Proper care can do so much to help treat drug and alcohol abuse. Not everyone approaches this care 100% willingly, however.
Some people enter rehab because they’ve overdosed or experienced another serious medical condition related to alcohol and drug abuse. These people might have been unwilling to seek treatment in the past, but the severity of their substance use disorder brought them to rehab.
Other people enter rehab because they feel that it’s a better choice among two bad options. Their drug or alcohol abuse could have gotten them into trouble. They could’ve faced the opportunity of entering a rehab center or entering jail. These people chose rehab.
Once they’re in rehab centers, these people might reluctantly go through the motions of care. They’re there in body, but not in spirit. This attitude does not bode well for treatment or ultimate recovery.
That’s because addiction and recovery are so encompassing. Addiction can dominate every aspect of a person’s life. So could recovery. Addiction can change the way people look, behave, and feel physically and emotionally. It can change the way they relate to people.
Recovery has to address all of these changes. As a consequence, recovery is hard work that needs commitment from people. People in rehab have to commit to making changes that can help them physically deal with their drug or alcohol abuse.
Just as importantly, recovering addicts have to address the mental aspects of their addictions. Many people use drugs and alcohol as a way to treat mental illnesses. Yet addiction itself can change the way the brain functions. Since addiction has such a strong mental component, it makes sense to treat that component alongside the physical components of addiction.
Like other addiction treatments, treating the mental side of addiction is not easy or even fun. But people committed to such treatment have a better chance at enduring the difficult, unfun parts of treatment. They’ll endure such things because they have an ultimate goal: to get better. Their experiences show how committing to treatment, not fighting it, can help people recover.
