Recognizing you need help is one huge step to recovery. Addiction to drugs or alcohol, just like any other disease, is a health problem. It is important to acknowledge that it is more than just a legal issue -it is a public health matter and should undergo treatment. In this article, we will shed light on what do you learn in rehab and the process that can help you overcome addiction.
What Do You Learn In Rehab and Why You Should Go
What are Rehab Facilities
Rehab facilities for addiction are devised to facilitate treatment and recovery. It provides people with addiction the additional care and assistance they need to achieve recovery. Its core function is to aid clients in making positive changes in their lives using correcting maladaptive behaviors.
In these facilities, counselors, psychologists, and other professionals facilitate treatment and therapy for the patients. Rehabs use both individual counseling and group therapy. Individual counseling sessions may sometimes take place daily. Patients are assisted in discovering other significant factors, be it emotional or psychological, that led to the addiction.
It is important to note that such factors -being the possible root cause of the disease – need to be addressed for recovery to be achieved. For group therapy, clients are facilitated by creating new friendships, as social connections are considered a vital aid to their recovery.
What Do You Learn In Rehab
Rehab is a place for unloading and unlearning, and at the same time, for learning and growing. There is so much a rehabilitation facility can offer to the community, and below is a list of things what you can learn in rehab:
Admit fault. People with addiction find it a challenge to take accountability, as the disease makes them think there is nothing wrong with them or what they are doing. Through rehabilitation programs, clients will learn that they are responsible for what they choose to do and the consequences of their choices. Taking accountability will keep them from blaming other phenomena or someone else for their addiction and behavior.
Forgive themselves. When a person with addiction starts to own up to their mistakes, it may heavily weigh them. Once they take accountability, the client will learn to forgive themselves for their shortcomings in the past. It may take a long time for the client to realize and understand that they deserve to be forgiven. When they are finally able to forgive themselves, they will begin to let other people forgive them.
Cause of addiction. Many factors lead up to addiction. People can suffer from addiction because of influences from their environment, like living and growing up in an alcoholic household. Others may have become addicted because of a gene that predetermined them to addiction, or maybe because they have parents who suffer from addiction. Through rehab programs, clients may explore themselves and their past in both individual counseling and group therapy. When they recognize what led them to their addiction, they can process their feelings and deal with their issues appropriately.
Healthy coping skills. People who suffer from addiction most probably started using alcohol and other substances to cope with challenging events in their lives. While they may think that these substances help, they cannot eradicate or solve their problems. When they start using and appropriating these skills in their lives, alcohol and other substances will no longer be an option for coping.
Better communication. The patients do so much talking in individual counseling and group therapy. Clients will be encouraged to talk about their stories, especially their feelings until communicating becomes a habit. When they can express themselves, they can get the help they need, especially when they would feel cravings or feel tempted. They may be able to communicate with their loved ones and start making amends.
Build relationships. People with addiction may have problems with their relationships with their family, loved ones, and even friends. The disease makes them unable to use their moral compass, which ends up hurting other people and breaking relationships. Through counseling, they are taught new skills, including skills in rebuilding connections and relationships.
Strength. Addiction makes people feel weak, as they are easily swayed into using substances or drinking alcohol. Patients are reminded of their strengths, which encourages their sense of self and self-esteem. Therapeutic methods in rehab will help them to regain control within and over themselves.
Be happy. Another factor that can lead people to addiction is depression. Most rehabilitation facilities emphasize the clients’ happiness and well-being, as this will help prevent them from going back to drinking and using alcohol and substances, respectively.
What Do You Learn In Rehab
Easy 12-Step Addiction Recovery Program
One of the widely used treatment tools for people with drug and alcohol addiction is the 12-Step Program developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. This treatment method is designed to aid people in understanding the journey during and after recovering from addiction.
Basically, what do you learn in rehab constitutes: people can help each other in attaining and sustaining abstinence from abusing substances. However, healing cannot be achieved unless people with addiction submit themselves to a higher power. While the 12-step model is deemed helpful and good for many, others struggle with the interpretation that the Program has a strong religious element.
The following are the 12 Steps as written in the original “Big Book” by the Alcoholics Anonymous:
Admit powerlessness over the addiction
Believe that higher power, in any form, can help
Decide to surrender control to the higher power
Take a personal inventory
Admit to the higher power, to self, and another person one’s wrongs
Be ready to let the higher power correct any flaws in one’s character
Ask the higher power to remove those flaws
Make a list of mistakes done to others and be willing to make amends or to take accountability
Reach out to those who have been hurt, unless doing so will only cause harm
Continue taking a personal inventory and admitting when on the wrong
Seek enlightenment and connection with the higher power by praying and meditating
Carry the message of the 12 steps to others in need, and practice the principles in everything
How Patients Pathway To Recovery
Aside from all the important things you can learn in rehab, there is another vital part of recovery: feelings. Here are the reasons why:
Feelings are a way of knowing ourselves. When we know ourselves, we gain control; we can look in or introspect and reflect on our past, actions, and decisions.
Feelings help us connect deeply with others. Addiction is a disease to the self, leading to destructive patterns that ruin relationships. When we learn to connect with others through our feelings, we may be able to practice empathy to improve relationships.
Feelings aid in effecting change. Addiction makes people detached and numb, which factors in poorly made decisions. When someone with addiction starts to recognize their feelings once again, they may begin making changes in the way they perceive and process situations, handle relationships and make choices.
Addiction damages one of the most important aspects of self-feelings. This leads people with addiction to become insensitive and selfish.
So, what do you learn in rehab and why should you go? When someone with an addiction can recognize their feelings, process, and deal with them appropriately.
Conclusion
Recovery is not a walk in the park. It has its ups and downs. It is important to acknowledge that healing is not linear and that you need only to trust the process and be patient with yourself. We have discussed the key points on addiction and rehab. Now you can confidently tell people what you know when asked, what do you learn in rehab?
