Strength. Strength is an important word in rehab and recovery.

People seeking help for drug abuse or alcohol addictions might not think that they’re strong. In fact, they might think that they’re the opposite of strong.

Physically, this might be true. Addiction can leave people extremely weak. Many drugs are powerful substances, even if people take them correctly in the right doses. If people take too many of them, if they take them too often, and if they combine these drugs with alcohol, other drugs, or other substances, the effects can be profound. They can make someone weak.

Addiction might also weaken people since it affects a person’s eating habits. Heavy drug or alcohol use could ruin a person’s appetite or cause them to forget to eat. Drugs and alcohol could also be so expensive that people might not be able to afford food. Faced with a choice between paying for drugs or food, someone in the throes of addiction might choose drugs instead of the food they need to live.

Drug and alcohol recovery centers provide nutritious meals to help their patients rebuild their strength. Many offer nutritional counseling, exercise, and other healthy habits to help patients regain their total health.

The centers also offer another vital service: counseling. This is because people in recovery often need help treating conditions that have both physical and mental components. These conditions include drug or alcohol abuse, of course, but they also include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and bipolar disorder.

These patients and others might think that these disorders are weaknesses, but they aren’t. They’re complex conditions that are illnesses. They are not weaknesses or moral failings. Patients work hard to treat these conditions, which means that they’re definitely not weak. They would be weak if they didn’t address their problems. These patients are strong. They’re fighters. They already have strength and they hope to become even stronger.