Drug detox Continued from Part 3
We have now arrived at the fourth primary goal of a prescription drug detox. In case this is the first time you’ve seen this blog in the 4 part series, please allow us to recap. The first goal is Physical Healing. Generally, this is the time when your body rids itself of the toxins, alcohol, and other drugs. This period is called detoxification, and it can either be medically or non-medically assisted. The second goal is Psychological Wellbeing. This is mainly finding some sort of help to deal with emotional baggage that was happening prior to addiction taking off, this is called treatment trauma to dual diagnosis. There are also times that emotional damage comes from the time the addict was actively using. One on one therapy, group therapy and 12 step programs are the most common forms of assistance. Part three is Peer Support. This is the part when a client builds his own community of friends. Returning to the same crowd and routine can lead to relapse, so building a group that understands your cravings and addiction are paramount to long term sobriety.
The fourth goal is Relapse Prevention. If done with honesty and integrity, relapse has a greater chance of not happening. Having a support system (community) in place is your key to success. During your drug detox and rehab, you hopefully learned more about how to keep yourself on track, avoiding temptations. If you haven’t heard the word ‘trigger’ in regards to relapse, well, let us just give you a little run down of what it means. Simply put, triggers are events and/or people that increase your chance to relapse. Learning how to avoid these trigger points is a good start. That’s not to say a recovering addict should stay home, that wouldn’t be helpful.
Learning how to deal with stressful situations without using is mainly what relapse prevention is all about.