Addiction washes over and engulfs you like waves in the ocean. Covering and taking over every part of you physically and drilling deeper yet to envelop your mind.
In other words, when gripped by addiction, it takes over and spreads into all parts of your life.
What starts as chasing a high quickly becomes something your body is quite literally dependent on to function. It’s why some of the signs of withdrawal are so physically intense: your body needs drugs to carry on like “normal”.
That’s ultimately why the first step of drug addiction treatment is to detox safely.
Why Detox Is the First Step of Drug Addiction Treatment
The first step towards sobriety is getting the drugs fully flushed out of your system. It’s simply not possible to treat the mental aspect of addiction until your body is no longer dependent on drugs. If your body still intensely craves drugs, it’s hard to focus on anything other than satisfying or overcoming the powerful pull of the drug.
Withdrawal demands working through, it’s your body adjusting to life without drugs and it needs to happen before any type of therapy can start.
Depending on the severity of your addiction and the substance that you’re addicted to, the period of withdrawal and detox can vary right along with the symptoms. Given the potentially prolonged discomfort, the risk of a quick relapse is high when attempting to detox on your own hence why it’s normally recommended to detox under the proper supervision and guidance of medical professionals.
Those trained and specialized in detox know what you’re going through and can help you keep your eye on the prize. More importantly, some withdrawal symptoms are downright dangerous and potentially even life-threatening so being under the attentive and watchful eye of a skilled and qualified medical team can keep you safe and literally alive in some cases.
Once you’ve cleared the hurdle of a safe detox only then is it time to start chipping away at the mental side and working on uncovering the root causes of your drug addiction.
What Happens After Detox
After detox is when recovery begins in earnest and there’s no need to rush in getting there. Recovery is a productive and meaningful marathon you’ll participate in for the rest of your life, not a sprint to complete haphazardly and as quickly as possible. Commit fully to detox, stick with the plan.
Speaking of plans, that’s something that happens when you first set foot in our all men’s drug rehab center. Detox doesn’t happen without first establishing a plan of action for your treatment. Just like each person is distinctive and the life events and situations that drove you or a loved one to addiction are unique, so too is every course of treatment.
What works for you isn’t necessarily the same as what works for everyone else. Being a men’s only treatment center like Valley Recovery Center is, for example, something that might create an environment for recovery that’s particularly beneficial and comfortable for you.
After detox, the behavioral side of treatment kicks off and consists of individual counseling, one-on-one therapy sessions as well as group sessions with addiction specialists. The goal being more than just to help you understand why you became addicted in the first place but also to provide you with a set of tools that allow you to safely deal with the triggers and temptations that daily life will continue to throw at you, even after you complete treatment.
You’ll learn new and improved ways to think and act positively as well as redefining what’s an appropriate and healthy coping mechanism. In addition, group sessions give you the opportunity to make connections with other sober-minded people, something you may not have had too much exposure to recently.
Reach Out to Valley Recovery Center Today
That said, the most important and critical step to take before any treatment can begin is a safe detox. If you’re ready to embark on the road of recovery, reach out to us at Valley Recovery Center for additional info and the next steps for detox and treatment!
