There are always excuses involved in addiction and drug rehab.  Things like, "you don't understand the pressure I'm under".  I can't go to drug rehab right now, because I'm too busy at work and with my family.  Given enough time, we can always find a "good reason" not to the things we need to move on in our life.  The I'm too busy hanging on to my crappy life to work on improving it.

Even clients at a drug rehab center can find excuses.  My favorite aunt is sick and I have to leave early.  I think my wife is leaving me, and I have to go back and try to save my relationship.  I think I have learned enough and I can save my family some money by leaving early.  ( Funny how when buying drugs or alcohol there isn't a lot of concern about the family's finances. ) 

You know the great thing about excuses? They have no conscience.  They can work both ways.  You can use excuses to "justify" doing the right thing.  How about, "I can always do those other things later, but now I'll just finish my drug rehab."  I know there are things in my life I could be taking care of right now, but I'll be better equipped to do them after I go to drug rehab.  I know I could spend the money on other things, but I think drug rehab is the best investment for me right now.

You see, if you realy want, you can use excuses to support you for doing the right thing.  Why not take an old unhealthy habit and turn it into something that will support you.  You already know how to make great excuses, so make up some the keep you in a drug and alcohol rehab program until you are done what you came to do, get sober.

When you deal with a addicted person or client and you are one of a group of people dealing with this person, at some point you may come across splitting. This happens is a drug rehab quite often, especially at the beginning of the rehab program.  Splitting is a manipulation technique.  It inolves making you feel special, and tries to pull you away from the group concencus.  Here is a typical splitting scenario. 

Someone may come up to you and say, " Do you know what Bill did to me?"  Then they explain the injustice or how they were "treated unfairly".  Then comes the splitting comment ….  I know YOU would never do that!  In one sentence they give you a "compliment", and pull you away from the other person.  This type of manipulation involves creating a subgroup of 2 people, you and them, who reall know what is going on.

When you are dealing with people with an addiction or in drug rehab, be aware of splitting.  This is especially true if you are just dealing with a loved one over the phone while they are at a drug rehab.  Statement like, "You are the ONLY family member that understand what I am going through" is a splitting statement.  Invariably requests for "special" treatment will follow.  The key to deal with splitting is to simply bring in the other poeple.  A good response to the above statement would be to answer with, "Wow, I didn't know that, let's get the rest of the family on a conference call and see if we can get them to understand.  It's inportant everyone know you feel this way!"  Splitters will immediately back off.  They do not what an open conversation with everyone, as they are probably telling the other family members the say line they just told you. 

Splitters are not only in addiction and drug rehab.  You will find them everywhere in your life.  Truth and openess are the best answer to them.

Tony Robbins is an amazing speaker.  I have seen him live, up close and personal, and if you ever get the chance …. Go.  As 2007 draws to a close, thought naturally turn to next year and what you would like to accomplish in the New Year.  Drug rehab is about change and so is the start of a new year, so it is doubly important to stop, and plan a little for the future.  I saw this and thought I would pass it on.  It only take 3 or 4 minutes to watch and will help you a lot in thinking about what direction you would like to go after drug rehab.  Click here for The 12 Tenets for the New Year, from Tony Robbins!

Addictions gradually isolate and destroy lives.  With the so called war on drugs, many times it seems that it is the only addiction we really focus on as a society.  The other addictions ruin careers, marriages and families as well.  If you want to determine the "popularity" of the different types of addictions, again looking at the number of searches for that term on the internet is a fairly valid method.  If a lot of people are searching for gambling addiction, then it must be a concern.

When you look at the top ten non drug addictions I was quite surprised again by the number one spot.  Maybe I forgot just how much that comuters have become a part of our lives, but still I didn't expect it.  Click here to see the top ten and also the next ten "honorable mentions" for non drug addictions.

I have said on far more than one occation that uncontrolled stress is the number one enemy of any drug and alcohol rehab program.  Uncontrolled stress is the number one cause of relapse.  Well guess what?  Stress leads to unhealthy activities in people with addictive behavior and those without.  There is a great article showing that under stress we all pretty much do poor and negative things to ourselves and others.  In a drug rehab program you really must learn ways to control the stress in your life.  Have a look at what the American Psychological Association has to say about this.

Some of the areas they say are impacted in a bad way by stress are diet, activity level, sex drive, moods and depression.  If there  is any doubt about stress and the connection to relapse look at the long list in this site.  Then double your efforts while you are in a drug and alcohol rehab program to learn to control and mitigate stress in your life.

Those who are dealing with drug and alcohol addicition often feel powerless against the situation in society. How can a parent make the world safer for their kids? How can a church leader work to make their community safer from drug addicition and all it’s problems? How can a young person, frustrated at seeing his or her clssmates offer and using drugs and alcohol do something to make a difference?

There is a website for just such requests. It is about ordinary people making a difference. There is lots of good information. Best of all on the home page there is an area called “What can I do?”. Click on it and the are suggestions to try. The theme is joining together to make a difference in the struggle against alcohol and drugs. The site is www.jointogether.org. It is a truly great idea.

At a drug and alcohol rehab center, how long should you stay? Ideally this might be arrived at by looking at the length and severity of the addiction. How many other attempts at drug or alcohol rehab have been attempted before? Another possible suggestion might be to stay until you and your counselor felt you were ready.

Such attempts to customize the length of stay, don’t seem to result in higher success rates. Unfortunately, even with very skilled counselors, predicting outcome is very difficult and the research shows, these predictions are not very accurate. The most accurate determanent we have for outcome, is length of stay. The longer you stay, up to a point, the more likely of the client staying sober. Staying longer and the odds of success actually go down. Somewhere around the 90 day mark is the highest chance of success. If drug and alcohol are severely affecting and destroying the quality of your life and you have had no success in your previous attempts to stop, three months is the length of stay which will give you the best opportunity to achieve your goal.

In most drug and alcohol rehab sites you see a small amount of information about family involvement. It almost looks like lip service. There are comments like, families and spouses need to be involved in the rehab process for the best possible outcome. Some rehab programs involve the family in the last weekend or have some weekend therapy session along the way.

While anything is better than nothing, more needs to be done for the families and spouses of the person with the addicition. Even though they haven’t used drugs themselves, being close to an addicted person has resulted in changes in their life and personality. The way they interact in the world has changed. Their trust level has changed. Their financial situation has changed. While you have a spouse, son or daughter in rehab you need to work on some of these things yourself so there may be a successful outcome. Like it or not, to a certain extent, your in this together.

In most alcohol and drug rehab programs role playing can assume an important position. The funny thing is that it is hard to get clients to take role playing seriously. Most clients either find it too uncomfortable, or constantly make up so many jokes as to sabotage any effectiveness of the exercise. Role playing is a truly great exercise. It allows you to practice situations that cause difficulty in your life with no chance of getting hurt.

It allows you to repeat over and over again until the languaging of a client’s reply becomes smooth and comfortable. Role playing how to turn down drugs or alcohol should be practiced by all clients before the leave a drug or alcohol rehab. Role playing different reponses to social or family situations that ususally ended up in arguments in the past is a great way to try new skills in relationships.

Role palying may feel uncomfortable, but it is so much less uncomfortable than living an addicted lifestyle.

There are so many many options out there to choose from in drug and alcohol rehabs. I spend a lot of my time looking at what is being offered and thinking about the pros and cons of each type. I enjoy looking at and evaluating everything I can so as to offer whatever information possible to help people make the best choice for them. I have come across quite a few sites that really bash 12 step.

I readily admit I personally do not like 12 step. But I think some of the complaints go way overboard. I feel if you are digging into your pocket and spending your hard earned dollars you should get more than just a 12 step program at a drug and alcohol rehab center. Since 12 step information and meetings are essentially free, a center where you pay money can do better than that. However as an organization for people who have no money for drug or alcohol rehab, 12 step meetings are a viable choice. And to personally attack people who follow 12 step devoutly as a cult seems to be a tad extreme.

I think we need as many options as possible available to us in dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. You need to find the best choice for your goals, financial situation, and time available to deal with this problem.