Will drug and alcohol rehab work for you? More importantly are you ready to work for your own recovery. Rehab is a great tool in obtaining sobriety and providing you with the tools you will need to remain sober, but it is still up to you to do the real work.
Work? Remember, drinking or using drugs is a symptom of the real problem, most alcoholics and drug addicts are using to avoid dealing with their problems. By either numbing ourselves, or getting high, we do not have to deal with our real issues.
What are issues? They are anything that you do not have the tools to deal with on your own. They range from everything from child abuse to self-esteem problems. Whatever the issue is, until it is dealt with, staying sober will remain quite difficult. Counseling is usually provided during a stay in rehab. You must be completely honest, or counseling is simply a waste of time, a waste of your time, the counselor’s time, and the other client’s time. Group counseling is a popular approach because the others in the group usually have similar issues that often have similar solutions.
Counseling is a difficult process and usually needs to be continue on past the standard rehab time of seven to twenty-eight days. Part of your “aftercare” will probably include some sort of continuation of the counseling that you have begun in treatment. Again, I must reiterate, counseling will only help, if you are willing to do the work, and be completely honest, otherwise, it simply will not work. It is not easy to tell others about problems you have had growing up or with your relationships. There is always the fear of being judged. That is one of the reasons “group-therapy” is so beneficial, things that you have done, that you thought for sure no one else had every even considered are suddenly common. After you get past the worry of being judged, you can move on to how to affect positive changes, to deal with and move past your issues, thereby removing your reasons for drinking and using in the first place. Your “issues” are probably personal, embarrassing, even horrifying, but you must deal with each and everyone as they all contribute to your need to use.
While in rehab, you will learn that a new set of friends and acquaintances is most likely necessary, you can attend 12-step meetings, church, or other sober functions while working through your issues. It remains imperative that you stay away from using people, and keep yourself safe from those who want you to keep using. The people who you have used within the past are NOT your friends, they DO NOT want what is best for you, they want what they is best for them, and that is someone who will go along with their using without complaining and lecturing them. They wish to stay oblivious to what a healthy emotional life is. It will always be easier to avoid the big issues in your life, but avoidance will do nothing to help you heal, it will in fact, keep you using. You don’t need me to tell you how dangerous drinking and using drugs are, if you’ve landed on this page, it’s obvious you’ve made some sort of decision that your life needs to change. Take the next step, you can get through it, and your life will not only improve, but it will be a testament to others that still drink and use that there is life after using. You may not only save your own life, but the lives of others you don’t even know, just by living as an example of how good life is once you obtain sobriety.
