The first week in a drug and alcohol rehab program is filled with so many emotions.  Fear and hope go side by side.  Ususally there is some anger at letting your life get to the point where a rehab treatment center is advisable.  There is also the comfort of being with people in a similar journey and the knowledge you are not alone in this.

There is also some mixed feeling about all the rules in rehab.  Sometimes clients feel like they are in some sort of voluntary prison.  All of these extra restrictions may seem like just one more burden to bear besides the addiction they came in with.  The rules are there for the solitary reason that moving past an addiction is hard work.  Sometimes it is uncomfortable work.  All the rules provide the truly safe enviroment for change to take place.  It it were possible for the person to change without all these rules and protections, they would have done it before they got to the rehab center.

So while I can sympathize with the feelings that the rules may seem to be in control, it is those same rules that you actually came to a rehab facility for.  Sould you really want to go to a place that had open drug and alcohol use?  Would you really want to stay in a center that allowed physical and verbal agression to take place?  Would you want to sit through lectures or groups where everyone was coming and going as these please, with all sorts of noise and distractions so you really couldn't understand what was being said?

The rules make the rehab and sometimes rehab isn't easy.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.