By LYLE R. FRIED, CAP, ICADC, CHC In Addiction Recovery, First Steps
Posted December 28, 2015
“I can do this myself.”
“I’m stronger than this.”
“I’ve put down other things. I can put down this too.”
We’ve all heard the resolutions made by individuals caught in the cycle of drug addiction or alcoholism. We (addicts) make promises to ourselves and others, with all of the assurance and resolve a person could have…and just like clockwork, we find ourselves right back in the cycle just days or hours after the promise was made.
Drug addiction is an inexplicable bondage. It’s ability to hold an addict in a baffling cycle that renders him or her powerless is almost too much for us to admit. We simply cannot believe that we haven’t the willpower to do this on our own, so we try again and again to only to continue to sink deeper into the nightmare.
I think the reason it takes many of us so long to admit we are powerless is because we can still look back to a time when we thought we had control. You know…before the DUI’s, jail time, or empty bank account. We keep taking ourselves back to before all the dents on the car occurred or when food and self-care actually mattered to us.
Personally, I had two DUI’s and a mandatory jail sentence behind me, plenty of AA meetings, and state mandated therapy. I actually managed to put together about a year sober…and then I started to drink again.
I chose to enter drug rehab the morning I woke up with a gun in my bed, ready to take my own life because I realized —for the first time—that I just could not break free. My addiction was like a snake, waiting for me, plotting out my weakest moment, watching for that unguarded thought or low, lonely night. I couldn’t say no. I didn’t know how.
Once I entered addiction treatment, I found quite a few people who shared my story. These were the most desperate, real, and wonderful people I had ever met. We all shared a common bond. The inability to put down a drink or a drug.
In another article on this site, you can read about the things to look for in a good addiction rehab. Trust me, they are not all created equally. But today, in this article, I want to simply list five thoughts for you to ponder.
If you are, at all, toying with the thought of entering rehab, I would advise you a thousand times, YES! Give yourself this gift. Rehab is not a jail sentence and it’s not a boot camp. Rehab isn’t somewhere you go to “think about what you’ve done” or sit in your own guilt and condemnation. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Addiction rehab gives you the time, the tools, and the positive support you need to break this cycle for good.
How Do You Know If You Need Drug Rehab?
Here are five signs that rehab may be beneficial to you:
- You’ve told yourself and others that you’d quit drinking or using drugs, but went right back to it within days or hours.
- You find yourself making excuses for your drug or alcohol use, sometimes telling others that you really weren’t serious before (when you made the OTHER promises to quit).
- Drug or alcohol use is on your mind almost constantly. When you are using, you are thinking about how and when you will get more. You’re also constantly planning out how you will hide your drug or alcohol use and thinking about how much you should / can use in certain situations and still “appear normal.” All of these thoughts, and ways to hide your drug or alcohol use will consume you.
- Drug or alcohol use is the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about before bed.
- You don’t have a safe place to recover. I talk to so many individuals who lived in households where the parents were drug abusers, the siblings were drug abusers, and other outside family members were also stuck in some cycle of addiction or drug use. It is easy to get locked into a place where it feels as if there is no way out. Addiction rehab provides that much-needed safe environment while also giving you the tools necessary to walk out a clean and sober life.
Of course, these are not the only signs. The list above is meant to get your wheels turning and possibly ask yourself (maybe for the first time) if you could benefit from drug rehab for addiction treatment.
The Shores Treatment and Recovery is one of the most highly regarded treatment drug rehab facilities in the nation, with a proven program that leads to a substance free, productive and healthy life. Are you ready to say yes to addiction treatment?
Give us a call now. We are ready to help.
