Relapse Prevention in Nelsonville, OH

At our center for relapse prevention in Nelsonville, we often see the hope and the addicts who come to see us that they should have their red with nothing more than a couple of weeks in detox. Often, they wish to quit treatment right after.

With most bad habits, change comes hard. Even when a person does succeed in bringing about a certain amount of change, it is often an even greater challenge to maintain such hard-won success. Whether it's excess weight or a love of shopping, it's important to keep fighting to retain a hold over achievements made. Addiction to drugs or alcohol is the same, except that the forces that play a much more powerful.

Nearly every addict who quits after detox, however, returns to addiction in a matter of months. What we try to explain to our clients is that the victories of detox need to be maintained with intensive therapeutic work called relapse prevention. Patients need to learn the psychological skills necessary to keep a relapse, or a return to addiction, at bay.

What Makes Relapse Occur?

An addiction is the result of physical changes to the brain, brought about by repeated exposure to addictive substances. The changes create permanent psychological attachment to addictive behavior. It is learned in brain's reward center and related regions. Once such chemically induced fixations are etched on the brain, there is no meaningful cure possible. They can only be managed.

Detoxification, the first stage of rehab, is aimed at breaking the continuous cycle of cravings and substance abuse that addiction involves. Once detoxification concludes, the cravings are no longer continuous; they may return unexpectedly, however.

After drug detox in Nelsonville, the cravings of addiction often come about through psychological cues or reminders called triggers. Not only does addiction make the brain learn the connection between drugs and pleasure, it also creates several environmental associations. If drugs were often consumed in a certain room of the house, listening to certain music or with a certain friend, all these experiences are likely to turn into triggers after detoxification. Anytime that the recovering addict should find himself exposed to these triggers, he may find that they set off irresistible cravings.

Cravings can occur in other ways, as well. In many cases, there are psychological shortcomings at the bottom of tendency towards substance abuse and addiction. To a person with poor people skills, a compulsive tendency towards self-blame, an all-consuming pessimism or a tendency towards instant gratification, the psychological skills needed resist the escapist path presented by drugs, are simply missing. When a recovering addict experiences a bout of psychological weakness in any one of these ways, cravings may be triggered.

Relapses occur in different ways in different people, but causes such as these are common. It is possible to fight these weaknesses, and to strengthen the psychological makeup of the recovering addict. Prolonged therapeutic intervention is the way to go about it. Recovering addicts need to enter these treatment programs in Nelsonville fully willing to engage in therapy for as long as possible, to make it happen.

How Does Relapse Prevention Therapy Help?

We like to tell participants who sign on at our center for relapse prevention in Nelsonville that education is often the number one tool that the recovering addict has in his fight against addiction. Learning as much as possible about the science of addiction is important. The more the knowledge that one has about the ways in which relapses act, the better prepared one is to anticipate them and fight them.

As an example, it can help to learn the process by which relapses actually develop. They start with a general emotional instability, and progress to obsessive thoughts about a return to drug use. Recognizing these signs can help, because it's possible to seek therapeutic intervention to block early relapse.

Therapeutic Relapse Prevention Programs

Cognitive-behavioral therapy: The participant works with a therapist to learn to recognize every form of trigger they may respond to, and to develop behavioral strategies to avoid them. For instance, if drugs were often used at a dance club, it could help to learn not visit dance clubs or to listen to such music.

CBT can also be a powerful weapon against psychological and personality disorders. A person who suffers from compulsive self-blame, for example, can learn in therapy to analyze and trace the sequence of thoughts that occur, and lead to an unfortunate conclusion. Control is possible when there is such self-knowledge.

12-step programs: Meant primarily for the spiritually minded, 12-step programs take participants through a series of psychological steps that help them learn better self-control and control of their situation. Among other things, participants acknowledge their helplessness, place their faith in a higher power, and attempt to right the wrongs that they've done.

Finding the Right Therapies for Relapse Prevention in Nelsonville

Many rehabs prefer to focus on the high turnover business of detoxification, and to not invest in the difficult and highly skilled work of relapse prevention treatment programs. Finding a good rehab, then, is often as simple as finding a center that clearly invests in thoroughly planned drug relapse prevention programs.

Once you do locate a few good rehab centers, it also takes research to locate therapists who are good fit for your personal needs. It's important to speak to therapists at multiple rehab centers. If you'd like to meet one of our best, all you need to do is to call our center for relapse prevention in Nelsonville. Call us now at (877) 804-1531.