So You Have Crossed A Line Biologically And Psychologically

Perhaps at some time in the future there may be research that demonstrates ways or means to allow you to return to moderate use.

At the present time moderating use is only an option for those persons who have early problem use
Early is the operative word

By the time you reach a drug or alcohol rehab center, you have been experiencing considerable life problems and mental and physical impacts of use.

It may not seem like that long because people who are addicted, use dysfunctional beliefs to allow them to keep using even when they are in trouble.

Abstinence Is Not A Goal

Abstinence for you is a requirement for you to achieve your real life goals which include school/work, exercise and recreation, positive social supports and relationships, quality home and community life.

For you abstinence is a state of being that you have achieved because you are already there, you are clean.

You just need to maintain it, enjoy it and eventually just like when you became experienced at driving, it will become second nature.

You won’t even think about it, except when the driving conditions are difficult and then you take extra care and caution and adjust your driving to the conditions of the road.

You will be able to keep yourself safe

Social Use of Cocaine

Once you have become dependent on cocaine, the only way to regain control over your life is to try to stop using completely.

The path to cocaine addiction at some point becomes a one way street, in which the route back to occasional use is blocked.

Virtually every one who enters treatment because of cocaine abuse has already tried to cut back dozens of times.

Therefore, complete abstinence, not controlled drug use is the only option known at this time.

Alcohol Limited Use

People who are at the early stages of problem use benefit most from controlling their own alcohol use with the objective being to cut down on alcohol consumption or to stop drinking altogether.

For clients who have progressed to being unable to stop drinking or to decrease their use and have unsuccessfully attempted several times to decrease or stop use, abstinence is the target as opposed to limiting or decreasing use.

After spending time in a drug or alcohol rehab, limited use is at best foolhardy, and at worst a ticket to relapse and another visit back to rehab.

Gradually Cutting Down Or Limited Use For Cocaine

This is a fruitless venture once you are addicted.

Each use fuels the craving and desire for cocaine and prolongs or postpones the recovery process indefinitely.

Clients who have been addicted to cocaine will need to stop using all other drugs including alcohol and marijuana.

The use of alcohol or marijuana decreases inhibitions and decreases the likelihood that abstinence will be maintained for cocaine.

Example

“Ralph” is 33 and enters treatment for cocaine addiction

Later, after having gone through treatment again, Ralph said “ I had two glasses of wine and wasn’t drunk at all; I was just feeling good. At the time he offered me the cocaine, I truly believed one line wouldn’t hurt me. I know I wouldn’t have made that same decision, though, if I had been stone cold sober”

This is the major danger of limited use after going through rehab. Even a small amout of alcohol or drug that wasn’t your drug of choice will lead to a decrease in judgement that will be harmful to your addicition treatment. This why it is usually safest to go with abstence after being in a drug or alcohol rehab facility.

Okay What About People Who Can Use Drugs or Alcohol Moderately?

Moderate use is defined as use of a psychoactive substance that does not generally cause problems either for the user or for society.

Problem use

There is a difference between problem drug use and addiction.

Problem drug or alcohol use is at the beginning of a spectrum of experienced negative effects on life and health .

The person notices an impact in a particular area of their life and decides to change their pattern of use.

Problem use has not taken over the person’s life.

Problem use can lead to an abuse cycle and addiction or it can be managed and reduced so the person stops using particular substances or moderates and reduces use

If You Have Been To Alcohol of Drug Rehab You Have Stepped Beyond Problem Use

Your drug and alcohol use:

Has changed the way you look, feel, and are treated by others,
Absorbs your thoughts and time,
Negatively influences your work and/or school,
Negatively influences your relationships, and
Causes you to feel worry, shame, guilt, anger, anxiety or depression
You have tried repeatedly to stop or reduce and have been unsuccessful

There is no such thing as limited use for you

Relapse After Drug or Alcohol Rehab

It is relatively easy for many people to change undesired behaviors temporarily, maintaining behavior changes is much more difficult.

That is why during drug rehab, the program supports you to change in multiple areas of your life, so that at any given time you are always moving ahead, even when one particular area may be left on the back burner for a while.

A lapse, or a slip is the initial use of a substance after an individual has made a commitment to abstain from that substance.

A relapse is a full return to the maladaptive behaviors originally associated with the use of the substance

Craving is Increased by a Single Use of Drugs or Alcohol

The expectation of use increases craving and a single dose or use of a drug or alcohol causes the body to react in an anticipatory way, i.e. you have trained your body to expect that you don’t stop at one glass or pill or injection.

When you lapse or slip, this single use puts you at risk for a full relapse, your body remembers and asks for more through escalated craving.

If you use the skills you have learned during drug rehab or what I am suggesting here, you can learn from this lapse and take action to reduce risk for further use.

Although you can learn from a lapse and from a full relapse, the most effective learning occurs during drug and alcohol free coping with life problems and by achieving your life goals

It is during the sober periods like rehab and addiction treatment that the skills are practiced to maintain continued sobriety. You do not have to relapse and slip to learn how to be sober.