Recovery Is a Process of Learning, Growth, and Healing

However, some addictive substances can cause damage to the brain, making addiction harder to address. The timeframe will depend on the patient’s readiness to commit, the substance they’ve been abusing, and any existing mental health concerns. In Verse 63, Tao Te Ching states, “accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.” Big successes rarely occur all at once. Successful recovery is built similarly—by staying clean one day at a time, many people are able to accumulate many years in recovery. Tragically, in the media and mainstream society we hear much more about the dramatic and fiery wreckage of active addiction and relapse than we do about quiet, inspired, and inspiring stories of long-term recovery. Recovery from AUD is marked by stages of abstinence, withdrawal, repair, and growth.

• Addiction is a lifelong disease treated through therapy and lifestyle changes.
• And one measure of a comprehensive substance abuse treatment program is the help it offers to enrollees to identify their interests and find and build a meaningful career path.
• No matter which pathway of recovery a person chooses, a common process of change underlies them all.
• Recovery is mostly an “inside” job, requiring you to monitor and manage your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors in ways that support your recovery goals over time.

What Are Common Triggers for Relapse that ruin recovery?

Creating a detailed action plan can help turn these goals into reality. This plan should outline specific steps, timelines, successful drug addicts and potential obstacles. At-home detox may be OK if you’re otherwise healthy and haven’t been using drugs for very long.

Stages of Change in Addiction: A Comprehensive Guide to Recovery

It’s maintaining change that’s hard—creating new and sustained ways of thinking and behaving. As Mark Twain quipped, “Quitting [smoking] is easy, I’ve done it dozens of times.” Many can begin a positive health behavior change, but most will run out of gas before they’re around the first bend. The 12 steps are challenging for every anyone struggling with a substance use problem, no matter what their addiction. Going through the ways your addiction has taken away from your life and how it has impacted others may be painful. While working with a sponsor is expected during the steps, the best chance of recovery comes from a combination of efforts.

My Personal Recovery Story

It’s like standing on the edge of a diving board, knowing you need to jump but feeling paralyzed by the prospect. The goal at this stage is simply to increase awareness and plant the seeds of possibility for change. Our free email newsletter offers guidance from top addiction specialists, inspiring sobriety stories, and practical recovery tips to help you or a loved one keep coming back and staying sober. Many treatment options are available if you or someone you know is ready to start recovering from addiction. The individual may only think about this internally or mention it to close friends and family. While the recovery period may be challenging, it’s also filled with milestones that can transform your life into one that’s better than you could have previously imagined.

During recovery, the brain strives to restore a healthier balance of dopamine activity. Over time, the brain’s reward system can become less dependent on drugs and respond to natural, healthy rewards, such as social interaction or engaging in enjoyable activities. In conclusion, embracing harm reduction and diverse modalities recognizes the uniqueness of each individual’s journey in addiction recovery. By acknowledging differences, offering alternatives, and emphasizing flexibility, the recovery process becomes more accessible, person-centered, and ultimately more effective in promoting lasting positive change. Experts acknowledge addiction’s multifaceted nature, encompassing physiological, psychological, and social components. A strong support system, adherence to an after-care plan, a recovery-friendly environment, and seeking help during stress reduce the risk of relapse.

Recovery from drug or alcohol addiction can be challenging, with individuals often facing obstacles such as cravings, triggers, and the risk of relapse. Developing a strong support network, including family, friends, and peers in recovery, is essential in overcoming these challenges and staying on track. Within such groups, those seeking recovery frequently find acceptance, a sense of belonging, the opportunity to develop healthy relationships, and an experience of community. A foundational principle of mutual-aid groups is that being of service to others is an important vehicle through which people help themselves. To paraphrase Ram Dass, I work on myself to help others, and I help others to work on myself. Counseling gets at the core of why someone began using alcohol or drugs, and what they can do to make lasting changes.

• Many people believe that they are powerless to change their own addictive behavior, and often it is a belief that keeps people addicted.
• Another one of the most important ways to support recovery is to understand that multiple relapses over a number of years are typically part of the process.
• During this stage of treatment, an individual’s alcohol and drug use history will be taken, the treatment program will be introduced, and the counselor will work with the individual to develop an individualized treatment plan.
• In addition to mutual support groups, whether they are 12-step programs or an alternative approach, getting professional treatment can significantly improve a person’s chances of recovery.

Preparation: Getting Ready for Change

• This individual does not acknowledge the severe consequences of their drinking on relationships, work performance, and health, often attributing these issues to external factors or minimizing their importance.
• After a return to old behaviors, people make a decision to resume their active strategies of coping, facilitating remission and recovery.
• When you ride out the craving, without trying to battle, judge, or ignore it, you’ll see that it passes more quickly than you’d think.
• However, motivation in addiction recovery isn’t a simple on/off switch.
• When this happens, it can be useful to stay with the urge until it passes.

Post-acute withdrawal