For many, the hardest thing about addiction recovery is the treatment process itself. No doubt, there are thousands of horror stories about the pains of withdrawal, the seemingly endless days and nights of stress and anxiety, and how hard it is to fight the urge to use again after recovery. For every one horror story, however, there are hundreds of stories of how addiction recovery changed a life, and why it is certainly worth taking the plunge. Horror stories or not, the simple fact of the matter is that the life an addiction recovery treatment center can restore to you– be that in family relationships, friendships, accomplishments, or just an overall sense of well-being- far supersedes anything anyone could say about how hard it could be. Additionally, what the recovery process forces you to leave behind– that terrible sickness that saps your very will from you– is well worth a bit of hard work. The first step in addiction treatment is often the one that scares victims the most, though it is not associated with any pain or displeasure. It is, quite simply, admitting that you have a problem. This is is so daunting because many individuals cannot cope with the idea that they may not be in control of their own minds and bodies, and the only way they might have been able to live with themselves and their addiction may very well have been by telling themselves that they were in complete control of it, and could stop anytime. This simply is not true. By the very definition of the word, addiction wrestles control away from a user, and causes him or her to crave more and more of a substance before anything else. To say that everything is under control is to, in effect, admit that you are the one controlling your cravings, and can stop whenever. Step two involves seeking professional support for your addiction. Saying that there is a problem, and deciding to fix it yourself only leads to a world of additional complications. Researching an addiction recovery center that is right for you is the key to making sure you get the help that you actually need. Finally, step three is the recovery process itself. This involves being weaned off of a substance, and dealing with withdrawal symptoms under the watchful eye of a trained professional that can monitor your nutrition and well-being. At this stage, recovery heavily involves training your mind to reject and detest the substances it once craved. Once that is done, the hardest part is over, and you can begin your path to total sobriety with a new lease on life!
Categories: Addiction News, Addiction Treatment, Life in Recovery, Q&A, Recovery, Relapse and Recovery