10 Ways a Drug Rehab Treatment Center Will Improve Your Life
People caught up in the cycle of drug addiction lose any sense of control or will over their lives past the demands of the addiction. In effect, drug addiction changes how the mind thinks as well as drives a person’s emotional responses.
While some people can overcome addiction on their own, many require the types of supports and guidance offered through drug rehab treatment centers. According to the New York State Department of Health, addiction creates a diseased state of mind that grows progressively worse when left unattended, much like a chronic medical condition, such as heart disease.
Drug rehab treatment centers specialize in addressing the damage done by chronic drug abuse on the brain and the body. As addiction creates its own mindset and lifestyle, drug rehab treatment centers help undo the addiction mindset and provide addicts with healthy coping skills for managing everyday life.
If you or someone you know struggles with a drug addiction problem, here are 10 ways a drug rehab treatment center will improve your life:
1. Encouragement & Support
For many people, the very thought of entering a drug rehab treatment center brings on waves of anxiety and apprehension. After relying on drugs for so long, the thought of going without can quickly overwhelm a person’s desire to get well.
Drug rehab treatment centers offer much support to their patients.
The staff at drug rehab treatment centers understand how difficult it can be to transition from an addiction lifestyle to a treatment setting. For these reasons, treatment staff offer ongoing encouragement and support to residents in their efforts to overcome addiction.
2. Stability
By the time addiction sets in, chaos and drama characterize of person’s day-to-day existence. These types of conditions only work to perpetuate ongoing drug use. Without some form of stability, addicts remain entrenched in an abuse-addiction cycle.
Drug rehab treatment centers operate within a stable, structured environment that’s conducive to personal growth and healing. In effect, your stay at a drug rehab treatment center becomes a type of training ground for the type of lifestyle that makes ongoing abstinence possible.
3. Medical Care Treatment
In cases of severe or chronic addiction, it’s not uncommon for addicts to develop medical problems from the damaging effects of drug abuse. Medical problems can easily aggravate a person’s desire to use drugs, especially conditions involving pain symptoms.
Drug rehab treatment centers offer medical care for conditions that result from ongoing drug use as well as chronic conditions that feed into a person’s addiction problem. By addressing these types of issues, drug rehab treatment centers give recovering addicts the best chance at a successful recovery.
4. Personal Development
While addiction treatment remains the primary focus of a drug rehab treatment center’s efforts, a big part of this process works towards helping addicts develop the personal habits, routines and behaviors that make-up a productive lifestyle.
Personal development entails building upon one’s strengths and aspirations in terms of the type of future he or she desires to have. In this way, a person comes to focus his or her attention on positive, constructive goals as opposed to meandering and getting caught up in drug-related pursuits.
5. Relapse Prevention Training
During the course of an addiction, drugs become the focus of a person’s thoughts and emotions. In the process, the mind starts to associate drugs with certain people, places and activities. All of these factors work to drive ongoing drug-using behaviors.
Drug rehab treatment centers provide relapse prevention training sessions designed to help addicts identify and avoid drug-using cues. These sessions also help a person develop other interests and ways of having fun that don’t involve drugs.
6. Relationship-Building Skills
Once addiction sets in, a person tends to limit his or her associations to other addicts or else spend large amounts of time alone. Not surprisingly, a person’s ability to communicate and form genuine relationships with others falls by the wayside in the midst of a drug-centered social circle.
A big part of the drug rehab treatment center process entails learning how to communicate effectively with others in constructive ways. Developing relationship-building skills also equips addicts with the tools needed to reach out for help when the urge to use drugs seems overwhelming.
7. Peer Supports
As with any important goal or life pursuit, having the support of others along the way can mean the difference between success and failure. The same goes for when you’re going through a difficult period or life stage. Drug rehab treatment centers place a heavy emphasis on the importance of peer supports and building a support network throughout the recovery process.
8. Healthy Mindset
People who fall into the addiction lifestyle develop the type of mindset that supports this way of life. In effect, the addiction mindset accounts for why it’s so difficult for addicts to maintain abstinence for any length of time. Much of your time spent in a drug rehab treatment center involves undoing the addiction mindset and developing healthy ways of thinking and interacting with the world around you.
9. Help for Mental Health Issues
According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, 45 percent of people struggling with addiction have also developed some degree of mental illness. When left untreated, mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety symptoms can quickly sabotage any efforts made towards addiction recovery. For these reasons, drug rehab treatment centers make it a point to assess for mental health problems and provide treatment as needed.
10. Support Groups
Support groups play a central role in the recovery process, and become even more so important the further along a person progresses in recovery. Support groups provide addicts with practical insight and guidance for overcoming addiction on a day-by-day basis. Drug rehab treatment centers provide addicts with a firm foundation in the support group process.
Considerations
While it can be difficult to ask for help in dealing with an addiction problem, the longer you put off getting needed treatment help the stronger the addiction gets. In effect, the help available through drug rehab treatment centers can make a tremendous difference in your overall outlook and ability to overcome addiction’s pull.