7 Reasons To Seek Addiction Treatment
Substance use disorder, which is more colloquially known as drug addiction, is a serious mental health condition characterized by compulsive drug use despite negative consequences. Though it is now widely recognized as a disease rather than a character flaw, addiction is an incredibly devastating illness, both to its sufferers and to anyone who happens to care about them.
While spending time in a drug rehab program probably isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, drug addiction treatment is often a necessary step in breaking free of drug or alcohol addiction. Though seeking treatment may be painful, as can doing the hard work necessary to achieve addiction recovery, overcoming addiction is indeed possible, as attested to by the many admirable men and women who manage to get and stay sober for good.
Freedom From Drug Cravings
One of the most devastating aspects of drug addiction is the way that drug cravings can take over a person’s entire life. The fear of withdrawal symptoms and associated physical discomfort can be so great that one’s entire life revolves around making sure they have an adequate drug supply, leaving no emotional space to pursue anything else.
But after you receive treatment to help you regain your self control, you can return to a rich, full, life and rediscover your true potential instead of being beholden to your drug dealer or alcohol bottle.
It’s also worth noting that some withdrawal symptoms, like seizures or severe dehydration, can even be fatal, creating a constant health risk and adding to the impetus to seek treatment to ensure detox takes place with the aid of professional medical advice in a suitable rehab facility instead of cold turkey.
Protect Your Physical Health
Abuse of both illegal and prescription drugs can cause serious long term health problems if substance use is continued for an extended period. Alcohol abuse, for instance, is notorious for causing serious chronic disease, like cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, dementia and gastritis. Excessive drug use of various substances is also associated with an increased risk of various types of cancers.
Meanwhile, abuse of stimulant drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine work to drive up blood pressure, damaging blood vessels and the cardiac system, while opioid addiction comes with the risk of bowel obstruction and reduced bone density. Even abuse of over the counter medications as opposed to prescription drugs can cause serious problems like brain damage, gastrointestinal issues, and organ damage.
These are only a few of the many physical health problems often associated with substance use disorders, so addiction treatment is essential to stopping them in their tracks. To learn more about the risks of a specific illegal or prescription drug, you can check out this extensive database provided by the National Institute On Drug Abuse.
Protect And Improve Your Mental Health
Mental health problems can be both a cause of drug abuse and an effect of it, for many complicated reasons. According to the National Institute On Drug Abuse, about half of all people who suffer from substance use disorders also suffer from other mental health issues.
Most rehab programs address these mental health issues as part of their addiction treatment. A typical integrated treatment plan will involve combatting any underlying mental health issues as well as your addiction itself, which may leave you better off than you were before you even started using drugs if they were part of your addiction’s trigger!
Repair Relationships With Family Members
Unfortunately, addiction to drugs or alcohol is a disease that effects the whole family, and recovery is usually the only way that ruptures caused by that addiction can begin to heal. If you commit to entering addiction treatment, your family members will be able to see how serious you are about sobriety, which could go a long way towards allowing their eventual forgiveness for any harms your addiction may have caused them.
Many addiction treatment facilities also offer family therapy, which facilitates that healing by examining family dynamics and the way in which one member’s addiction may have altered them, or may have been a partial response to.
Avoid Legal Consequences Of Drug Abuse
As of 2020, around sixty five percent of the prison population is thought to have an active substance use disorder, with another twenty percent not meeting the formal diagnostic criteria for an addiction but having been under the influence of drugs at the time of their crime.
The most obvious reason for this is because many common drugs of abuse are illegal, so even doing or possessing them could be cause for arrest in and of itself. But the disarray and desperation addiction brings to the life of even legal drug users means that other crimes often occur as well. Alcohol addiction also commonly leads to arrests for driving under the influence, which is also dangerous to others who have done nothing to deserve falling victim to someone else’s addiction.
Since legal consequences could have serious repercussions on your future employment potential and on your ability to maintain custody of any children you may have, addiction treatment before your addiction spirals out of control is essential.
Connect To The Recovery Community
One of the most common and heartening ways that people struggling with substance use disorder use to overcome addiction is by connecting with and relying on one another. For instance, support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, or similar twelve step groups like Narcotics Anonymous focusing on substances other than alcohol, help those who attend them to prevent relapse by creating a robust support system among the group’s members.
Even if physical Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are out of reach for you due to your life circumstances, online meetings are an option for almost anyone. Many young adults end up finding lifelong close friends amidst groups like these, or in their substance abuse treatment centers, which often feature similar support groups.
Because of the move to virtual space prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, many rehab centers also offer online addiction treatment options as well, which could be a more flexible way to get the help you need and achieve the recovery you deserve, all while finding community in the meantime.
Replace Destructive Habits With Enriching Ones
Though recovery from substance abuse is by no means easy, it does have its bright spots, one of these being that the chance to learn healthier coping skills may not only help you stay sober but to become a more balanced person overall, and can help you enrich your life.
For example, while making an effort to avoid bars, one of the most common triggers for alcohol abusers, you may find yourself occupying your evenings with a new hobby instead, like attending an art class, starting a yoga practice, or exploring the performing arts. All of the free time you once wasted chasing down drugs and deepening your addiction can now be harnessed into engaging in rewarding activities that you genuinely enjoy.
Regain Control Before It’s Too Late
Perhaps first and foremost, obtaining appropriate addiction treatment at the earliest opportunity is important because the chance to seek help may not be one that you have forever. As attested to by the fact that recently released data rates our current overdose crisis as the worst it has ever been, substance abuse could easily cost you your life, while substance abuse treatment options could easily save it.
Substance Abuse Treatment At Reco Intensive
Even if you feel uncertain about committing to substance abuse treatment, you shouldn’t let those reservations keep you from rehab or from recovery. Our intensive outpatient programs provide a variety of treatment options for addiction, incorporating the latest scientifically backed therapies as well as more holistic recovery practices.
We also offer long term follow up via our alumni program, which keeps our treatment program’s graduates engaged in the recovery community and connected to one another. If you would like to learn more about how you can seek help for yourself or a loved one at Reco Intensive, you can call us anytime at 844.955.3042 or to contact us online anytime here.
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