When going into a drug or alcohol rehab center most people are filled with panic and anxiety. This comes from uncertainty about their need for treatment, the unusual surroundings, and the inescapable fact that they will be giving up the coping mechanism they have been depending on during years of substance abuse. When looking for the appropriate drug and alcohol treatment facility, it is necessary to ask the counselor you talk with what the day-to-day routine will be like. This will help allay your qualms of the environment and let you know what to anticipate. It is also important that the addict not have ready access to familiar places. For this reason, finding a place somewhere outside of the San Francisco Bay Area may be important.
If a part of your treatment consists of a detox from drugs or alcohol then a decent portion of this time will be spent relaxing and allowing your system to heal from years of drug or alcohol abuse. If you’re entering into a 28 day (or longer) residential rehab program then a lot of your day will be consumed by group gatherings, drug and alcohol education and learning, stress management, and other workshops focused on restoring life skills without the crutch of chemical substances.
The effects that different drugs and alcohol have on a person’s body hinge on the substance of abuse, the years of abuse, and the physical health and fitness of the man or woman going into rehab. Older opiate addicts (including heroin, oxycontin, and others) can expect their detox to last just about anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks or more before their body begins to feel normal again. Detox signs for opiate addicts commonly include body aches and other issues like stomach cramps and intestinal problems. Younger alcoholics, however, can get through their detox in as little as 5 days and move quickly into an effective and meaningful program of addiction therapy.
After you have had the opportunity to detox from your chemical of abuse (either drugs, alcohol, or both), your addiction treatment should focus on behavioral therapy. This can be done in either a residential treatment setting or an outpatient treatment program. Behavioral therapy like counseling (one-on-one or group), cognitive therapy, or psychotherapy supplies people in recovery with tools and strategies for dealing with issues like pressure and cravings. Addiction treatment also educates addicts how to avert relapse and how to deal with a relapse should one occur. On occasion the treatment specialists at the drug and alcohol rehab facility may suggest medications to the addict that will help lessen cravings and even stabilize their moods without the use of drugs or alcohol.
Prior to departing the drug and alcohol rehab facility, the counselors need to help you create a structured plan of recovery for your life after rehab. Although a thorough treatment program will get to the root causes of your disease (and addiction is a disease), it is critical that you have an ongoing plan for your recovery when you are back to the real world. This continuum of care ought to be written out and can be provided by going to 12 steps meetings like NA or AA, taking part in an outpatient rehab program, and building relationships with other addicts in recovery. There are plenty of options in the San Francisco Bay Area for these types of meetings. Look in the phone book or on the Internet for schedules and locations.
While no one expects perfection from the addict in recovery, the best chances of success are achieved by working with others from the San Francisco Bay Area that understand your disease either from a professional perspective or from personal experience.
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