Healing from an addiction to drugs is a process and there is no quick fix that will allow you to get past that. As a person seeking treatment, you need to be aware that the journey to healing is not quick and easy. It is a hard road but one that is worth walking down in order to accomplish full recovery.

Man giving woman a piggyback rideOne of the steps in healing occurs during the first few weeks of treatment when detoxification is needed. This process is usually a very hard one and may seem to be not worth the trouble of going through it. It has physical effects on the body including shaking, hot and cold sweats and nausea and may be terrifying for the person who has to go through it. At this stage, patients are not given autonomy and need to give themselves over to the hands of the professionals who will dictate to them the ways to heal.

Once this process passes, patients will be given over to the extended care of the rehab facility and will need to join in on group therapy and receive individualized treatment. This takes a different amount of time for every person and while some will be able to get through this stage in a matter of weeks, for others it can take many months.

The final phase of treatment involves getting patients ready for the real world and the challenges they will face when they integrated back into society. In this stage, they learn how to get past the events that in the past would have resulted in drug use, and substitute these for healthy behaviour. In this stage, they apply what they have learned and try to stay away from the friends and the habits they had before.

After they are released from rehab, addicts need to make a lot of changes in their lives and stay in touch with support groups and others who can help them on a regular basis. There will be many times at which they will want to give up, but this support will ensure that they don’t.