How Can Addiction Treatment Centers Change Your Life For the Better?
Facing an addiction can be scary, but it can also be one of the most rewarding choices you make in your life. Behind your addiction is the person you were meant to be; someone who experiences life without a filter, someone on a healthy pursuit of inspiration and joy. The following will explore just one aspect of facing addiction in detail: working with an addiction treatment center.
Before diving in, it’s important to note that everyone’s addiction experience is different. Gabor Mate’s famous statement, “Don’t ask why the addiction, ask why the pain,” helps frame just how different these experiences can be. Each person’s struggles are unique to them and the context of their life. This means that what works for one person dealing with an addiction might not necessarily work for another person. Always return to the notion of your particular relationship with a substance or activity and what would best serve you in forming healthier replacement relationships with other things.
Avoid False “Common Sense”
When it comes to pretty much any topic, there’s a slew of common-sense advice that people throw around without really thinking things through. Addiction is no exception. Working in tandem with an addiction treatment center can help you avoid this kind of unhelpful (sometimes damaging) advice. People often speak about experiences they have no sense of and suggest simple fixes that don’t involve an understanding of the complexity of addiction. When you’re working with professionals, they understand what advice is nonsensical. Addictions professionals at https://www.newmethodwellness.com/ point out that there are plenty of research-backed approaches to addiction work, including addiction psychiatry, cognitive behavioral therapy, family group therapy, and solution-focused therapy. Things like acupuncture, family group therapy, nutritional counseling, music therapy, wilderness therapy, meditation therapy, and art therapy can also help.
Avoid Trigger Relationships
Sometimes working with an addiction treatment center involves living within the center. This is an excellent option for people who wish to avoid their triggers in the outside world while they work on their addiction. This could involve avoiding certain friends, family members, struggles, and stressors.
Addiction treatment centers can offer you a step back from your life. Troubles like daily expenses, cooking, cleaning, dealing with repairs and infestations, hearing your neighbors scream at one another, feeling unsafe in your neighborhood, and so much more can be put on hold as you focus on recovery.
Meet People Who Understand
Facing a challenge alone is always difficult. Within addiction treatment centers, you’ll meet both professionals and recovering addicts who understand the journey you’re on. Their support and conversation can therefore leave you feeling accepted and valued. Oftentimes when speaking to people who don’t understand, you can encounter judgement, ultimatums, or blame. These sorts of tactics come from a lack of understanding and can harm your recovery process.
Access To Treatment Support
Addiction treatment centers also tend to have all that you might need when addressing your addiction on hand and ready to use. In recent years, lockdowns and other government policies have reduced access to addiction treatment support, leaving more people than ever in need of help. Centers tend to have access to doctors, psychiatrists, nutritionists, and medical technology, as well as things like musical instruments, art supplies, nature, animals, and other things that can be expensive to procure on your own yet have been shown to aid in recovery.
Safety And Protection
There are some substances that are dangerous to quit, and even if the addiction you’re dealing with isn’t one of those, it can still be hard to end an addiction if you’re not in a safe, protected environment. For many people, the period immediately after ending their relationship with a substance or activity is one of intense vulnerability and sensitivity. Being in an environment where you don’t have to worry about your physical or emotional safety can ease up the difficulty of transitioning from dependence to independence.
Build Healthy Relationships
When you’re involved with an addiction treatment center, you are likely to encounter people outside of your normal social group. This could mean people who are recovering themselves or professionals who care about the health and well-being of others. Relationships with people like this can be strong and healthy and can aid in the recovery process.
The above list should have given you a few benefits of addiction treatment centers. Again, everyone’s addiction is different, and this means that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to recovery. Speak to potential treatment centers about your needs and what they have to offer to feel out whether they’re a good fit for you or not.
