5 Things That Will Help You Recover from Addiction

If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, quitting may seem like an impossibility. But it is not. By making the decision to quit and taking the necessary steps to begin the recovery process, being drug and alcohol free can become a reality.

Here are five steps for making that happen:

1. Make the Decision to Quit.

Most people who are addicted to substances, at some point in their addiction, want to quit. They want the chaos in their lives to go away, and they want to stop obsessing about how they are going to find and pay for their addictive substances. This is the normal life of an addict.

Making the decision to quit is taking the desire to quit to the next level. Once he makes the decision to quit, he is doing an about-face and proceeding in the opposite direction.

2. Enter a Medical Detox.

The addicted person will need to find a medical detox in order to withdraw from his addictive substances. This is where an addict or alcoholic is watched in a medical setting, like a hospital, and is given “step-down” drugs to make his withdrawal more comfortable. A “step-down” drug is one in the same “family” as the one he person is addicted to.

Benzodiazepine (Valium) is in the same drug family as alcohol. When an alcoholic goes into detox, he is given decreasing doses of the drug, Valium, to wean him off alcohol less painfully. Trying to withdrawal from alcohol and drugs in a nonmedical setting is extremely dangerous.

3. Enter a Treatment Program.

In a treatment program the newly clean and sober individual learns coping skills for living without the assistance of alcohol or drugs. Group therapy in rehab helps him discover himself as a thinking, feeling person. Soon he is help other people to do the same. The wall of “rational defenses” for his drug addiction or alcoholism is gradually chipped away through group and individual therapy.

4. Recover Ego Strength.

In rehab, the addict learns how to deal with stressful situations without the use of drugs or alcohol. He does this by re-enacting typical stressful situations and learning new ways of coping with them. This is the key to staying clean and sober after rehab ends.

5. Prepare a Relapse Plan.

Every person who graduates from a treatment program prepares a relapse plan before he leaves. He and his counselor go over steps and strategies that he will take when he feels the urge to use alcohol or drugs. A simple strategy could involve calling his 12-step group sponsor or going to a 12-step meeting or getting together with clean and sober friends. This relapse plan will ensure his success.

Austin, Texas has been Peter Wendt’s writing headquarters for a number of years now. For readers who wish to learn more about this subject, he recommends they check out www.OriginsRecovery.com/.