Taking the first step towards recovery is courageous. However, you cannot complete this journey alone. You need the support of well-established institutes, trained staff, and resources that will empower you to combat addiction. The hurdles you face from withdrawals to transitioning into a new space can overwhelm and scare you back to square one.
In some extreme cases, the rehabilitation center has far too many systemic issues with lending you a helping hand. However, these reasons alone shouldn’t prevent you from seeking help. Addiction can have a powerful hold on you. Only through adequate research, a lucrative support system, and distance from substance will you recover. Here are some ways you can overcome this obstacle and embrace sobriety.
1. Countering Loneliness
As a recovering addict, you may be familiar with the HALT acronym. When you feel too hungry, too angry, too lonely, or too tired, these can trigger you into a relapse. Rehab can be a lonely journey. You have limited access to the outside world and friends you care about. While you may have a routine, it will not take away how abandoned you feel. Loneliness can lead to boredom, depression, and anxiety.
The best way to counter loneliness is to speak to resident caretakers about your emotions. Rehab facilities like the Delphi Health Group have group therapy options, support groups, and even a 12 step recovery program. These will help you find a community, express your thoughts, and connect with those who share the same perspective as you.
2) Managing Cravings
When you stop using substances, your body will retaliate to the change. This occurs in cravings, and some sensations are extremely overpowering, making you act out impulsively. You may end up hurting yourself on purpose to get painkillers or assault the staff to get a hold of drugs. If you look hard enough, you may find medications like Methadone and Buprenorphine within arm’s reach.
So, if you are in danger of giving in to your cravings, you need to set a recovery strategy for yourself. You should inform the medical staff what you feel and advise them to keep you locked in a room. If your craving takes hold of you, ask the staff to strap you down and let the feeling subside.
3) Difficulty in Rebuilding Older Relationships
Your family may have suffered a heavy loss because of your substance abuse. You may have financially, emotionally, and physically hurt them, which causes your family to pull away from you. Part of recovery is rebuilding lost relationships and seeking forgiveness, but that is not always possible. Not every family member will be forthcoming, and you may also struggle in asking for their forgiveness.
However, you need to learn to let go of burnt bridges that you can no longer recover. Therapy methods like Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy will help you take accountability for your actions and emotions with an appropriate response to them. You will learn to give power to your recovery over your guilt. The therapy will also enable healthy coping mechanisms to accept reality and manage expectations. It will facilitate your recovery when you can respect your family’s choice and make amends with those willing to take you back in.
Systemic Challenges In Rehabs
Sometimes the institute you choose may be the source of your problem. Not every rehab center has the expertise or wants to help you. Certain institutes are money-making scams and maintain a front to get your insurance money. Here are some ways rehabs fail to take care of you:
1. One Size Fits All Method
The same addiction expresses itself differently in everyone. Therefore you need a personalized treatment to help you recover. Certain rehab institutes only use generic methods to treat all the residents. They may have minimal resources, meals that are unhealthy enough or don’t cater to your allergies, and poorly researched detox methods.
2. Blatant Scams
Certain rehab institutes are scams. These institutes are interested in overbilling your insurance, exploiting you, and only using you as means for publicity. Institutes that wish to cheat you may transfer you to different facilities without inpatient care. You may also get subjected to short programs where you can practice risky methods like ultra-detox with no help if you have a severe withdrawal.
3. False Guarantees
Addiction is a lifelong journey, and you will never attain a 100% recovery. After rehab, you will need to actively manage your surroundings, cravings, and actions as you try to maintain sobriety. Rehab centers that try to sell you a guarantee falsely are only looking for ways to sell you a dream. Reliable and honest institutes will never overpromise what they’re capable of. Instead, they will prepare you realistically for what’s to come.
Joining a rehab institute alone will not help you combat your addiction. You will still need to manage your triggers, emotions, and feelings while accepting the consequences of your action. If you cannot control yourself and seek help from the staff available, you are at risk of relapsing. Simultaneously, you need to exercise vigilance before signing up for rehab. Certain institutes are looking to exploit, scam, and sell you a lie. Your recovery matters, and unless you get the right help, finding your way out of addiction is hard.
