How to return to normal life and prevent repeated breakdowns

The effectiveness of combating drug addiction is high in cases where not only physiological and psychological but also social and spiritual aspects are affected. Recovery can be considered complete if the patient was able to return to normal life, regardless of the existence of a constant threat of breakdown. In this regard, the importance of the rehabilitation period can’t be underestimated.

When diagnosed with drug addiction, rehabilitation is an essential part of the recovery process. The end of the detoxification course means that further work to consolidate the positive effect must be carried out in other directions. This period must be taken seriously and responsibly, otherwise, relapses of the disease are almost inevitable, and you will have to start all over again.

The goal of the drug rehabilitation system is to restore the patient’s personality so that he can take control of his behavior and start life from scratch. To do this, at the first stage, detoxification is required, and at the second stage – rehabilitation with the direct work of psychotherapists, psychiatrists, narcologists, psychologists, social workers, and consultants from among the cured drug addicts will be required. 

More information about drug rehab centres can be found on the Ukat website.  Treatment centres provide comfortable accommodation and have successfully treated hundreds of people affected by the negative impact of addiction.

Psychological rehabilitation of drug addicts involves the use of drugs to correct residual disorders, such as depression. On average, the first stage lasts three months.

The second stage is the application of the knowledge gained in real life, after leaving the rehabilitation center. At this stage, the patient needs support in outpatient psychological care groups, as well as assistance in finding a job. It is very important that the recovering person believes in his own strength, and assesses the problems that arise as solvable and non-unique.

Special programs in rehabilitation centers for drug addicts

The drug addiction rehabilitation program is a plan of comprehensive measures to return the patient to a normal life. There are several models of social rehabilitation of drug addicts known in the world, which, as a rule, bring results.

“12 steps” program

This program was created in the United States in the 1930s and quickly spread to other countries. Now the 12 Steps is more of an ideology on which other programs are built – a consistent path from recognizing a person’s inability to cope with drug addiction on their own to accepting help and consciously beginning to change their life.

Therapeutic communities

Rehabilitation of drug addicts is more effective when they are placed in therapeutic communities, where drug-addicted patients jointly prepare for a drug-free life in the outside world. Life in such a community, subject to a common routine and driven by common moral and ethical values, launches an unconscious process of adaptation. Old values ​​are transformed and take on a healthy hue. Clear norms and standards are formed by the therapeutic community in which there is no place for drugs. This is a model of society, following which, the patient can restore and work out the lost skills, find support in solving their problems.

Minnesota model

This is a systematic approach to the recovery of a drug addict, involving the active participation of relatives and friends of the patient, as well as psychologists. Chemical dependence in the Minnesota model is considered an incurable disease that tends to transform, fading or flaring up.

Post-rehabilitation support

This part of rehabilitation not least of all depends on the availability of public and state initiatives to support former drug addicts in their desire to return to normal life, find a job, and find various hobbies. You can turn to support from church organizations. The spiritual side of the issue is very important, however, one should be careful when meeting with religious communities that, under the guise of help, may pursue their own goals, namely, the search for new adepts.

Working with relatives (codependents)

If a drug addict has a family, they are usually codependent. This manifests itself first in denying the problem itself, and then in the desire to solve it within the walls of the house, with clumsy methods. Scandals, threats, prohibitions, a hastily invented system of rewards and punishments usually turn into an increase in drug addiction and severe consequences both for the patient and his psyche and for the family as a whole. Instead of strengthening, family ties are weakened, and sometimes completely interrupted. Rehabilitation of drug addicts in this regard must necessarily include work with relatives providing them with psychological assistance, conducting educational activities in the form of lectures, and group work.

Opportunities for outpatient rehabilitation

A fairly stable and already approved practice! Proponents of this position believe that the patient needs to be constantly busy, his day should be scheduled by the minute so that there are no pauses that can provoke thoughts about drug use.

During this period, a person realizes his illness, recognizes that he is powerless in front of it, that addiction cannot be cured, and therefore he will have to live with the disease all his life and consciously observe some fundamental rules. That is why it is important to place the patient in a drug rehab center. A sudden return to the previous social environment, full of temptations, without clearly perceived new attitudes, is fraught with breakdowns and the release of the disease to a new stage of development. At the same time, in such rehabilitation centers, convalescents are in contact with former drug addicts-volunteers who have been in remission for several years, who by their example prove that starting a new life is real.

Rehabilitation programs in serious drug rehabilitation centers involve long-term consistent work with the patient and his immediate environment, individually and in groups. It should be remembered that you should only contact licensed medical institutions.