If you have never been through the addiction treatment process in a rehab, you probably have concerns. It can be a little daunting to enter a treatment setting without knowing exactly what you should expect.
Before focusing on what you need to know about rehab, you need to make sure you are fully committed to the addiction treatment process. This is not something you can kinda do. You have to really want it, or you will likely find yourself facing a relapse the moment you get out.
We’ll assume you will need to go through a residential treatment program. Upon entering the facility, you will likely have to comply with an admission interview process. The interview is very important. It will serve as an information collecting process that the facility’s administrators will use to chart the course of your treatment.
If all indications point towards you having a significant addiction problem, the rehab’s administrators will probably recommend you go through a medical detox program. This would be good news. Why? You are probably going to face some rather harsh withdrawal symptoms as your body revolts against you. It will start revolting once you start denying it the drugs/alcohol it craves. The medical profession refers to this revolt as withdrawal.
A good medical detox program will keep you safe while your body detoxes. Should you start to show any meaningful signs of pain or discomfort, there would be a medical professional standing by to give you relief medications.
When you have concluded your detox program, your body and mind should be clear enough to start therapy. As you do into therapy, you need to do so with the right intentions. That means you need to go in with a willingness to be honest with your therapist. Honest communication is the only way you will learn the truth about your addiction illness.
Once you have an understanding of the underlying causes behind your addiction, you can begin working on you. By you, we mean working on developing better life and coping skills. If you can get to a place where you know how to better cope with your problems, there is a good chance you can avoid relapses in the future.
These are some of the basic things you need to know before entering rehab, but there’s more.
Living in Rehab
For perhaps the first time in your life, you will be living among people you don’t know. Everyone has the addiction thing in common, but everyone’s story is different. Because of all of the diversity that exists in a rehab environment, rules and structure are important.
Please note: Rehab is not jail. Unless you are in rehab under court order, you are free to leave when you want. However, we hope you won’t leave until you get that for which you came, a lasting recovery.
To get from addiction to recovery, you are going to have to follow some very strict rules and guidelines. While rules may vary from one facility to the next, here are some general rules you will encounter:
- Zero tolerance for drug use or drinking
- Mandatory random drug testing
- No inappropriate fraternization with other clients
- Maintain your own living quarters
- Show up for all scheduled treatment sessions on time
This is not a long list of rules, but all of them play an important role in making sure all clients get what they need from treatment. As long as you abide by the rules and make a real effort in therapy, amazing things will start happening in your life.
By the way, you will get opportunities to relax and reflect on your time in rehab. There’s a good chance you will get time to watch TV, listen to music, and interact with other clients. In a lot of facilities, you would expect to find recreational amenities that are available for exercise and relaxation.
The bottom line is this. What you get out of rehab will correlate will depend on what you put forth in effort.
You now have some very good knowledge about what to expect from rehab. We hope this information serves to motivate you to get the treatment you need. That’s why we are here. We are willing to bring you in and do everything in our power to set your firmly on the path towards a lasting recovery. If you are ready to start a new life without drugs or alcohol, we want you to give us a call at 833-846-5669.