Drug and Alcohol rehab is involved in saving peoples lives. Not just correcting them, or changing them but literally in many cases saving them. As spring comes around for another year I am reminded of a friend of mine who we were not able to save. Suicide and overdose are two of the biggest killers with people with a drug and alcohol addiction. Suicide claimed my friend after a long battle he had with cocaine. Many times I have given as much imformation as I can to increase your odds at a drug or alcohol rehab center. It’s because the consequences are so permanent if we do not succeed. Drug and alcohol rehab is serious treatment for a serious problem. If you are in a rehab, work at the program like your life depends upon it, as it most likely does. As for my friend, I wish him well where ever he is in the universe today, I also wish him peace.

Alcohol and drug rehab is not for everyone who has a drug or alcohol addiction. Who should not go to a rehab? Number one would be people who are still for the most part in control of their life. They are still functioning quite well in their job. They still have for the most part financial control of their life. Drug and alcohol may becoming a large and significant problem, that is starting to interfere with the normal functioning of their life. They have few if any legal consequences because of drugs or alcohol. These clients are far better served in many cases with outpatient programs and counseling. Private one to one therapy may be a choice.

Rehab is more suited who have repeatedly tried to quit with no success. Rehab is for people who have failed with outpatient treatment. Their lives are becoming uncontrolable and have serious issues in their life because of drug and alcohol abuse. Rehab is not also for people who don’t want to change. If you truly don’t want to quit, don’t go a rehab center. Going to make others happy will most likely lead to disappointment. If you don’t think you can quit but really want to, then go, let the drug or alcohol rehab center show you the way. Rehab is mentioned in the press so much it seems like everyone is going. Not so, other options may be better for many people. Rehab is more for the most serious, resistant cases of addiction, and then only for the ones committed to change.

The time periods at drug and alcohol rehab vary between 28 and 90 days or sometimes even longer. During that long a period there are bound to be at least a few times where the desire and the conviction to change wane. If your desire to change slips to too low a level you may make the decision to quit or give up. With the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction this can lead to diasterous results.

There are all the obvious ways ,such as daily goals, exercise, and monitoring your progress. Sometimes listening to something motivational, about someone who has overcome tremendous odds can help. It’s even better if it is not neccessarily about addiction. Hopefully the rehab center you are with is giving you enough examples of people overcoming addiction.

A great little video I came across is one by Lance Armstrong. His story is really incredible and really helps you believe in the power of the human spirit. Watching it daily for the period of your rehab treatment could really help. It is quite expensive, but not when compared to the overall cost of a trip to rehab, and the overall cost of addiction. you can veiw a sample of it by clicking here. Change is change. It always doesn’t have to be about drugs and alcohol in rehab. Inspiration can be found anywhere.

When you leave a drug or alcohol rehab there are the highest of hopes that all will go well and your life is headed in a new direction. As part of your relapse prevention plan it might be wise to have clear, clear definitions of your sobriety. There should be a clear set of behaviors that are to followed every day and every week to insure you stay safe. Also after rehab you should have a clear list of things that indicate you are headed towards a relapse. These are signs that you need to talk with someone before a slip might occur.

One of the reasons there are multiple trips to rehab centers is that sometimes people wait too long before seeking help again. If you have a slip, you may want to consider going back to the rehab for a quick tune-up. It’s not that you have to relearn the drug rehab program. You just have to figure out the laspes in thinking that allowed you to be at a point of decision of whether to drink or use drugs again. By going back right away you will avoid a full blown relapse and all of the guilt and lies that go with it. By dealing with it immediately you will still have all the momentum of your rehab and sobriety to keep you on track. If you realpse in the first 6 months after rehab, it might get a huge benefit from a quick, short, and intensive visit back to rehab.

Decide before you leave your drug or alcohol rehab what behavior will cause you to come back for help. Tell you family and friends, so if it happens, you catch it quickly.

I have read numbers as high as 4 to 6 trips to a drug and alcohol rehab center before someone deals with their addiction. This involves a tremendous cost in terms of time, effort and money. This leads to two questions. Firstly, why does it take so many attempts at drug rehab to finally to succeed? Secondly, how to resolve the advertised rates of success of 60% or higher many rehabs mention with the fact for many clients it is no where near that number.

For the first question, may have something to do with the reasons why someone goes to rehab. Sometimes clients come to rehab only to avoid legal consequences of the drug and alcohol use. Others only go to appease their family and loves ones. While the pay lip service to quitting they are unwilling to pay the price of change. Dealing with addiction is difficult. Going to rehab for reasons other than a burning desire to change your life forever will lead to a less than optimal result. This may be part of the reason for the high number of visits to drug rehab.

The second question may be answered by asking what is success? If a drug rehab considers success as clean and sober at one year, then a client slips at 18 months as far as the rehabs rates are concerned the client is a success. I’m not saying anybody is doing anything underhanded here. I’m simply pointing out how difficult it is to quote “rates of success”. While shorter term numbers are very useful, drug addiction is more difficult to be successful in the longer term. This is probably why there are a lot of people who have had multiple trips to rehab.

Is rehab worth it? Obviously yes, the alternative is not a life. However, if a client goes to rehab, solely and totally for the right reasons, maybe we can lower this number to one or two.

At most drug and alcohol rehab centers the consequences of using drugs or alcohol are severe. Most places will involve at the very least a suspension, and the majority of centers will expell the individual. With the stakes being so high you might want to consider writing some tighter definitions of sobriety for yourself. This will help you to go to a counselor much sooner, so you can stay safe and within the rules of the rehab. Many clients write a definition of sobriety that involves consumption. As long as they didn’t use the think they are still sober.

While you are in a rehab you might want to consider being sober to include no contact with anyone who can procure drugs or alcohol for you. If you phone ar e-mail someone who would supply you, even if you do not broker a deal, you are no longer sober. This might shock you enough to go tell a counselor what your behavior was so you can do something before you acquire and consume. It is about setting boundaries to protect and encourage you before you place yourself in a position of being removed from a rehab. No one wants to remove people from a rehab center. Set boundaries for yourself. If you even find yourself thinking how you would get drugs into a center, go talk to some one. Fantasizing about beating the rehab’s security is a dangerous step away from your success. If you are to be successful with your battle with addiction, you must start to take steps long before you are confronted with the choice of drinking or using what is in your hand. Decide and define unsafe behaviors that are far more inclusive than just using. Stay within the boundaries and make your rehab experience a successful one.

In alcohol and drug rehab you will ultimately be giving up more than just drugs and alcohol. You are going to change an entire way of life. Your social circle will change as you realize some of your old friends will not be safe for you after rehab. Your daily routine will change as you start to get up early and go to bed at a more normal time. You will have to give up some behaviors as these are linked with your drug use, and may trigger you to relapse after rehab. You may wonder if there will be anything that is you when you are left removing so many things.

The good news is you are removing a lot of things you will be happy to be without. All the lying, manipulation and hiding will ge gone. The damage to your body of the alcohol and drug abuse will also disappear. Your unhealthy looking body will disappear. All the debt, firings at work, and fear of the police will also disappear. This distrust between you and your loved ones will also gradually disappear. So go ahead lose your addiction in rehab, and lose a whole lot more while you are at it.

Much of the activity in alcohol and drug rehab is compulsory. We all know the reasons why. Even if the reasons for all the rules in rehab make sense, this constantly “having” to do things can wear down most clients from time to time. One of the ways around this is to find some activity that you choose to do on your on that is entirely of your own making. Find a way to “volunteer” around the rehab center and help somebody.

An example of this was a client who got up a little earlier each morning and washed all the left over coffee cups from the night before. Then when the gal showed up to do the dishes each day she didn’t start with a pile left over from the last night. Wow talk about helping start her day right. There are always common rooms such as laundry, T.V., games, or smoking rooms that constantly need tidying up. Claim some part of the rehab as you own and keep it neat just because you want to. Find some other client to help. If someone just can’t get to working out regularily, be their gym buddy and get them there. If someone is a very poor reader, find a good book on addicition and read it to them under the “guise” of needing their input to understand it. (You’ll be suprised what you will learn) Find a way to help somebody else at the rehab center, choose it on your own, you actually will be helping yourself.

At drug and alcohol rehab one of the most important things that need to be changed is sleep patterns. Clients that stay up late night after night often develop trouble going to sleep. Inside a rehab is not a place to start using more medication so chemical sleep aides are not always a feasible option. Obvious things like getting up early and getting a lot of vigorous exercise can help a tremendous amount. Also look at your caffiene intake. Too much coffee at rehab can make it very difficult to fall asleep.

A website with some very good information on the problem is CBT for Insomnia. It’s an online program available at a very resonable price. It might make more sense then trying another drug to solve this. Sleep patterns are critical to relapse. Getting a great nights sleep in a cornerstone of sobriety. In a rehab or out, it is a neccessary tool and step.

In drug and alcohol rehab, what would you choose if you could pick a set of new habits. Rehab is about choice. You can choose to change. You can choose to stay the same. Staying in a rehab center is like pushing the pause button on life. A chance to look around the move away from destructive behavior. Sometimes when considering change it can be a bit overwhelming. Everybody says, choose a new life. Choose a new direction. Sometimes it may feel like choosing a flavour of ice cream in a store with 100 flavours. So many to pick from, but what’s the right one for you.

A simple way to make some of these choices is by patterning or modeling. Look around and find some role models that are doing some of the things you would like to do. If you want to start a business, find some business people who are sucessful. Then look at the habits they have and do daily. Then start with them. Some of the habits you might find and want to copy are:

Planning daily

Reading daily

Meditation

Exercise

Volunteering

Habits provide structure. Habits once formed don’t require a lot of thought and effort. Not having to choose and decide what to do every waking moment is relaxing and stress relieving. This a great for addiction and is a worthy goal to acquire while in a drug rehab center.