Treating drug addiction and substance abuse disorders is a complicated process. The substance abuse treatment plan that works best for one individual may be completely different from the most effective substance abuse treatment plan for someone else. Substance abuse treatment models also vary widely, based on a wide range of theories regarding how to best treat substance abuse and addiction.
Conversely, however, there are also some commonalities in almost all methods of substance abuse treatment. In general, the tools that almost all substance abuse treatment programs use tend to be the same, they just apply them in a slightly different fashion. Residential substance abuse treatment is one of the most common types of treatment for drug addiction, largely because of its proven track record of effectiveness. Here are 5 of the top benefits of residential treatment for substance abuse disorders.
1.Breaks routines, which helps break habits
Over time, addiction becomes as much a habit as it is anything else. Anyone who has ever tried to quit anything habitual from smoking to drinking coffee to driving to work in the morning knows how hard it is to break free of established routines. Individuals who struggle with addiction also have established habits, patterns, and routines that foster and facilitate their addiction. Time spent in a residential substance abuse treatment center shakes up their routine and gives them a firm foundation from which to start the process of breaking free of addictive habits and patterns.
2.Helps remove them from unhealthy relationships
Like all people, individuals who struggle with addiction have relationships. In many cases, those relationships actually help facilitate their addictive habits and patterns rather than helping them break free of them. People who are in close relationships with addicts generally have addictive habits of their own, which can sometimes sabotage an addict’s efforts at recovery. In many cases, well-meaning family members can actually be more of a hindrance than a help. Residential treatment centers isolate struggling addicts from these influences to help them focus completely on their own recovery.
3.Provides a safe shelter from temptation
Addiction is a means of managing pain. More often than not that pain is psychological or emotional, but it can in some cases be physical. When an addict’s system is free of the substance they use to soothe the pain, they are left with nothing but the pain. The therapy provided in residential treatment centers is meant to help them address the source of their pain so they can be free of the need to manage it. In many cases, however, it gets far worse before it gets better. This can leave addicts hungry and desperate for a way to soothe the increasing pain. Residential treatment centers not only offer therapy and counseling, they also offer a means to keep addicts from simply running back to the substance they use to manage their pain.
4.Offers in-depth therapy and counseling
Most of the time that individuals struggling with addiction spend in residential treatment centers is spent engaging in different types of counseling and therapeutic activities. The truth is, they often have deeply buried wounds that have often been left un-dealt with for years. While in some case substance cravings may never go away entirely, they can diminish over time as they face and deal with those old wounds. Needless to say, life will continue to deliver blows, so individuals struggling with addiction will never be completely out of the woods. They can, however, develop better coping skills that can help keep them on the right path through everything life throws at them.
5.They are surrounded by others struggling with the same issues
Shame is a common theme among many addicts. Not only is shame the pain they often seek to soothe with their substance addiction, but the addiction itself often causes shame as well. Being around other individuals that struggle with the same things can help them be more open and honest about their own wounds and issues. Individuals in recovery can both empathize with each other and also provide tough honesty to each other when necessary. Substance addicts understand a great number of things that people who do not struggle with a substance addiction do not. In that sense, they can offer strong support to each other that others cannot.
