Repairing the Ravages of Addiction
Anyone who has witnessed a family member or close friend going through years of addiction has seen the destruction wrought by the habit. Damage pervades every aspect of an addict’s life—his or her physical health, sense of ethics or morals, social abilities and mental stability. An addict often loses the ability to hold a job, run a business or take responsibility for personal relationships, children or possessions.
When addiction has started early in a person’s life or gone on for long periods, many addicts lose the social skills that enable them to benefit from group encounters, twelve-step programs or short-term drug rehabilitation programs. For many people, a short-term drug treatment program, such as one that lasts 28 or 30 days, gives the addict enough time to get sober, but not enough time to rebuild a life destroyed by drugs, or to learn drug-free life skills.
One of the critical components of any alcohol rehab or drug treatment is addressing the cravings suffered by those trying to achieve sobriety. Despite a person’s most sincere intentions, unbearable cravings can cause relapses in many people as soon as they leave short-term residential treatment. That is why the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program makes thorough detoxification a high priority. Over sixty years of experience has proven that the New Life Detoxification phase of the Narconon drug recovery program helps reduce cravings for many recovering addicts. Some people have even stated that their cravings ceased during this portion of the program.
When cravings no longer monopolize a recovering addict’s attention, he or she can focus on learning how to be a new person—one who no longer relies on drugs or alcohol to get through the day.
To enable recovering addicts to take back control of their lives, counseling and life-skills training are essential to relieve the guilt of the past and forge new abilities. A person must learn how to avoid situations and associations that would drive them back into drug use and know how to make the decisions that result in a drug-free life. As these skills are learned, the old life of an addict is left behind and the new life begins to take shape.
But the rewards of honestly earned sobriety surpass anything offered by drugs: The chance to see one’s children grow up and care for them. A look of love returning to the eyes of one’s parents or spouse. The restoration of trust among one’s friends and the simple ability to hold a job again. A sense of pride and self-esteem and the knowledge of one’s own honesty. All of these rewards that are commonly lost during addiction can be recovered once again—and retained for a lifetime when the drug program is thorough and addresses the actual damage created by the addiction.
When someone you love has become addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine or even prescription drugs, bringing them back into your life the way they were before drugs took them away is possible. You don’t have to grieve over the person you lost to addiction. Bring them back to an honest, drug-free life again with the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.