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Why Addicts Can’t Go It Alone

While it’s both understandable and admirable to try to beat your addiction on your own, going solo doesn’t offer you the support system you need to succeed. Prolonged substance abuse changes brain chemistry and robs people of their ability to make good decisions, among other side effects. When you lack these key functions, it inhibits your ability to get – and stay – sober for the long term.

Successfully preventing a relapse involves learning to navigate a drug-free lifestyle, often through a combination of things like detox, counseling and life coaching skills. Participating in these types of programs can help your body and mind become free of the chemical effects of drugs or alcohol, teach you new and healthy coping mechanisms and set the stages for the later phases of the recovery process.

Why Do You Need Support in Recovery?

Many times, addicts fail to recognize the severity of their disease. They may be in denial about how their alcohol or drug use is damaging their relationships with family and close friends, which is why it often takes the loving encouragement of this built-in support network to persuade them to enter a treatment program in the first place. A professionally managed intervention can make all the difference in successfully communicating the need to get qualified help.  

Once you have agreed to enter treatment, there are several options available to you. For example, depending on the extent of your substance abuse and how long you have been using, you may wish to begin with an inpatient detox program that can help you manage uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms while you get clean. The help of medical professionals who work at a detox facility can be invaluable for ensuring your comfort and safety throughout the detoxification process.

Getting Sober Is One Thing – Staying Sober Is Another

If you are a recovering addict, finding a recovery support network is essential in maintaining your hard-won sobriety. Having the encouragement of peers who have been through exactly what you are experiencing is vital, as is finding a new group of friends who are not linked to the memories of your old life, when you were actively using drugs or alcohol.

Addiction can be an isolating disease. Many people begin using substances to help them mask their feelings or deal with underlying mental health issues such as anxiety or PTSD. It helps to be familiar with people who share similar feelings and whose lives are just as damaged as yours by the effects of their addiction. Because everyone in the therapy or recovery network group is working toward the shared goal of maintaining long-term sobriety, they can provide essential advocacy and accountability for one another in their recovery journeys.

Finding a recovery group can also help alleviate boredom – one of the most significant threats to sobriety – by giving you a new set of friends to pursue new interests or hobbies that help keep you healthy and encourage you not to lose sight of your goals.

Accept When You Need Help

Having a loving group of family and friends convince you to seek treatment for your addiction via an intervention is only the first step in a lifelong road to recovery. Nobody’s journey to getting and staying sober should take place in a vacuum. You deserve to find a network of people who are supportive of your recovery, from health care professionals who help heal you mentally and physically to the friends you make in sobriety networks. Rediscovering your health and happiness is possible, but only if you recognize that you cannot shoulder the entire burden without accepting help.