How Much Does Rehab Suck?

Let’s face it – rehab is not a pleasant experience. You have just had either an intervention (in which you have to go through the humiliating experience of every person that’s important to you basically telling you to shape up or ship out), and then you get to this place. It may be a really comfortable place, but there’s still the discomfort of the unfamiliarity with it all. You’ve gotten used to being in a particular place (or being no place in particular, if you drift a lot), and now you’re a prisoner in everything but name. It’s definitely a different kind of experience, just from the outside.

But then there’s the actual detox process itself. If you’ve gone very long without your drug of choice in the past, you know what to expect. While there are the physical symptoms they talk about in books – tremors, sweating, pain – that stuff can combine with your whole reality getting all twisted up. After all, if you’re been looking at the world through junk colored glasses for half your life, seeing things as they “really” are (because reality is a weird, pliable thing) can be the biggest trip ever. The staff may understand, but it doesn’t seem like it at the time.

It’s true that a lot of people go through all that hurt, and then just get right back into their junkie ways once they hit the street again. And you’re always free to do that, if you really want to. But think about it – they won’t let you out of rehab until they think you’re clean enough and thinking straight enough that you might be able to keep it together out there. Not only do the people you really care about believe that you’re worth saving, the staff at wherever your rehab occurs think you have a shot at making it.

The real question is, do you really want to make it? Rehab sucks for awhile, but it can get a lot better afterward.

Filed Under: Addiction Intervention

Entering a Residential Drug Abuse Program

If you have a problem with drug abuse, there are several different types of treatment programs you can use. The most popular types are outpatient and residential. In outpatient treatment, you would attend meetings but you would stay at your own home. In a residential drug abuse program, you would live at the treatment facility for a set period of time. Some people go to treatment just for a couple of weeks. Others go for as long as 90 days. Mostly, it depends on the treatment facility and the severity of the addiction. If you’ve had problems in the past and are still struggling, staying longer can be a good option for you.

The family and friends of someone who has a drug problem may also encourage a residential treatment approach in order to get the maximum benefit from treatment. If the addict only goes to meetings and then has a lot of free time to be tempted, the outcome may not be as good – and that’s especially true if he spends a lot of time with people who aren’t living a clean and sober lifestyle. In residential treatment, a person wouldn’t have any access to drugs or alcohol at all, because he would always be on the grounds of the treatment facility.

With restricted activities and visitors, it’s easier to keep an addict safe and on the right path. There will be many meetings and group sessions where an addicted person can learn coping skills and talk about his problems and temptations. Being able to bond with others who are going through the same difficulties is one of the best ways to get through issues that you’re facing. Because addiction to drugs or alcohol takes so much of a toll on a person and a family, it’s best to get it treated as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

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Filed Under: General Rehab & Addiction Tagged With: , ,

Bad Addictions

A woman smoking crack from a glass pipe.
Image via Wikipedia

Are you addicted to hurting and harming yourself in some kind of way? If you are, well, stop it! While the idea of simply telling someone to make a positive change in their life is about as reasonable as trying to tell a clogged drain to “just flow properly,” the direct approach does work from time to time. It was worth a try, right? But then again, the idea of being on an anti addiction web site probably means that you are not the addict in question. You most likely know a person who is addicted to something that is doing serious damage to their life.

It does not matter whether the person is addicted to a drug like meth, opium or crack cocaine, or if their “drug” of choice is alcohol, gambling or excessive amounts of sex. Any time an activity is done just because you feel as if you have to do it, it is an addiction. And if going through with this activity does some kind of damage to your work, school, emotional or social life, it can be classified as being a harmful addiction. And harmful addictions tend to be pretty pervasive – getting rid of them rarely involves something as simple as asking please.

So what about these bad addictions? Is there anything that a person who really cares can do about them? In some cases, bad addictions can be treated to the point where the person realizes how bad these activities are, and actually stops doing them. Unfortunately, what so often happens is that a person will “back slide” into old negative ways, the first time it becomes convenient to do so. Having a great psychological excuse like “stress” is a prime way to cover up the fact that they just want to do a particular thing, harmful or not.

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Filed Under: General Rehab & Addiction Tagged With: ,

Let’s Talk About Double Beds

Double beds? Yes, the most common and popular type of bed in use is the double bed and has been for over 100 years.

In this very modern world we often love the luxury of larger sleeping areas; yet, amidst the rise of queen and king sized beds, the double bed has still kept its popularity. Why? Because bigger is not always better.

Not only is a double bed usually perfect for two people, it is also the perfect fit for most bedrooms. A double bed can fit in an average sized bedroom with little difficulty while still allowing for reasonable living space within the room itself.

Double beds also come in many different styles to suit your taste. Wood is always in good taste whether you are thinking of a dark cherry wood or a four-poster bed with curtains. Even light distressed wood, giving the impression of a ship captain’s bed, can be quite charming. Of course, iron beds are always cool and hip and have an ageless flair about them. They can look incredible in the right room. Some double beds even come with drawers at the sides, so that your bed can conveniently be your sleeping place and your chest of drawers, all in one piece of furniture.

A word of caution: there are sometimes slight differences in the sizes of double beds. It is therefore wise, when you are deciding to make a purchase, to make sure that the beds you are looking at are the correct measurements for your bedroom. After going to all the trouble of finding exactly the right bed you don’t want to discover, after you have paid good money, that your bed of choice does not fit into the bedroom. After all, there is nothing quite so cozy as sleeping in the absolute perfect bed; you don’t want to spoil it all with the wrong purchase.

Filed Under: General Rehab & Addiction Tagged With: , ,