What Steps Take Place At A Drug Rehab Center For Addiction Recovery

 A drug rehabilitation center is a place that you go to begin the process of overcoming drug and alcohol addiction. Many people refer to drug rehab as the place where they go to get clean and sober. There's quite a bit involved in drug rehab, and the experience and the process will be different for each individual. That's because there's no single treatment program or plan that works for everyone.

Evaluation and Assessment

When you go into drug rehab, there is the evaluation and assessment phase, when all kinds of information are taken about your drug and alcohol history, your medical history, family background, including any family history of drug or alcohol abuse or addiction. There is also a physical examination. That's to correlate your stated drug use with the actual chemical substances in your body. This enables professional therapists to design a drug treatment program to best meet your needs. You sign the necessary papers, and the process of quitting drugs begins.

Detoxification

The first phase is detoxification, which is literally purging your system of all the drugs you've ingested. You have to be clean and free of drugs for the next phase to begin, which is treatment. Depending on the type of drugs you've been using, strength and frequency, and whether or not you have a dual diagnosis (more than one drug, drug and alcohol addiction, drug addiction, and mental health problems), the detox period may last from two to three days to two weeks. Heroin addiction, coupled with other diagnoses, is tougher to quit than an addiction to marijuana, for example.

Your discomfort from physical withdrawal will be managed so that you are as comfortable as possible, but don't think that it will be simple or easy. After months or years of ingesting toxic chemicals, which is what drugs and alcohol are, your body and mind have gone through quite a bit. Those harmful substances take their toll. Getting them out of your system may be unpleasant, but your detoxification will be medically monitored to ensure your safety. But once the substances are out of your body, you go on to the next phase – in other words, that's where the real work begins.

Commitment

Now that we have more or less demystified drug rehab and you have a better idea of what to expect, it's important to talk about commitment. Recovery therapists say that your commitment to drug rehab must be complete and total in order for your treatment to have a chance to be effective. Enrolling in a drug rehab program only makes sense if you wholeheartedly intend to be fully present and genuinely involved in doing the hard work that it takes to get clean, learn about the disease of addiction, and how to overcome it, and remain free of drugs.

How long will it take depends upon the individual, the type of drug or substances causing the addiction, frequency, and a few factors. Treatment may last 30 to 60 days, or it may take six months. But continuing care, aftercare, and support group meeting attendance go far beyond treatment. Recovering addicts should regularly attend support group meetings for at least two years following the addiction treatment. Many of those in recovery make attendance at support group meetings a weekly priority and more often during times of crisis.