You are not the only person struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Something has brought you to this article, there is a reason that you are reading this. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Rehab begins with a choice to get clean, and a detox from the substance you are addicted to. The detox may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but the rest of the treatment time span will vary. What matters is that you take the first step towards the goal of conquering your addiction.
Table of Contents
Your Treatment
Your treatment will be specifically tailored for your recovery. And, because of that, it will be unique to your situation, and the length of time it takes may vary. Not everyone’s body receives and accepts treatment the same way.
Factors that may come into play when determining the length of your treatment may be how serious the addiction is, which means how long you have been suffering from the addiction and how much or how often you consume the substance that you are addicted to. There is no one direct answer as to how long it will take.
Some patients need longer-lasting programs with more intense therapy. Others benefit greatly from short programs. The important thing is to focus on today, and not tomorrow, or how long your rehab timeline will last because some people never really stop getting treatment.
Just for today, I will try to live through this day only and not try to tackle my whole life problem at once. – Frank Crane
Addiction
You know how addiction feels like a roller coaster, and it is exhausting. In addiction, we lose ourselves, and often we are afraid of who we will be (or how we will feel) without our substance to keep us company.
Addiction can also make us lose trust in ourselves. Recovery will help to rebuild that trust in yourself. Treatment can be extended if you feel like you need more time under the facility’s medical guidance and supervision- it is perfectly normal to extend your treatment process.
What Happens in a Treatment Program
In any addiction treatment program, there is a basic protocol or a method of steps that are followed.
First, you will go through an intake which is basically very detailed paperwork. This will help the facility better understand your background, who you are, and gauge what your needs will be.
After filling out your intake if you will be doing an inpatient treatment, you will be given a tour of the facility and shown your room that you will stay in during the duration of your treatment.
Once your intake and tour are done you will go through a mental and physical evaluation. Physicians will meet with you to evaluate you on different levels so that they can better understand how to make this detox treatment best suit all of your needs including nutritional needs.
Next will be the detox or the weaning process where your body (and mind) may go through a few weeks of symptoms such as sweating, nausea, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety.
Every person experiences detox differently. You may have all of these symptoms, none of them, or go through different symptoms. The important thing to remember through this is that it doesn’t last forever, and you will feel much better once it is all done.
Counseling and Group Therapy
Through every single step of your treatment, there will be counselors helping you to get through it by talking you through it, encouraging you, helping you to understand and deal with the feelings and emotions that you will go through during the detox, and afterward.
In addition to one on one counseling, you will have a chance to join in group therapy where you can talk and share with others that are in recovery, as well. This is important because sometimes recovery can make you feel alone and singled out in your family or circle of friends.
Inpatient Rehab Treatment
Once a patient goes through detox the body is technically not addicted to the substance anymore, but the treatment is far from over. Many would say that the hardest part is over, though. There are two options after detox, one is to stay at the facility, the other is to go home and come back to the facility to continue treatments.
The most common form of addiction rehab is inpatient treatment. It is the most common because with an inpatient you stay at the facility the entire time you are going through treatment. This separates you from temptation, access to substances, and gives you full focus on recovering while being under professional medical supervision.
This can take 28 days to 6 months depending on all of the various factors previously mentioned.
Outpatient Rehab Treatment
Another form of rehab treatment is outpatient. This type means that instead of staying at the facility during your rehab treatment, you will stay at home and come to the facility a certain amount of time each week. While this may not work for every patient, it is helpful for some to be surrounded by the support of their family or people at home.
Dual Diagnosis
Are you one of the adults suffering from a dual diagnosis? Mental health issues affect about 20% of adults, so it is more common than most people think. And, about a quarter of those adults will also struggle with some type of addiction.
When a mental health disorder is paired with addiction it is known as a dual diagnosis. A dual diagnosis will be revealed during the intake process, and treatment will be specifically tailored to the patient’s needs. There are different levels of care in addiction treatment whether there is a dual diagnosis, or not.
Ongoing & Active Recovery
As many recovering addicts know, recovery never really stops, and neither does treatment. Long after the 30, 60, 90, or 120-day clinical treatment is over they still participate in aftercare.
Active recovery is when an addict goes to meetings and it helps to prevent relapses from occurring.
Rehab
Don’t let the unspecified time of rehab treatment confuse you or get you down. Chin up, and make the call to Long Island Treatment Center- they are waiting for your call. Addiction can be a thing of your past, instead of your present reality. You can do it!