Options For Dealing With Addiction Issues

1. The Drug and Alcohol Detox Process

When you or a loved one is going through addiction, it can be life-altering and life-threatening.

The first step is to get the person with substance use disorder (SUD) to admit that they have a problem. After this initial step, recovery can start in the form of detoxifying the body of substances.

Detoxification is not a treatment option in and of itself. When you go through detox, you’re resetting your body and mind to a previous point, anointing clarity and taking a harsh look at everything you’ve gone through, and everything that’s still to come.

There are three key stages of detoxification.

• Evaluation
• Stabilization
• Transition

Evaluation

Depending on the toxicity in your system, whether it be through drugs or alcohol, quitting “cold turkey” may not be a viable option. Simply stopping or ceasing to take your vice without the help of a medical professional, could be fatal.

The evaluation stage is where your body goes through the withdrawal symptoms associated with detoxification. This phase is best left to a professional medical staff as they can administer medically-assisted detoxification.

Stabilization

Getting back to a healthy, stable level of being is the in-between step. When you’re going through detox, you will slowly come down from symptoms of your addiction. It’s the period where you get over shakings, sweating, and other symptoms customary with detox.

Transition

This is the final stage. When your body is detoxified and you are at a healthy stage, then you may transition into a treatment center for substance abuse.

At this point, the mental struggles for ridding your life of these toxic aspects come in effect. It’s not the end of the road to recovery; it’s only the beginning.

What To Expect After Detox

Through these three stages, you can expect information regarding your next steps in recovery. You’re going to exit the detox center and enter an entirely new atmosphere, with different purposes and plans.

Psychologically, this can have a slightly damning effect. With the right professionals to guide you, and treatment at the ready, the transition phase doesn’t have to be rough.

You will leave with an understanding of what’s to come, but that isn’t to say that detox is simply spent staring at the wall while enduring medical treatment.

You’ll be introduced to a proposed dietary plan for bringing your body back to a prime state, talk with counselors, and endure assessments and blood tests.

The entire process of detoxification can be a mental strain, trapped between the world you’ve known, and the world you want to live in. Detox facilities are the gateway to recovery, and are a necessary step when addictions reach critical mass.

Detox saves lives, and also helps the beginning transformation to a healthy mindset and lifestyle. They can also assist you in other services regarding your exit back into the world post-recovery, such as recovery coaches.

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2. Approaches to Relapse Prevention

One of the most difficult tasks for a person in recovery is to remain sober after treatment. Recovery and detoxification do work to bring the patient back to a stable, neutral state, but it is not a cure-all.

Every single day, patients struggle to push down the negative voices in their heads; the very same voices that denied any and all issues along the way.

Relapse prevention is an essential step in treatment. When you’re teetering on the brink of relapse, a proper relapse prevention plan can be worth its weight in gold. There are three stages you or a loved one may go through just before the ball drops.

These include the following:

• Emotional Relapse
• Mental Relapse
• Physical Relapse

It may sound simple, but this little list of the three stages of relapse is all it takes for a harrowing plunge back into a negative lifestyle.

Emotional Relapse

There’s a prideful boost in your step after leaving recovery, and it only lasts a moment. It’s phenomenal to look back on a tough journey, and say “I did it,” however, it’s short-lived when your mind gets to work dismantling your confidence.

The first sign of full-blown relapse starts out with the patient withdrawing from conversation, giving in to their anxiety, and experiencing absolutely awful sleeping habits.

When emotional relapse strikes, it’s not always apparent. Anger surfaces, and the patient can become increasingly defensive to certain approaches, or just casual conversation as a whole. They’re at war in their mind, trying desperately not to look down on a treacherous climb.

Preventative Measure: This is the stage when therapy or therapeutic methods can help a patient regain confidence, and that “can-do” attitude to prevail over the bends in the road ahead.

Mental Relapse

This second stage hits when patients begin to fantasize about using their vice again. One quick sign of mental relapse is when a patient surrounds themselves with the same old crowd, which is a fast way to turn back down the bad end of the road.

Patients begin plotting when they’re going to use again, under a “what-if” scenario in their head.

Preventative Measure: This is a stage that can be prevented altogether with the help of a recovery coach.

A recovery coach identifies potential challenges in early recovery and reinforces the relapse prevention plan. They do this through mentoring, problem solving, and identifying resources and activities that promote a healthy living.

Physical Relapse

This is the last line of defense before the chips fall where they may. Physical relapse revolves around the patient actively seeking out their vice, whether it be parking outside of the liquor store and battling internally, or texting their previous dealer.

Whatever the situation is, time is limited to prevent total relapse. It only takes one use of their previous vice before everything comes undone.

Preventative Measure: This can lead to the necessity for following your loved one around everywhere they go. Their life is going to come and go in waves; be there for them, at all costs, do not allow them to lock-in on their vice.