction. But, remember, levels of self-honesty and maturity that didn’t improve after admission to a treatment program only represent a chemically abused person who has simply not “Gotten the message.” Treatment clients come home sober and clean, and many are back on the drug/drink within a few days to a few weeks. It could be that this level of maturity or comprehension was below the standard of A Desire to Change. The Facility ‘threw’ the ball, but he was incapable of ‘catching’ it. Or the facility just didn’t ‘Carry the Message’ well. I suspect both when I talk to addicts who relapse.

Saying many people relapse is not a judgment, just a fact. It’s not difficult to understand. People coming to drug treatment, are usually arriving at their ‘weakest.’ Aside from the mind and emotions shaken by a ‘blender’ due to chemical abuse, and the anxiety of living amidst the culture of chemicals, a young person leaving home faces this: having to meet and learn to communicate with people (program staff and clients) who, at first, are strangers with unclear motives. Moving into a new environment can be very intimidating, to say the least. Leaving mood alterative chemicals behind, once and for all, and, suddenly becoming motivated to grasp an alternative lifestyle which includes personal responsibility and a mature lifestyle, is quite a leap. It does not matter that most people know it is for the best, CHANGE is tough for the best of us!

There are core issues each client brings to a program. The Drug Treatment staff should know that Care and Compassion works wonders right from t he start. They should know nobody is simple. Some clients bring a dual diagnostic disorder with them, and some have inadequacy and dependent issues, some have trauma from a young age, ad infinitum. But all clients suffer from drug/ alcohol abuse. It is the common denominator. A facility that forges its program around the priority of “relieving the person of the obsession to drink or use” is on the right track. If the ‘chemical’ goes, so goes the chief block to responsibility, maturity, and sound mental health. The message is: Strive diligently to motivate the client, and if that client learns to listen and communicates honestly to trained counselors, soon he/she will take responsibility for their shortcomings, and build a sincere desire to travel the road of Self Improvement. When people consistently strive to improve HIS/HER character, they can hardly fail.

A NEW VIEW OF RECOVERY

We see no one fail who tries to get well. Willingness to face life head on, with hope that you can achieve your dreams, is a better feeling than any drug. The ‘Willing’ see their addition lifted almost immediately! But they should be wise and know that if they slack up, the addiction will return. And now it is easy for those lay persons outside addiction to see why it is paramount to train and inspire a person to take home the principles of consistency, honesty, and self discipline.

Virtue is the key to a clean conscience, and effort is the key to Change. Changing for the better, and living well, are undeniably a great way to feel! This makes “Treatment” so easy to understand, now. It should be clear why an addict/alcoholic, who “gets the message” actually loses the urge for mood altering chemicals. The desire to drink alcohol or use drugs is lifted!!! For life. And for life, his urge to take on responsibility and ‘give it his best’ will keep him free from addiction, and free to live well.

Naltrexone Drug Therapy