Top 10 Benefits of Choosing Drug Addiction Recovery

It’s clear that drugs and alcohol have been wrecking your life. Your relationship is over – the one that meant anything to you – and your family avoids you whenever possible.

You lost your job a while ago or you’re about to any day, and you’ve had more than a few run-ins with the police recently. On top of all that, you’ve been feeling sick and rundown when you aren’t high or drunk, and pretty much all you can think about is getting more drugs or alcohol.

But you’re still putting off drug rehab. You can always come up with at least a couple of reasons why you should wait. While you may be worried about taking the plunge, there is nothing worse than the things that will happen if you continue along in active addiction without treatment. You know what they are: overdose, devastating mental health symptoms, divorce, and financial devastation. You’re well aware of the potential consequences because you’ve seen them happen to other people if you haven’t already started experiencing them yourself.

However, you also know that you can expect to find – at a minimum – the following benefits should you decide to take the leap and jumpstart your recovery from drug or alcohol abuse and addiction through professional treatment:

Notable Benefits

• Help dealing with physical withdrawal symptoms: It’s often the fear of experiencing physical withdrawal symptoms that causes many addicts to put rehab on hold – especially those who are dependent upon alcohol, opiate painkillers, and prescription sedatives. All of these substances create significant physical withdrawal symptoms during detox that can be extremely uncomfortable. With medical care and supervision, however, these symptoms need not be a life-threatening or horrible experience. In fact, in some cases, medications can help to ease the experience of withdrawal symptoms, helping patients to get through the process as swiftly and safely as possible.
• Medical care as needed: Whether you are struggling with a chronic medical issue or withdrawal symptoms, or you have an underlying disorder that you aren’t even aware of yet, drug rehab offers you the medical care you need to stabilize and feel better.
• Identification of co-occurring issues: It’s no secret that many patients living with alcoholism or addiction don’t take the time they should to get the medical and psychiatric care they need to be healthy. For that reason, many addicts who enter drug rehab are also living with co-occurring mental health, learning, or behavioral disorders that require treatment – issues that may be contributing significantly to the drug or alcohol use disorder. Rehab should be able to connect you to evaluation services that will help you to identify all the issues that may be contributing to your issues with substance abuse.
• Mental health treatment for underlying mental health symptoms: If you are struggling with mental health issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, mood swings, etc.), then you should also be treated for these issues while undergoing treatment for addiction. A comprehensive drug rehab program should have the resources to provide you with intensive treatment for mental health issues, whether or not they are related to, caused by, or worsened by your past drug use.
• Family support and therapy: Your family has likely struggled right along with you as your addiction has grown. Family members can play a significant role in your recovery if they and you agree that it is a positive choice for everyone involved. Family therapy sessions, as well as educational support groups and workshops designed just for family members of addicts, can be hugely helpful in assisting you and your family in healing after addiction.
• A voice in your treatment and recovery: Though your initial weeks in recovery will be largely structured based on the choices of your doctors and therapeutic team, you should have a voice in the direction of your treatment and the therapies chosen. If you are struggling with any specific challenge to staying sober or would like directed assistance in a particular area of your life, you are encouraged to speak up and ask for help while enrolled in rehab.
• A wide range of therapies to choose from: Traditional therapies like 12-step meetings, alternative therapies like acupuncture or hypnotherapy, and holistic treatments like yoga or meditation may all play an important role in your recovery. Your time in drug treatment should connect you with a unique combination of treatment options in order to help you best address your personal needs in recovery.
• New friends in treatment: The people you meet in recovery will not only become a support system for you during drug rehab, but many will continue to be part of your life long after you return home. Your peers in recovery will often be able to encourage you through the hard parts and provide you with an opportunity to share the wisdom of your experience when they need support as well. Connecting in groups and in living situations provides a multi-level interaction that many patients report as being one of the highlights of their experience in treatment.
• Aftercare support: Though the rehab program will eventually come to an end, treatment will continue for years into the future. The best way to ensure continued sobriety is active engagement with treatment and therapy through aftercare, and your drug rehab should be able to support you in this process.
• A new life in recovery: The great benefit of drug addiction treatment is the new life that it affords you without drugs and alcohol. You can decide exactly what this will look like, what you will do, and whom you will spend it with – and it all starts when you get the treatment you need to stop drinking and getting high.