Smiling Girl

There’s a common question that runs through the mind of anyone considering entering a drug or alcohol treatment program: “What’s it like?” The same question, no doubt, is contemplated in people searching for rehabs for loved ones. While the duration of treatment may be different from program to program, and client to client, it’s the choices in therapies that matter in the decision-making and ultimately, the overall experience. And it is truly the experience that clients walk away with that affects their ability to continue in recovery and live a clean and sober life. In response to the curious and shed light on the intricacies of treatment, the following will provide anecdotes on what goes on in the hearts and minds of those first heading into rehab and what it’s like for an addict in recovery.

Is there one word that can best describe the first feeling that an addict in recovery has the moment they step into a treatment facility? Awkward doesn’t even come close, because there’s a negative connotation to that. For people who honestly seek a path towards ending the cycle of addiction, their first moments in recovery are often stated as encompassing excitement, fear, nausea and anxiety.

Excitement – comes from the intellectual perceptions of how addiction treatment will transform their lives.

Fear – comes from ambivalence about the unknowns in the people they are to meet, the challenges they are about to endure and the process of detox (if needed).

Nausea – comes from the body’s craving for the drug or alcohol and is one of the common symptoms of withdrawal.

Anxiety – comes from the excitement, fear and nausea happening simultaneously upon starting drug or alcohol rehab.

By now you can tell that there is a multitude of sensations that hit you at the start of drug or alcohol addiction treatment. Some of them are unavoidable.

Detox Can Derail Your Commitment but You’ll Get Past It

The process of detox can be arduous, especially if substance abuse has been present for a long time. The body and the brain have been conditioned to receiving heroin or prescription pills, for example. When nausea sets in or shakes, fever, cramping and headache, it’s the body’s way of telling you that it needs more of the drug. This process is a prime example of how addiction affects us physically. To overcome addiction, one must get through this initial phase of recovery where toxins from the drug or alcohol are gradually cleaned out from the body and the mind so that balance is achieved at the cellular level.

Choices in Therapy Open the Door to Comprehensive Recovery

The reasons behind addiction can vary from person to person. A predisposition to addiction can come from genetics, familial history, environmental persuasion (peer pressure) and other unintentional factors. The prescription medication epidemic in the United States is rooted in the public’s trust of the medical community and how prescribing such drugs turns patients into addicts within weeks. No matter the reason behind addiction, people don’t decide to become an addict. It just happens.

Now that the physical addiction is passed, it’s time to focus on the emotional, mental and spiritual components that have been often ignored because of the addiction. As painful as some of the detox process can be, delving deep into the recesses of the mind and heart are often more painful. But the benefits in this part of the healing will last a lifetime.

Alternatives to Healing and Greater Understanding Are Essential to Success

Man drumming

Being in drug or alcohol treatment is hard work but it also provides a safe space for those just starting the recovery process. Whether living in an inpatient residential facility or attending various therapy sessions, support groups and other activities as an outpatient, there’s healing in knowing you are amongst like-minded people who have either been through what you’re going through in the past or present. Through this deep-seated comradery, open and shared communication flows easier allowing clients to break through old patterns and negative thinking to form healthier, positive ways of being.

But there’s that point in time where clients leave the proverbial rehab nest to reenter the real world and reintegrate into society, without drugs or alcohol. In fact, this is the life-altering moment that moves them forward or into relapse. What is the difference between those who leap into recovery and land well compared to others who fall into the abyss of defeat?

The ability to cope. Period.

This is where alternative therapies and life-skill sessions are paramount to continued recovery. Because if you can’t take what you practice and learn in treatment with you, did it ever really exist?

America’s Rehab Campuses Treatment Schedule

There’s something to be said about routine. It’s vital to a rehab client when re-establishing how each spends their time. Routine allows a person to own their time management and be accountable for what is scheduled in a day. In addition, routine inadvertently sets expectations for the rehab client, therapists, and administrators that not only affect each individual but collectively amongst the various relationships between them. Routine is also the foundation for healthy structure outside of treatment and recovery.

Choices in Life Mirror Choices in Recovery

It’s odd that while we attend high school, there are classes required that teach us to read, write or how take a test and get admitted into a higher learning institution. But we’re not required to understand how to effectively get along with others, make positive life choices, get in touch with our authentic self, take responsibility for our actions or give to others selflessly. These are some of what you’ll experience through alternative therapies in Tucson offered at America’s Rehab Campuses “ARC”.

Therapy Choices at ARC include:

  • 12-Step Yoga
  • Community Engagement
  • Music Therapy
  • Native American Drumming
  • Art Therapy
  • Equine Therapy
  • Relapse Prevention
  • Emotional Regulation
  • Horticulture
  • Native American Meditation
  • Spirituality
  • Mindfulness
  • Gym Time

Many of the therapies offered provide clients with the opportunity to step outside of their addiction and enjoy the moments created through self-expression or tranquility that can be continued once they graduate treatment and move into their own recovery.

Find Out How We Can Create an Individual Recovery Program to Live By

1-833-272-7242