One of the most damaging myths about drug addiction treatment and its efficacy is the idea that one must want to go to rehab in order to be successful. The truth is that even women who would like to live a life without heroin addiction, alcoholism, painkiller addiction and addiction to other drugs, few really sign up for drug rehab with a happy, gung-ho attitude. Almost everyone is scared: scared of “failing” through relapse and scared of succeeding and living with the intimidating task of figuring out how to get through each day without drugs and alcohol.

There is no magical way to overcome these fears and the general reluctance of even the most willing, but if there were it can be summed up in a single phrase: “Act as if.”

What “Act As If” Means to Women Entering Drug Treatment

“Acting as if” means walking through the doors of a drug rehab like you want to be there, even if you don’t. Rather than beginning each day with overwhelming thoughts like “I can never get high again” or “I’m done with drinking forever,” you start the day thinking, “What do I want for breakfast?” You act as if living without drugs and alcohol were the most perfectly natural thing in the world and whenever nagging doubts start to creep in, immediately rearrange your thoughts to focus on the next thing someone without a drug and alcohol addiction would think about.

Is “Acting As If” Dishonest?

One of the primary tenets of any successful drug rehab program is honesty and some are concerned  that “acting as if” is just another form of lying. If you honestly feel like you want to get loaded, is it dishonest to ignore it and pretend that you feel anything different? It’s an interesting question, but when your goal is to strive toward stability and a solid foundation based on positive thinking that sets you up to make the next best choice in any given situation, then “acting as if” is the best way to get there on the days when this seems like the most difficult thing in the world.

When Does “Acting As If” Turn Into a Real Desire to Live Without Drugs and Alcohol?

This will vary from person to person. But desires, and feelings, come and go in early recovery, and they’re difficult to pinpoint and hold onto, much less use as a foundation for a new life. Even those who have been clean and sober for decades have days when they don’t feel like doing it anymore. But the whole point of “acting as if” is to let goal of sobriety rule your decisions as opposed to how you feel. Actions based on feelings are usually compulsive and rarely the best choice for you. Actions based on well-thought out goals and healthful positive directions for your life are always going to serve you better in the long run.

If you’d like to learn more about drug addiction treatment for women, contact The Orchid today.

Food addiction among women is a common occurrence; in drug rehab, it is almost ubiquitous: women who struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol very often also have co-occurring food disorders. These disorders look different in different women, but some of the most common include bulimia, anorexia, binging, yo-yo dieting and weight loss. Living with co-occurring disorders of drug addiction and food addiction can make the experience of drug rehab doubly difficult for women. The only solution is a drug addiction treatment program that addresses both disorders simultaneously.

Food Addiction in Women Addicts

For most female food addicts, eating is emotional. Just like with drugs and alcohol, the tendency is to hide the amount of food eaten, lie about what was eaten or how much, and eat differently alone as opposed to in front of other people. For drug addicts who are also addicted to food, food may be used in an attempt to ease withdrawal symptoms or to replace drugs or alcohol when trying to quit alone. Unfortunately, when drug addiction and food addiction exist simultaneously, food often compounds the problem of drug addiction: female addicts tend to eat inappropriately despite emotional and physical consequences, organize their lives and choices based on food, or trying to control the addiction by making severe choices and placing rigid and arbitrary limitations upon their eating.

Food addiction and drug addiction can manifest so similarly that it is extremely helpful to apply the coping skills learned at drug rehab to recovery from food addiction at the same time.

Why Do Women Addicted to Drugs Have Food Addictions?

Just like drugs, food serves to provide some women with a means of escape. Bad self esteem, trauma, problems in relationships or at work, and chronic depression are all primary reasons that many women first turn to drugs and food. The “happy” chemicals released by eating comfort foods or sweets are similar in some ways to those released by using drugs, though on a smaller scale and for a shorter period. Unfortunately, the resulting health issues and the compulsive behavior as well as the constant cravings make it almost impossible to stop effectively and safely without professional help at an addiction treatment center.

Developing a New Food Addiction During Drug Rehab

Another phenomenon is the woman who begins drug rehab addicted to heroin, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana or some combination thereof, and finds that she replaces her drug of choice with compulsive behavior with food. Replacing drugs with another obsession-food, a new relationship, gambling, sex, et cetera-is extremely unhealthy as the focus should be on finding a healthful balance in your life that allows you to feel free rather than tethered to any one thing or activity. Notice how you are feeling as you progress through recovery and share your concerns about developing food addictions and other co-occurring disorders with your therapist and counselors to make sure that you get the treatment you need.

If you would like more information about co-occurring disorders, food addiction or how drug and alcohol addiction affects women, contact The Orchid and start your healing process today.

Not everyone who picks up a drink, is prescribed an addictive medication or experiments with cocaine, heroin, crystal meth or ecstasy will become addicted. So why is it that some who “pick up” drugs and alcohol develop an addiction that just can’t be put down without drug rehab? What are some of the factors that contribute to the development of drug and alcohol addiction and what specifically are women dealing with that leads them down the path of addiction?

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Women: Environmental Factors

It sounds obvious, but accessibility is a key factor in the development of drug and alcohol addiction in women. If there is no ecstasy to be had, you can’t develop an ecstasy addiction, right? For women, some of the most common addictions include alcohol addiction and prescription painkiller addiction primarily for this reason: both are easily available to any woman who wants it. A bottle of liquor is only as far away as the corner store and a bottle of sedatives is as close as your doctor’s office. For this reason, access alone is a huge factor in the development of drug and alcohol addiction.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Women: Emotional and Personal Factors

Women especially tend to develop a drug and alcohol addiction as a result of personal or emotional factors. Things like poor self image, low self esteem, stress related to traumatic events (i.e., tragedy in the loss of a family member or friend, divorce, economic issues, etc) and depression lead many women to not only start using drugs and alcohol but continue to do so until addiction develops. Unfortunately, this process does little to abate the original issue, leaving many women with multiple problems to deal with.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Women: Physical Factors

Physical factors contribute heavily to the development of drug and alcohol addiction in women. Medical conditions that requires pain medication, a current addiction to another drug, excessive alcohol intake, genetic addiction in the family, fatigue or overwork, and obesity are all factors that have been found to significantly increase the chances of addiction. The thought of many would-be addicts is that their problem is too much to deal with; why not take a drink, a pill, a dose and just forget about it for awhile?

Accidental Addicts Versus Intentional Addicts

Few pick up a drink or try a drug thinking, “I think I’ll become an addict today.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what you’re intentions were. Once your body is physically dependent on more of an addictive drug and your mind craves more and more and more of your favorite substance, it doesn’t matter how you got there. All that matters is that you take the next best step and get yourself out.

The safest and most effective way to do this is to choose drug rehab. Women have the benefit of drug rehab facilities designed specifically with their constitution and needs in mind. The Orchid offers assistance to those women who are ready to quit using drugs and alcohol, no matter how that addiction began. Call today for more information.

Women of all economic classes, races, and ages use cocaine. Some shoot it, others snort lines, still others smoke it in powder form or in the form of crack. However you use it, the result is the same: a terrifying addiction that is impossible to break alone.

Cocaine Rehab and Withdrawal

Most women who resist cocaine rehab harbor fears about the initial phase of addiction treatment: cocaine detox. This first step in any effective cocaine rehab program for women addresses the acute physical symptoms that accost those who use cocaine on a regular basis. Because your body has adjusted its chemical processes and production based on the expectation that you will continue to use cocaine, it doesn’t know what to do when you don’t provide the drug. You may experience a number of withdrawal symptoms that will vary depending upon how long you have been using cocaine, the amount that you are using when you quit and if you are using other drugs of addiction at the same time, especially if you are quitting them as well.

Those fears are normal, but they don’t have to stop you from breaking your addiction to cocaine. Cocaine rehab centers are staffed with professionals who have seen this before; some have even been through it themselves. They are educated and prepared to guide you through your cocaine withdrawal, safely and healthfully finding your way to the other side.

Cocaine Rehab and Depression

Arguably the worst of these symptoms is depression. Some women experience suicidal thoughts when they go through the “crash” after a binge or when they attempt to stop using cocaine. A cocaine rehab is equipped to help you get through this and other symptoms with psychotherapy, group therapy, meditative and mind-body techniques, and in some cases, pharmacological assistance.

It is not uncommon for women to experience the psychological addiction to cocaine in the form of severe depression. The belief is that they won’t be able to find a “normal” that they can deal with on their own without the drug. Because cocaine is a stimulant, many women feel that without it, they will not be able to find the energy they need to accomplish basic tasks: getting to work or school on time, finishing projects, caring for the children, even maintaining social relationships with family, neighbors and friends. The depths of cocaine-related depression can be deep and it’s important that you navigate those waters with a trained professional who won’t let you sink.

Cocaine Rehab and Family

For many women, their partners, children, and extended families are the focus. Many refuse to get the help they need out of concern for their loved ones. While this is a noble thought, the fact remains that no woman, no matter how strong, can care for her family and friends if she is not taken care of first. Cocaine addiction is a debilitating disease and if you don’t seek the medical treatment you need, you may find that you are physically unable to care for your loved ones now… or ever.

Contact The Orchid today for more information about cocaine addiction treatment for women.

When you started using drugs, what do you remember about your emotions?  Did you really just wish you could forget about them?  Did they seem exaggerated or fuzzed out?  Chances are, that’s a key reason you started using drugs in the first place.  You didn’t want to be there inside yourself, and drugs offered you an escape.  Now that this has become your life, you know that sobriety is on your horizon.  You have no choice - you may die if you keep going like this.  You’ll need to understand that when you go through recovery, you’ll be expanding your numb feelings to more open feelings.  Are you ready?

Living With Numb Feelings

At first, it may seem like numbing your feelings will bring you relief.  Much needed relief from the reminders of your misery.  Your difficult childhood, your difficulties with relationships, your difficulties with money - whatever your problems are, they have become to much to push out of your mind.  They overwhelm you, they consume you, and they push you to the edge.  Relief?  You’ll take it however you can get it, and drugs have been the answer.

But numbing your painful feelings has a price - you numb your positive ones as well.  You lack the experience of true joy, of anticipation for a happy event, of pride in a challenging accomplishment.  You cancel those out emotions in favor of manufactured highs and lows.

You also miss out on important emotional clues that help you make decisions and judgments.  Little feelings of stress that cause you to rethink a risky choice, a small buzz of anxiety to give you energy when you face a challenge, a hint of guilt when you speak too harshly - these emotions give you valuable information about your actions.  But if you fuzz them out with drugs, you lose the opportunity to learn about yourself.

Opening Your Emotions With Courage

It takes a lot of courage to reverse your course of action once you have lived this way for a while.  You have removed yourself from the responsibility of your feelings and reactions.  But you can learn how to live with your emotions again, with patience and courage.

Courage is simply doing something while having fear about it.  It doesn’t mean waiting to take action only when you have no more fear.  By moving forward and opening up your feelings in drug rehab, you learn how to live with the uncomfortable emotions instead of hiding from them.  You learn to acknowledge them instead of blurring them.  By letting them have some freedom inside you, they actually has less power over your life.  The more you try to erase or forget them, the more destructive they can be.  They’ll pop up somewhere whether you like it or not. Better to know how to cope with them instead of trying to wipe them out.

Drug Addiction Recovery - Living With Emotions

Living with your feelings honestly can be very difficult.  You may not have faced some of these feelings for a very long time.  Ironically, once you face them and keep going forward, you can actually gain more peace in your life.  With the help of drug rehab professionals, you can learn to go from numb feelings to open feelings.

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