The Steps to Recovery From Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and alcohol addiction are common occurrences in today’s social setup. Some people can’t party without food and good music.  Some can’t party without popping Ecstasy, snorting coke, or overindulging in the consumption of alcohol. These things seemed to have become as normal as breathing, but on an entirely different and harmful level.

For things that have assumed a certain form of normalcy in our society, there sure are a lot of adverse effects stemming from them. In the financial aspect, people with an addiction or a substance abuse problem spend over $365 billion each year to pay for health care, criminal justice, and the loss of productivity in the workplace.

In matters of public safety, the whole community is affected. It has been found that alcohol kills 6.5 times more adolescents than all illegal drugs combined. However, drug addiction doesn’t get away scot-free because this problem is linked to at least half of the major crimes in America. And of the suspects arrested, at least half of them were under the influence of drugs when they committed the crime.

On a more important note, the ones most affected by substance abuse and addictions are the direct party involved: the family and the individual himself. The relationship between family members can be distressed due to domestic physical and verbal violence brought about by personality change. The family may fall into financial crisis because the victim will inevitably use family funds to pay for the vises luring his life.

However, no matter how dire the situation may be there is always hope.  As they say, “When you hit rock bottom, there is no other way to go but up.”

The first step to recovery lies in the patient himself. Addiction treatment, and also substance abuse treatment, needs to start with the proper psychological and mental disposition of the patient. There is nothing harder than asking someone to get better when there is no desire from the person to do so. If a person admits that there is a problem and that he wants to do something about it, the battle is already half-won.

It is then crucial to find the perfect facility to house the patient.  Patients on the road to addiction recovery can achieve a sense of personal empowerment with the help of trained and caring professionals. The environment can also play a great part in the patient’s recovery. There are some facilities that only provide treatment after the person has been detoxified. Other rehab centers provide care during the detox process and then give the appropriate treatment after.

Alcohol abuse and other forms of substance abuse and addiction can be detrimental to the person, his family, and the society at large. For those seeking treatment, they may feel lost and alone. But they certainly need not to. Many people out there care for those who want to be better. Addiction treatment will always be available to those who ask. To those people who persevere, addiction recovery is not simply an attempt at the impossible.