Four Things You Must Know About Addiction Treatment Programs

When it comes to addiction treatment programs, myths and misconceptions abound. If you don’t have any personal experience with drug and alcohol rehab or outpatient addiction treatment, it’s no surprise that you would feel uncertain as to what to expect from a program. But you entering treatment with misconceptions or unrealistic expectations can hold you back. Here’s the truth about what to expect from drug and alcohol addiction treatment.

Addiction Treatment Programs Aren’t a Quick Fix

Many people suffer from the misconception that you can enter a drug or alcohol treatment center for a few weeks and then come home clean, sober and forever “cured” of your substance abuse disorder. In reality, addiction treatment isn’t a quick-fix; addiction is a chronic condition that can never really be cured.

That doesn’t mean that drug and alcohol rehabs don’t have value or that they don’t help a lot of people. But no matter how well an addict does in treatment or how many years of sobriety he or she can claim, addiction never goes away. A recovering addict must avoid drugs and alcohol for the rest of his or her life, or problems will develop. That’s why the graduates of addiction treatment programs are said to be “in recovery,” rather than “recovered.”

While recovery typically begins on an addict’s first day in treatment, it takes much longer than the few weeks most addicts spend in an inpatient rehab to really make that recovery stick. Laying the foundation for a successful long-term recovery can take several months to a year. For most addicts, maintaining recovery is a lifelong process that involves group and individual therapy and support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous.

Treatment Can Work Even When Addicts Don’t Want It

It’s common knowledge that addiction rehab won’t work unless the addict wants to change – if someone is coerced or forced into rehab against his or her will, so to speak, then the treatment won’t work. As much sense as this appears to make, it isn’t true. If it were, drug courts wouldn’t be so successful.

It doesn’t take a drug court to coerce an addiction into treatment. Many people enter addiction treatment programs because they’ve been given an ultimatum by a spouse, partner or parent. These people wouldn’t have chosen treatment for themselves, but they get it anyway and it works for them.

Few addicts truly enter treatment voluntarily. Most are so deeply stuck in denial that they would go on insisting they don’t have a problem right up until their disease killed them. It usually takes some coercion, either by family members or the legal system, to get addicts to get help.

Relapse Happens

The chances of a recovering addict experiencing an addiction relapse are very high. Sixty to 90 percent of recovering addicts experience a relapse, depending on the type of drug they were addicted to and the severity of their addiction.

But experiencing an addiction relapse doesn’t mean that addicts have to start all over again with their recovery process. Most recovering addicts leave their addiction treatment programs more or less prepared to cope with relapse – often, recovering addicts seek help immediately after a slip-up, and even if they don’t, they’re still more likely to recover a second time. Addiction treatment gives addicts a lasting set of life skills that helps them cope with life’s ups and downs without resorting to drug and alcohol abuse.

All Addiction Treatment Programs Are Not the Same

Every addict is different, and addiction treatment must always be tailored to meet the individual needs of the person receiving it. Some drug and alcohol rehab centers are better equipped to do this than others. A facility that uses a cookie cutter approach to treatment will not meet the needs of many of its clients, and while many addiction treatment programs are of excellent quality, there are some less than reputable facilities that are not capable of providing adequate treatment.

If you or someone you love is struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, don’t wait another minute to get help. Addiction is a serious disease that can be deadly if left untreated.

Call the Delray Center for Healing today at 888-699-5679 to find out how beneficial healing can be. 

5 Mistakes People Make When Getting a Loved One into Rehab

When someone you love needs addiction treatment  from a rehab for drug addicts, it’s hard to know what to do. By the time you see your loved one’s need for addiction treatment, it’s likely that addiction has already destroyed the person he or she was. You know that the only way to save your loved one, your family and even yourself is to get that person treatment.

Even though your loved one might resist the idea of going into an inpatient rehab at first, you should know that treatment can still be effective even if the addict was initially coerced into seeking help. Your loved one can succeed at treatment even if you take steps to force him or her into treatment against his or her objections.

Nevertheless, many friends and loved ones of drug addicts make mistakes when trying to get their loved one into rehab. If you know what these mistakes are, you can avoid them, and get your loved one the help he or she needs much sooner.

1) Not Educating Yourself About Addiction

Despite the fact that your loved one needs to enter a rehab for drug addicts, you – and the rest of your circle – may be suffering from some common misconceptions about addiction. Before you talk to your loved one about his or her problem, research treatment facilities or plan an intervention, your first step should be to educate yourself about the nature of addiction – and its effects on the friends and family members of addicts as well as the addicts themselves.

The best way to learn about addiction is to begin attending local support groups for the relatives and friends of addicts. Al-Anon is one such group. There, you can learn from the experiences of others who have been through the same situation. Other members can point you towards helpful books and other resources, and share with you their own insights about getting someone into a rehab for drug addicts.

2) Holding an Impromptu Intervention

An intervention is a valuable and important way to convince a loved one of the need to go to a rehab for drug addicts. However, it’s most effective if it’s carefully planned and orchestrated, usually with the help of a professional interventionist. An intervention that is not carefully planned is unlikely to have the desired effect.

To be effective, an intervention must be attended by all of the friends and relatives who are affected by, or concerned about, the addict’s drug use. During the intervention, each person must take the opportunity to express their concerns and explain to the addict how his or her drug use has affected them. You should also have a plan in place to get your loved one into a rehab for drug addicts immediately following the intervention, or be prepared to enact consequences – such as withdrawing financial support – if your loved one refuses to get help.

3) Being Judgmental About Rehab for Drug Addicts

It’s hard not to be judgmental when someone you love continues to abuse drugs or alcohol even as his or her life falls apart because of it. But your loved one has already experienced enough judgment, and heaping more judgment upon his or her head will only drive him or her away. Instead of passing judgment or falling back on philosophical or religious arguments, stick to painting a picture of how your loved one’s addiction hurts him or her, you, and others the addict loves.

4) Making Idle Threats

If you threaten consequences for your loved one if he or she doesn’t get help at a rehab for drug addicts, you have to be prepared to follow through with those consequences. If you make empty threats, the addict will think you’re not serious about getting him or her into addiction treatment. You’ll only encourage your loved one to keep using.

5) Not Supporting Your Loved One’s Recovery

Once you do get your loved one into an addiction treatment facility, it’s important to follow the advice of the treatment specialists. Many people think they know better than their doctors what’s good for them; don’t be one of those people. Assuming you choose a reputable facility, the treatment specialists know what’s best for your loved one.

This also means you should refuse any practical or emotional support that could help the addict stop treatment or backslide after leaving treatment. If your loved one decides to leave the rehab for drug addicts before his or her program ends, don’t pick him or her up or wire any money for travel expenses. Instead, encourage him or her to remain in treatment – and remind your loved one of the consequences you established at the intervention.

If you have a loved one who needs drug treatment, our counselors can help.

Call us today at 888-699-5679 to learn more about our programs. 

Do Frequent ER Visits Mean a Need Drug or Alcohol Treatment Programs?

According to a new study from researchers at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital, people who visit the ER at least 10 times a year are likely to be addicts in need of drug and alcohol treatment programs. While not all people who visit the ER frequently are addicted to alcohol or drugs, the study found that at least 77 percent of those who use the ER 10 or more times a year suffer from a substance abuse problem.

Addiction Among Frequent ER Visitors

Emergency room physicians have long suspected that most of the patients who frequently seek emergency medical services need drug and alcohol treatment programs, but this is one of the first studies to take a look at the actual numbers. The researchers examined the addiction history of 255 “super-frequent” users who sought care at Henry Ford’s Emergency Department 10 times a year or more between 2004 and 2013. They also examined the data to determine if imposing prescribing guidelines for narcotic medications had any effect on the number of patients who came into the ER seeking those medications.

The study found that 77 percent of those who visit the ER at least 10 times a year have a substance abuse disorder. Forty-seven percent of those were addicted to opiate painkillers. Forty-four percent were addicted to illegal drugs, like cocaine. Thirty-five percent of those who seek care in the ER 10 times a year are alcoholics.

Prescribing Guidelines Significantly Reduce ER Overuse

Many of the addicts who seek frequent ER care want a prescription for narcotic painkillers. Women are more likely than men to use the ER for this purpose. In 2011, ERs around the nation saw 2.5 million visits involving drug misuse or abuse. The rate of ER visits related to drug abuse or misuse climbed 19 percent between 2009 and 2011, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network. An ER that receives an average of 75,000 visits per year can expect to receive as many as 262 monthly visits from addicts seeking narcotic drugs.

The study found that, since Henry Ford Hospital implemented the Community Resources for Emergency Department Overuse (CREDO) in 2004, the number of yearly visits from addicts seeking narcotic painkillers dropped from 32.4 times a year to 13.8 times a year. Among those in need of drug or alcohol treatment programs who were not specifically looking for narcotic painkillers in the ER, yearly visits dropped from 33 to 11.6.

Keeping People in Need of Drug or Alcohol Treatment Programs Out of the ER

Obviously, people who need emergency medical care for reasons related to drug and alcohol abuse deserve treatment just as much as anyone else. But ER doctors can’t keep these people from over-using emergency department facilities without addressing the underlying cause of their frequent ER visits, which is drug and alcohol addiction.

Increasing access to drug and alcohol treatment programs is the only way to effectively reduce or eliminate the overuse of emergency departments by people struggling with substance abuse. Providing the treatment substance abusers need guarantees that they no longer need to visit the ER for medical care due to misuse of drugs and alcohol, or to try and obtain narcotic painkillers from an ER physician.

Jennifer Peltzer-Jones, RN, PsyD, lead author of the Henry Ford Hospital study, put it this way: “Boosting federal and state funding for substance abuse programs could help alleviate some of the frequent use of Emergency Departments as sources of addiction care.”

Indeed, ERs aren’t equipped to provide the long-term care addicts need in order to get well. The most an ER physician can do is treat the symptoms of drug overdose or alcohol poisoning, and then send the addicts back out into the streets, where they’ll just go right back to drug and alcohol use. Even when ER physicians can make a referral to drug and alcohol treatment programs, the addiction epidemic sweeping our nation means that these programs are often underfunded and over-booked.

If you or someone you love is struggling with a substance abuse disorder, don’t rely on government-funded drug and alcohol treatment programs.

Call 888-699-5679 today to learn more about affordable, effective addiction treatment in Delray Beach.

Setting Boundaries With a Drug Addict

When someone close to you needs to go to a rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics, it can be difficult to know how to set appropriate boundaries. That’s because for an addict, drugs or alcohol is the most important thing. Feeding the need for drugs and alcohol is even more important to an addict than meeting the needs for food, water or shelter. For the addict, drugs and alcohol will always be more important than their relationships with friends and loved ones – at least, they will until the addict gets help from a rehab for drug addicts.

What can you, as the friend or loved one of an addict, do? While you can’t force your addicted friend or loved one to seek addiction help, healthy, strong boundaries can protect you from the emotional fallout of watching your loved one crash and burn. Good boundaries can also help you refrain from enabling the addict in your life, so that he or she might be more likely to eventually acknowledge the need to enter a rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics.

You Can’t Help Others Without First Helping Yourself

If you’re like many people watching a friend or loved one struggle with addiction, you probably want to do anything you can to help. Most people balk at the idea of setting limits with an addicted friend or loved one; they feel guilty for withholding whatever the addict might demand, whether that be time, money or practical assistance.

Believe us when we say that you’re not betraying your friend or loved one by setting healthy boundaries. Setting boundaries protects you from being taken advantage of, and keeps you healthy so that you can offer whatever assistance and support is within your means to provide. Without strong boundaries, you’ll soon find that you’re of little use to anyone, least of all yourself.

Decide Where Your Boundaries Are

When someone you love needs addiction help, it’s important that you decide what behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable. Study your interactions with the addicted person over the course of a few weeks or a month, and write down the behaviors that bother you.

A person who needs to go to a rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics may not behave very well, even towards those he or she has professed to love in the past. Don’t take it personally; it doesn’t mean your addicted friend or loved one doesn’t love you anymore. It just means that his or her addiction has taken over and is dictating his or her behavior. Your addicted loved one may be rude to you, make degrading remarks, be late frequently or even become abusive.

Take your time making this list; many behaviors from a person in need of rehab for drug addicts can fall into an ambiguous grey area where you’re not sure if they are tolerable or not. You need to be certain that you’re setting the right boundaries, because changing them later will only make you look like a person who can be pushed around, and the addict will seize on any weakness you show. In the process of making your list, take note of any frequent or recurring arguments you find yourself having with the addict.  Later on, you will want to sidestep these disputes as they arise.

Establish Consequences During Rehab for Drug Addicts

Once you’ve decided where your boundaries are, you’re going to need to enforce them. The first time your addicted loved one does something that violates your boundaries, let him or her know, and advise him or her that there will be consequences the next time it happens. These consequences shouldn’t be designed to punish the addict, but to protect yourself and stop any enabling behaviors.

For example, if you decide that you’ll no longer tolerate lateness, then an appropriate consequence could be to wait 15 minutes and then carry on with whatever you were doing without the addict. If you set a boundary around money and the addict violates it by, for example, withdrawing money from a joint checking account without permission or spending money earmarked for another purpose on drugs, an appropriate consequence would closing the account and opening another that does not bear the addict’s name, or refusing to give the addict any more money. Consequences such as these minimize the damage the addict is able to do to your own life, while hopefully encouraging him or her to see the need to enter a rehab for drug addicts.

If you or someone you love is struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, our rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics can help.

Call The Delray Center for Healing today at 888-699-5679.

Learn the Truth about Cocaine Detox and Addiction

Cocaine Detox and Addiction

If you or someone you know is struggling with an addiction to cocaine, our cocaine detox and addiction treatment program in Delray Beach can help them start on the path to recovery. But before you can enter a program like our cocaine detox Delray Beach program and begin your recovery from cocaine addiction, you need to know the truth about cocaine addiction and recovery. There’s a lot of misinformation about cocaine addiction and detox out there. Here are the facts.

Cocaine addiction is mostly physical, so detox is all that’s needed to treat it.

Many people come into our cocaine detox Delray Beach program thinking that once they finish the detox, they can just go on with their lives without further treatment. In fact, our cocaine detox
Delray Beach program is just the beginning of our cocaine addiction treatment. Cocaine addiction is largely psychological, so you’ll need intensive therapy to overcome it.

Cocaine addiction isn’t really a problem anymore.

It’s true that cocaine use was more widespread during the 70s and 80s, but that doesn’t mean that cocaine addiction isn’t still a problem. The fact that programs like our cocaine detox Delray Beach program exist is a testament to the reality of cocaine addiction today.  Cocaine addiction is just as damaging as any other kind of addiction; it causes serious health and life problems. The severity of cocaine addiction is why programs like our cocaine detox Delray Beach program are so important to people struggling with cocaine dependency.

You need inpatient rehab to deal with a cocaine addiction.

In fact, outpatient addiction programs are an effective follow-up for programs like our cocaine detox Delray Beach program. With outpatient treatment, you can stay home and keep going to work or school. You can be there for your family. You’ll receive intensive therapy for a few hours a day, a few days a week. This form of treatment is very effective for cocaine addiction.

If you’re struggling with cocaine addiction, we’re here for you. Call us today at 1-888-699-5679 to find out how we can help.