Perhaps the last thing a woman with an addiction wants is for everyone to know about her problems.  Yet at the same time, this hurting woman wants to be a part of a caring group.  These opposing forces can make it difficult for a woman to get started in drug rehab.  But once she understands the value of group interaction in drug treatment, she can begin a better life connected with others.

Shame And Embarrassment With Drug Addiction

It can be bad enough dealing with the problems of life.  Drug addiction can make things so much worse.  A woman with a drug addiction is on the run from problems, trying to stay ahead before they swallow her whole.  Once an addiction catches up to her, it’s time to face the music in her mind.

The truth about drug addiction can be devastating to face.  Not only have things been going badly, but she’s dug herself a hole with drug use.  She can get caught up in just the shame of having let herself get in the grips of something terrible and socially out-casting as an addiction.

It’s important to help a woman very carefully as she’s coming to that point of truth.  The shame of admitting to an addiction can make her want to retreat, even from genuine offers of help.  Her mind may know she needs help, but she may not be able to bear the thought of facing others with that truth.  Spilling her guts in a group treatment setting may be the last thing she wants to think about.

Privacy And Sharing in Drug Rehab

Even with this strong conflict between publicly sharing and privately hiding, a woman gets much of her personal value from social groups.  She may be too caught up in her own pain to realize that everyone else at drug rehab is going through a difficult struggle like her own.  Other women may be just as hesitant and ashamed of their addiction story as she is.  Yet, each woman needs the connection and caring support of a group.

Each woman will gain much more by joining and sharing than she will by hiding and withdrawing.  It takes courage to take this leap of faith.  And women who do are usually well rewarded by improvement in their well being, their self respect, and their sobriety.

Group Drug Treatment Many Benefits

Everyone needs to feel like they belong somewhere, but women particularly need a social network for her personal mental health.  Drug rehab centers that focus on just women know how to maximize the value of these connections.  Women in drug rehab can experience long lasting bonds with women who understand them like no one else.

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You’ve been to drug rehab for three months and they say you are about ready to go home.  Go home - what will that mean for you?  You may find yourself asking more questions after drug rehab is over than you had at the beginning.  Some of these questions can only be answered by yourself.  Let’s take a look at four things to ask yourself as your drug rehab experience comes to an end.

How Have I Let Drug Rehab Change Me

Drug rehab doesn’t do the work of building a sober life.  It guides you and provides tools for your recovery.  But you need to open up to the experience and let it sink in.  When you let it seep into the most painful parts of your life, drug rehab will change you.

Is My Addiction Recovery Plan Adequate

Your sobriety depends on the strength of your sobriety plan.  You never know when you may be faced with a relapse trigger or feel drug cravings.  You certainly don’t want to be caught in a tough spot without a few dependable coping skills and an exit strategy.

Who Do I Trust To Help Me Adjust To A Sober Life

First, you need to be sure that someone will be helping you adjust to life back at home after drug rehab.  Even the simple things like personal care and meals will be very different than when you were last at home.  You need people around you that will look out for your best interest and patiently help you readjust to your home life.

Who And What Do I Need To Avoid After Drug Rehab

As important as it is to have trustworthy people around you, it’s also crucial to avoid known pitfalls.  There are some people you need to avoid altogether such as former drug-using friends.  Old drinking haunts and the neighborhood where you picked up your drugs - these are places you must avoid.  These people and places don’t serve your sobriety and may even hurt it.

Coming Home After Drug Rehab

When you ask yourself these questions, you may be surprised. The answers you feel bubbling to the surface might feel too uncomfortable.  If you push them down, you may put your sobriety at risk.  The truth will help you stay sober - how well has your drug rehab experience prepared you to cope with the truth?  If you aren’t sure you are ready for sober life, consider a sober living arrangement for a few months after drug rehab to help with the transition.

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photo credit: opimentas

A drug addict or alcoholic is constantly chasing something elusive.  They pursue the high or buzz all the time, but that’s not really what they are after.  People drink or use drugs excessively because they want to change their reality.  Something in real life is just too much to handle.  When a person lives life through a drug or alcohol haze, they really need drug treatment to get back on track.  Let’s take a look at some of the things they might really be pursuing when they are addicted to drugs.

Drug Addiction To Create a Calm Mind

Worrying can become an all-consuming problem.  A bipolar manic phase can create a lot of disruption and mental strain.  Depression can build up a raging storm of negative hopeless thoughts.  A person with mental illness just wants it all to stop.  They want their mind to be quiet for once.  After enough despair, some people are willing to try anything to have some peace and quiet inside. 

Many people with mental illness self medicate with drugs and alcohol.  Even if they know it’s a bad idea, drinking and drug use may be their only reliable relief.  For a short while, the anxiety lessens.  The wild flighty thoughts are less numerous.  The endless string of depressing thoughts breaks apart for a while.  They keep chasing the numbing sensation from heavy drug and alcohol use.  What they really need is a calm healthy mind.  

Drug Addiction To Make Fear Disappear

Many drug addicts and alcoholics have strong insecurities.  They can come from years of family chaos or personality traits.  If they let their insecurities get the best of them, they may sit and do nothing.  When they drink or use drugs, their social nature loosens up and they can be more “interesting” to others.  Without the substance as a crutch, they feel like they don’t have much to contribute. 

Unfortunately, the lack of fear isn’t the same as having courage.  What would happen if you had no fear as you approach a railroad crossing or a highway?  Having no fear is not always realistic or a good idea.  Courage is taking action while also feeling fear.  It’s not letting fear take over your life to the point that you take hardly any risks.  Using drugs and alcohol can lead a person to take risks without considering reality.  The drug addict may think they want to have no fear, but what they may really want is to be respected for having courage.   

Drug Rehab Helps You Find What You Really Need

Drug treatment can help clear the fog of drug addiction and alcoholism out of the picture.  It’s not easy, but it’s the only way to really get at the source of pain.  Mental illness, lack of self worth and insecurities - whatever the reason people drink and use drugs excessively, it’s a wild goose chase.  The chase will go on and on because addiction finds ways of keeping people hooked.  But when people really address their deeper problems, they can have true peace in their mind.  They can discover their true inner courage.  Finally, they can find what they were looking for all along.

Drug addiction has a way of really beating a person down inside.  Their mind tells them lies, they make bad decisions, and they often lose important relationships.  Coming back from a low point like this can feel so undignifying, like everyone already has a strike against you.  It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by this process, but you don’t have to hang your head in shame and disgust.  You can hold your head up high after drug rehab.

Drug Rehab Takes Courage

Before you start imaging that drug rehab is part of some punishment or consequence, know one thing.  Facing your worst fears and inner struggles takes courage.  Courage is not the absence of fear, it is action in the presence of fear.

You could easily turn away and decide you don’t want to go through the trouble.  Or you could offer a good excuse or two about why you can’t go right now.  If you think about avoiding drug rehab but do it anyway, you transform yourself into a very courageous gutsy person. 

You Are Taking Good Care of Yourself

Women tend to put themselves at the bottom of their to-do list.  Women often feel selfish asking people to do caring things for them.  They often feel selfish asking people to do caring things for them, so they simply don’t ask.  Some women are drowning in plain sight, feeling like they have a hole in the bottom of their bucket.  When difficult times come in their life, they may feel all they can do is drown their feelings in drugs and alcohol.

When you go to drug rehab, you learn how to put yourself first again.  You find out how to keep your own bucket filled up and patch the leaks when they come along.  You learn how to keep your body healthy, how to keep yourself safe, and how to keep your mind on a sober track. 

Learning To Live Day By Day in Drug Addiction Recovery

Many people struggle to appreciate their life in the moment.  That doesn’t mean only living for the moment and forgetting everything else that is important.  It does mean soaking in life as it happens, trying to really be aware of your whole experience. 

The whole reason people use drugs and alcohol to the point that they become addicted is because they want to avoid and cover up the pain and bad things in life.  Despite this challenge, you as recovering addict or alcoholic are learning to put more focus on living each moment than most people ever do.  That focus and awareness can truly be a gift.

Appreciating Recovery After Drug Rehab

Going through drug rehab can be pretty rough.  But that kind of experience can be rich with insight and “aha” moments.  You often can’t get those unless you are put to a strong test.  Those insights can give you keys to keeping your sobriety in check.  And even just one day of sobriety means you can hold your head up high.

Everyone’s drug addiction recovery process will be a little different.  However, most people will share some universal experiences with addiction and drug treatment.  In this post, we’ll go over a handful of good things to keep in mind as you go consider drug treatment and a sober lifestyle.  These do’s and don’ts can keep you going in the right direction for sobriety.

Do Participate In Drug Treatment

Women often feel the burden of stereotypes that say they are weak and helpless. So if they reach out for some support, it somehow proves their worthlessness.  Nothing could be further from the truth, but a woman crushed by an addiction could easily take this perspective.  Getting help from a drug treatment program is a sign of strength and courage.  It takes a lot of guts to step over your ego and admit you can’t do it alone.

Do Be As Honest As You Can

Your mind is probably used to being dishonest if you are a drug addict.  In fact, you may know you have trouble telling the truth apart from the excuses and lies.  The lies can come from many directions - others who are addicted and not in recovery, your mind as influenced by addiction, people in your life who have hurt you.  Also, you may have gone through many painful things, and facing the truth was just too much to handle most of the time.  Even when your body is sober, it may be tough to speak the truth to yourself and outloud to another person.  Be patient with yourself and take it one step at a time.  Trustworthy counselors can help you gently coax the truth out into the open.  As you get used to it, you can better appreciate the benefits from working with the truth instead of struggling with lies. 

Don’t Think of Drug Rehab As A Cure
 
First, there is no known cure for drug addiction.  Many people become sober and never use again, but others go through cycles of sobriety and relapse.  Working your sobriety plan can make relapse less likely.  However, remember that each person is an individual so it may be difficult to completely explain one person’s repeated relapses and another person’s long stretch of sobriety. 

Don’t Worry About Going To Drug Rehab More Than Once

You may need to go to drug rehab more than once in your life to stay on track.  Probably not everyone’s dream, but in an entire lifetime it is certainly possible.  However, it’s no reason to think you are some kind of worthless failure if you need drug treatment a second or even third time.  Your recovery journey may just require more support at certain points in your life.  If you are still breathing, still living, and still working on a sober lifestyle, then you still have hope every day to keep on going.

Drug Addiction Recovery Goes For A Lifetime

Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is that recovery lasts for a lifetime.  Drug rehab is actually a small blip on the radar compared to the days and months and years of independent or supported sober living.  While drug treatment is an important part of recovery, it is just one part.  Contact your local drug rehab canter for more information or to ask questions.