Detox: The Difficult but Necessary First Step to Recovery

Recovery from drugs and alcohol ­­­is a physical and mental process, but detox is the crucial turning point. Actually, submission to detox is the initial and critical surrender, but detox is, on a physical basis, the first step to recovery. Until the body is cleared of any substances that can affect the mind, little progress can be made. Unfortunately, detox can range from extremely uncomfortable to painful and even deadly. Addicts know this, and the addicted brain uses it as an excuse to put off any attempt at abstinence. The longer the addict uses, the more severe the detox, and thus the cycle feeds on itself and worsens.

There are cases in which medical detox is recommended. These would include times when the addiction is so deep (long-term and continuous large amount of consumption of drugs or alcohol) that a tapering strategy is untenable and possibly dangerous. Also, when complicating medical issues (co-occurring mental disorder, diabetes, coronary disease, etc.) are present, medical supervision and appropriate pharmacological intervention are appropriate.

However, many who suffer from alcohol and/or drug dependency can benefit from supervised withdrawal. Drugs are available to ameliorate the discomfort of opiate withdrawal symptoms, and titrating—a scheduled reduction in alcohol or drug intake—can be an effective strategy. The key, though, is supervision. Because the addicted brain views continued use of a substance as the solution to the problem of discomfort, it will—in the absence of supervision—give priority to finding and using the substance, and attempting abstinence or moderation will take a back seat.

In a proper treatment setting, the goal—after safety—in this first step to recovery is to minimize discomfort to the point where the addict or alcoholic can be coached through the experience, with emphasis on the fact that it is temporary and relief is on the other side. As a corollary, it is useful for the patient to be counseled that sustained effort in recovery is required in order to avoid having to repeat the experience.

The Health Benefits of Prayer and Meditation

Prayer and meditation are used in complementary medicine to improve health. Both practices come from religious and spiritual traditions. The NIH and WebMD state that people who practice prayer and meditation experience greater physical and mental health benefits. Prayer can be used for a variety of purposes such as finding inner strength or requesting help from some form of a higher being. Meditation has been shown to increase calmness, improve psychological relaxation, cope with illness, and enhance health and well-being. It must be noted that although there are benefits to prayer and meditation, they are not substitutes for conventional treatment.

The Benefits and Uses of Prayer and Meditation

Studies show benefits for both prayer and meditation when used during regular treatment. Prayer appears to have positive health effects, although most studies have been inconclusive. Similarly, researchers are unsure of the changes in the body caused by meditation, or which diseases it might be best for, but the effects appear to be positive. Some health benefits of prayer and meditation are:

  • Lower blood pressure
  • Sense of Inner Peace
  • Increased longevity
  • Reduced symptoms of depression
  • Alleviation of anxiety, stress, and pain
  • Help with insomnia and physical symptoms associated with chronic illnesses such as heart disease, HIV/AIDS, and cancer

Prayer and meditation are often seen as something specific for people who are religious. However, even non-religious people have said that prayer can bring on a strong sense of inner strength or power.

It must be emphasized that prayer can be useful when used alongside treatment, but a physician should always be when it is used. Meditation helps individuals focus their attention and become aware of their thoughts and feelings in a non-judgmental way. This usually results in a state of calmness, physical relaxation, and psychological balance. Although beneficial, prayer and meditation should not be used in place of medicine to treat illnesses; but used in conjunction with a with therapy and support groups as a complete approach to recovery.

Equine Facilitated Therapy Can Be an Effective Tool in Addiction Treatment

Equine facilitated therapy involves the use of horses to establish trust, emotional openness, and a new approach to intimacy and bonding for addicts and alcoholics in recovery. As these very issues touch the core of the addict/alcoholic’s psychic pain, exploring them through the use of these large and powerful mammals is an effective way to promote healing.

Besides being massive, horses are highly intuitive and sensitive animals. The average person who isn’t familiar with them might approach one with trepidation but will often find that the animal is friendly and available. The experience of intimacy with the animal can be profound.

The addict who has been brought to the point of surrender to treatment has usually suffered damaged relationships and isolation. Mistrust and emotional defensiveness are the tools developed to protect against feelings of abandonment and betrayal. Anger, fear, and contradictory feelings of superiority and inferiority affect most of the addict’s sense of self and his or her experience of the world and, consequently, their decisions and actions.

Equine facilitated therapy is not about riding horses, although that may be an activity that brings added enjoyment and benefit. Instead, it’s about interacting with the animals, one on one, so that the patient can learn more about herself. Horses mirror people’s emotions and provide feedback. Through this modality, an addict’s feelings of fear, anger, sadness, and isolation can be brought to the surface and dealt with. At the same time, positive feelings—of joy, peace, and self-confidence—can emerge and be recognized for cultivation.

The newly recovering addict who opens emotionally through the act of bonding with a horse is then able to transfer that openness to other people—initially in one-on-one sessions with a counselor/therapist, and then with other patients in a group. When this is accomplished, approaching formerly estranged family members, friends, and employers (as well as new acquaintances) can be done on a new footing—one that leads to healthier and more stable relationships. The recovering addict/alcoholic with tools for interacting with other people stands a much greater chance of experiencing long-term sobriety.

Early Recovery Includes Mood Swings and Extreme Feelings

Ask anyone who has abused alcohol or drugs why they drink or use drugs, and they can give you an unending list: troubled marriage, problem children, work-related stress, financial troubles, loss of job. The basic underlying truth of all these excuses is that they don’t want to feel their feelings. They feel lonely, so they drown it with alcohol. They feel insecure, so they gather some security by popping some pills. They feel sad, so they drink for a pick-me-up. Alcohol and drug abusers do not like to feel their feelings; therefore, it is inevitable that those feelings will surface once recovery begins and substance abuse is no longer part of the equation.

Normal process

A currently popular Internet meme defines normal as “just a setting on the dryer,” and even though the word may cover a broad range, it is normal in recovery to experience intense feelings that bounce from high to low in a seeming matter of seconds. Feelings and emotions are new to recovering addicts, and they don’t know how to cope. A sudden burst of rage that seems to come out of nowhere or an agonizing fear that has little basis in reality can feel overwhelming without the customary soothing agent of alcohol or drugs. In recovery, drug addicts and alcoholics need to learn coping skills to deal with feelings they had anesthetized.

Managing emotions

Even though feelings can seem overwhelming, recovering addicts and alcoholics do have tools at their disposal to help them cope.

·         Finding support

Successful recovery is not a do-it-yourself project. People with long-lasting sobriety have learned that they need to work with others who are learning to live without drugs or alcohol. Finding a support network is important.

·         Watch for red flags

Crowds of former friends, favorite bars and restaurants, and family celebrations are examples of slippery slopes. Avoiding situations that used to be part of drinking and using drugs is an important part of the process.

·         Taking responsibility

Even though blaming others for the strong feelings that one experiences in early recovery may seem logical, it is not going to help in the recovery process. Owning one’s feelings and working through them is the key to sober living.

·         Medical problems

Sometimes the intensity of feelings goes away on its own. Other times, medical conditions might arise. Unusual or extreme symptoms need the attention of a physician.

Learning to actually feel your feelings is a new skill for people who have depended on chemicals to alter their perception. It not only is a skill that can be developed; it is an imperative one for full recovery.

Turning the Negative into Positive

Many families struggle with the hurt and disappointment of drug addiction and alcoholism. The disease of addiction changes families, and many people continue to suffer mental and emotional pain, long after the addiction is gone. Some families suffer a permanent change, as they watch their loved one’s life end because of addiction.

At times when addiction so terribly impacts the lives of family and loved ones, many people are left wondering how to pick up the pieces and move one. They may spiral downward and be plagued with depression and darkness, and they may think they will never live a happy life again. Some people have found that by working to help other families that are going through the same thing, they can heal their own lives as well.

Supporting Others

Losing a loved one to addiction is a terrible thing. Families feel pain and resentment, and may feel guilty for not being able to do something to help stop the addiction. It may be difficult to come to grips with the fact that they can’t do anything to bring their loved one back, but for some people, knowing they can do something to help other families helps a little.

Many individuals today that work in the addiction treatment field have been through the pain of addiction in their own family. They know firsthand the feelings that families of addicts feel. They start to heal when they are able to help other families overcome addiction and get their loved one back, safe and sound. They begin to put their pain behind them when they are able to share their story with others, in the hopes that other families will not have to suffer what they went through.

Addiction changes families. Those that experience crisis and loss because of a loved one’s addiction may eventually find a way to heal as they work to help others heal from this terrible disease.

Custom Addiction Treatment Programs

While addiction problems have similarities in every case, every case also has challenges and issues unique to each suffering individual. Recognizing the importance of treating each addict’s unique challenges is behind the approach to custom addiction treatment program therapy. Customizing the treatment so it makes an impacting difference in an addict’s life is crucial to long term recovery and can be the difference between getting sober and staying sober.

Alternative Inpatient Residential Therapies

No matter what addiction the patient is suffering with, a custom addiction treatment program can help uncover the underlying issues that contribute to the illness and find ways to adequately address them. The answer may be an inpatient residential treatment program that seeks to instill stability, routine and safety for the patient. Alternative therapies such as art therapy, equine therapy, group therapies and other therapeutic approaches may also be used to help addicts get and stay sober.

Short-Term And Group Treatment Programs

A smart way for addicted individuals to gain control over their addictions is through short term residential treatment programs. Customized treatment programs that are less than thirty days in length allow the individuals to make a change in their life without feeling like they are abandoning their jobs, friends and families. In these treatment programs, expert counselors, doctors and addiction specialists work intensively with people suffering with addictions to help them regroup and recover. Patients often get support through group meetings and gain friendships and relationships they can count on once they re-enter their regular lives. Having a support group they can call on if they feel weak, vulnerable or like relapsing can give people the strength and help they need to stay sober even when life gets difficult or overwhelming.

Long-Term Treatment Programs

Customized long term residential treatment programs are another option people struggling with addiction can explore. Many times, people weighed down by addiction need extensive time and therapy to work through their addiction to get to recovery. Lasting thirty days and longer, these long term programs are designed to teach patients new ways of viewing themselves, the world, their addictions and their abilities to overcome their struggles. Long term treatment programs can be beneficial in helping the patient create new habits and coping strategies during their extended stay that they can put into practice once they return home.

Addiction Recovery Help

Dealing with addiction and the problems and pain it causes is never easy. Admitting to yourself or loved ones that you need help can be one of the most humbling experiences of your life, but it can also be the point where your life takes a turn for the better. If you or someone you love needs help overcoming an addiction, look into our custom treatment programs to see how they can help you make a clean, fresh start to long-term sobriety!

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis Shares Her Journey Of Beating Addiction

It’s easy to think that fame and fortune somehow act as a shield to protect celebrities from the slings and arrows that the rest of the population face in life, but that is not the case. They have their own demons to face, and being in the spotlight on a continuous basis may bring with it even more pressure than the average person has to cope with. No matter what the explanation, celebrity addicts are quite common, and actress Jamie Lee Curtis has been open about discussing her experience, saying:

“I too found painkillers after a routine cosmetic surgical procedure and I too became addicted. The morphine becomes the warm bath from which to escape painful reality. I was a lucky one. I was able to see that the pain had started long ago and far away and that finding the narcotic was merely a matter of time.”

Drug Use a Symptom of the Problem

As Ms. Curtis pointed out, the substance of choice is a symptom of a bigger problem. An addict is turning toward the drug because he or she is in pain. The idea of holistic treatment for the mind, body and soul is to treat the whole person and get to the underlying reason for the addiction.

A treatment facility may use a number of techniques to achieve this goal. Some clients stay for long-term treatment where they can spend the time they need to get well. The program would include counseling, as well as group activities. For clients who are not able to stay for a 90-day treatment program, a short-term drug rehab treatment program of 14-28 days can help them get on the right track to sobriety.

Individual Treatment Programs for All Clients

Each client who is entering a holistic alcohol & drug treatment center is evaluated on admission. He or she would go through detoxification (detox) at the beginning of the process, if necessary. The staff would then devise an individual treatment plan that would eventually turn the client from a person who is focused on running away from uncomfortable feelings to someone who is better able to turn toward them and accept them.

This process will not happen overnight, and as Ms. Curtis herself has shared in interviews, it is “hard, painful work.”  Fortunately, she fully kicked the habit in 1999, worrying how much her addiction would negatively affect her daughter Annie.

Although painful, the process is worthwhile, because it opens up a newer, happier path for clients and a richer life in sobriety, as they seek help at a center offering holistic drug rehab. California is a beautiful place to visit and take the time needed to get well. If you are concerned about your own, or a loved one’s addictive behavior, please call us at 1-888-997-3006 to speak to a counselor today.

Get Away to a California Drug Rehab Center and Focus on Getting Well

Are you looking at options for a drug and alcohol treatment facility for yourself or a loved one? Dealing with this disease is not something that will happen overnight. It’s going to take some time. Making the decision to go to an inpatient program is an effective way to get to the root of the issue and develop a new lifestyle.

Lake Arrowhead Area Offers Numerous Benefits

The Lake Arrowhead area has a lot to offer clients who are in recovery. Checking into an affordable rehab center in this area will allow you or your loved one to spend time in a part of the country that is conveniently located 90 minutes from just about everywhere in southern California, including Los Angeles. Rehab centers offer more than just therapy sessions to clients, and there is plenty to see and do to complement time spent in therapy sessions.

Part of the recovery process is spent in enjoyable activities in the community. Since Lake Arrowhead is a four-season resort, clients can choose from a number of enjoyable activities. Boat and jeep tours are very popular ways to explore the great outdoors. There are plenty of opportunities to see live concerts. The Lake Arrowhead Trolley offers narrated sightseeing tours, including local history and movies filmed in the area.

Inpatient Treatment is Free from Distractions

If you look at the problem of addiction, it is someone trying to deal with pain by using a substance as an anesthetic.  Becoming a client at Above It All Recovery Center will mean a big change in dealing with the addiction. It won’t be possible to continue using drugs or alcohol, for one thing.

The staff at the Center are trained to help clients take a look at the underlying reasons for their addictions and to help them come to terms with them. Each client is unique, and an individual treatment program will be devised to meet his or her needs. This treatment model means that the client gets individualized attention, without having to deal with the stresses of everyday life.

Removing a client from the temptations from his or her everyday surroundings is also an effective strategy. The triggers which normally exist to drink or use drugs are no longer present. You or your loved one can focus on making a fresh start when you choose the Above It All Treatment Center.

Family And Recovery: The Importance Of Involving Family

Why does the addict’s family need to be involved in the progress?  It seems pretty clear that the addict, who has been abusing alcohol and or drugs and placing him or herself and family members in difficult situations, should be the primary focus of any treatment process.

But, this viewpoint holds the recovery of the addict in question back, although it still is possible to recover without the family’s assistance.

What about Addiction and the Family is So Important in this Process?

Unfortunately, one of the primary difficulties of treatment lies in helping the family understand that they engaged in behaviors which helped make the addiction possible.  This is a much different statement than assigning the family blame.  It’s just the way addiction works – everyone shares a bit of responsibility and can do something to help the addict better, including all family members.

Families provide “enabling” behaviors which allow the addict to continue his or her destructive behavior.  Some of these behaviors are common enabling behaviors families give to addicts:

  • Providing money to the addict for any reason, knowing it will most likely be spent on drugs or alcohol
  • Justifying the addict’s behavior as “only occurring once in a while”
  • Giving the addict too much love, figuring they’ll “get better in their own time”
  • Allowing the addict to drink or use drugs as long as they don’t do something too dangerous, like driving

The point is that these behaviors in family members allow the addict to continue their behavior, when it’s best for the addict to learn a clear line of what is acceptable and what is not.  Drawing a boundary and ceasing enabling behaviors like this helps the addict understand and find motivation for discontinuing their destructive behavior.

This is why family counseling and on-going support is so important.

It’s Difficult for Addicts to get Better Alone

For family members having a difficult time understanding why they need to be involved in the treatment process, it’s important to remember how difficult anything is to do alone.  They should recall a time where they tried to handle something without talking with other family members, friends, or other trusted individuals.  It’s never easy to do something alone.

The more support a family member can get in recovery, the more likely they are to have a successful recovery.  Above It All Treatment Center helps family members understand how to support their loved in a healthy way so they discontinue the destructive behavior and begin living a happy and peaceful life.

Get Treatment from Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers in California

Rolling Hills and views

Are you concerned about your own or a loved one’s drinking? Alcoholism is an insidious disease that winds its way through families, destroying lives as it goes. If you look back over time to try to determine exactly when you or your loved one became an addict, you’d probably see that it was a slow, gradual process.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in a dependence on alcohol. The fact that it is easy to obtain alcohol and socially acceptable to drink doesn’t make it any less dangerous to you or the people around you. Once drinking becomes something that controls you or someone you love, it is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

While having the illness take hold didn’t happen overnight, don’t wait for your loved one to hit rock bottom before you start trying to get them some help. Likewise, you don’t want to wait until you have lost everything near and dear to you before you start to look at addiction inpatient treatment center in California to see how they can help you move away from addiction.

Inpatient Recovery Centers for Alcohol Abuse

Seeking treatment at an inpatient recovery center means you or your loved one will be able to focus on getting well, away from the distractions and stressors that accompany regular life. On arrival at an alcohol recovery inpatient facility, the first step for all clients is to go through detoxification.

After this process has been completed, an individualized treatment plan is set up for each client. The 28-day treatment program allows clients to focus on getting well. While at first glance it may seem as though people can’t interrupt their busy lives to take time away from their responsibilities to get help, the Above It All counselors will work with you and your family to find solutions so that the focus can be on getting well for those precious days.

When you consider that alcoholism is a chronic, life-threatening disease, nothing should stand in the way of clients who need help getting all the support they need to get well. Everyday life is full of distractions, stresses and triggers that will only make an alcoholic want to continue to use the same coping strategies, which involve drinking as a means to get comfort, deal with stress, or whatever the payoff is for continuing to abuse alcohol.

Get a Fresh Start from an Addiction Treatment Center

Recovery from alcohol abuse is possible. To be successful, you will need to seek treatment from the best alcohol and chemical dependency centers. Los Angeles residents and clients from other parts of the state and out of state come to Above it All Treatment Center. Contact us now to find out more about our programs. We have recovery specialists available to take your call.