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Drug and Alcohol Treatment
Drug and alcohol
treatment is something I have become familiar with over the
last ten years of my life. Not only have I spent some
years training and working in the field, but I myself have
been through the gauntlet of drug and alcohol treatments more
than once. While it’s certainly not a
pleasurable experience, going through different forms of drug and
alcohol
treatment can teach you a lot about yourself. At almost five
years of sobriety now, I feel almost grateful for the
opportunity for personal growth.
When you’re in the midst of an addiction or have just had a
relapse, opportunities for personal growth don’t
really mean a whole lot. All you really want is the suffering
to end. Unfortunately, the bad news is that the suffering
does not stop with drug and alcohol treatment. If
you’re familiar with treatment you already know
this. Though you will of course begin to feel physically
better once you start a treatment program, the emotional and
mental distress can often get much worse before it gets
better.
There isn’t any quick fix or pain free drug and alcohol
treatment, so be prepared to do some work and be prepared to
learn humility. While drug and alcohol treatment
varies a lot these days, which is a good thing, they all have
one thing in common; breaking down the old you and building up a new
one. This sounds a little daunting and kind of scary, but
don’t worry, its really not so bad. Essentially,
the essence to every form of drug and alcohol treatment that
I’m familiar with is training your brain to use new
networks and patterns of thought instead of the old ones that
got you into trouble.
Since the brain is involved in everything we do, there are a lot
of routes one can take to retrain it and that is why drug and
alcohol treatment is so varied. Writing, art,
music, sports, exercise, prayer, meditation, counseling, and
support groups are all common examples of tactics used in
modern drug and alcohol treatment centers. To best
improve your odds in getting and staying sober, it’s a good
idea to try
as many things as you can because what works for some people
doesn’t work for others. Trying out a lot of new
things boosts your chances of finding something you
like.
In the end, drug and alcohol treatment is a personal battle, and it
will be a unique experience for everyone. Therefore
it’s very hard to make sweeping generalizations or
to provide advice that’s sure to work. There is one
Alcoholic Anonymous saying that stands out for me as summing
up the key point in drug and alcohol treatment;
“You don’t have to change
anything, except everything.”
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
