Benefits of Medical Facilities During Alcohol Recovery

Alcohol addiction detox instigates changes in the brain, resulting in chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain and body. This serves to alter brain function, necessitating that chemical imbalances be treated and corrected before the alcohol recovery process launches. Alcohol dependency also places a great strain on the body, resulting in a weakened physical state. Additionally, the alcohol withdrawal process further taxes the body, as vital organs work overtime to rid the body of harmful toxins. Detox staff must monitor vital signs as a result, to ensure alcohol addiction recovery plans are safe and customized to each individual. By conducting diagnostic testing at the outset of alcohol recovery, blood, saliva, and urine work help the doctors to discover any compounding underlying root causes for alcohol addiction.

Another benefit of medical facilities during alcohol recovery is they provide an opportunity to establish baseline readings for a variety of diagnostic tests. This initial testing conducted by the medical staff evaluates patients’ nutritional needs, blood chemistry, metabolism, vitamin and mineral levels, as well as measures toxin presence in the body. The results of these tests are used to shape the course of an individual’s alcohol recovery treatment. With the proper diagnostic tests, nursing care, and medical direction, the alcohol recovery process can accomplish successful detoxification for the body, priming the alcohol dependent individual for a stress-free and straightforward journey to sobriety.

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Finding Support With Friends for Your Alcohol Recovery

Here are a couple of ways to elicit support from your friends for your alcohol recovery.

• Ask them for support and encouragement.
  If you want to receive support from your friends during your alcohol recovery, you first have to ask for it. Asking for help and encouragement can bring you inspiration and comfort as you approach your alcohol recovery treatment. Of course, remember that since you are asking, they do have the right to decline. It is another person’s choice to support you and they may have personal reasons—or issues in their past—that prevent them from reaching out to you in certain ways.

• Evaluate whose support you want to receive.
  Before you begin to ask others people for support, think about whom you would like support from. Some people will seek to derail your progress, simply because they have not yet come to terms with their own alcohol addiction or trauma. Seek out positive people who are compassionate, kind and treat others—and themselves—with dignity.

• Open communication using different mediums.
  Many people will reach out to you in a way that makes them comfortable. You can reach out for help over the phone, or simply write a letter so that you have time to process your feelings and make them more concrete. You can also take advantage of modern technology, sending a text message or an e-mail, or reaching out on a social media website. Use whichever mediums feel appropriate and comfortable to you at this stage of your healing.

• Tell them specifically what you need.
  Friends are wonderfully intuitive, but they don’t have psychic powers. When you want to start finding support with friends for your alcohol recovery, you may need to let them know what types of support you seek. Be clear about what would help your recovery—whether it’s a phone call, a visit, or simply a care package. Also, be sure to make them aware of any actions that would impede your recovery, since true friends will want to act in ways that benefit you and your sobriety.

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Almost 60 percent of individuals going through rehab have a dual diagnosis. Understanding the mental health problems people encounter can help guide clinicians to uncover the root causes of patients’ alcohol dependencies. It is important to work with both the patient’s alcohol addiction as well as his or her mental disorder at the same time. Individuals with untreated mental disorders have a difficult time maintaining sobriety because they often self-medicate their condition with drugs or alcohol. This can be imperative for healing, as a common cause of both mental disorders and chemical dependency is that both involve imbalances in the levels of neurotransmitters. Reachieving homeostasis in the brain and body can help dual diagnosis patients finally find lasting sobriety. Through proper diagnosis, medical treatment and one-on-one talk therapy, dual diagnosis patients can find freedom from alcoholism.

Dual Diagnosis Patients and Alcohol Recovery

The most accurate way to diagnose mental health issues is to do so when the patient’s system is clear of alcohol. Often, people can seem to have a mental disorder when they are merely intoxicated, requiring detox for proper diagnosis. Patients can be guided through the detox process under the care of qualified medical staff, detox specialists and counselors. After detox is complete, it is important to evaluate the mental health of the patients and to treat any underlying mental health issues. With the confusion of mental illness removed, it becomes possible to focus on counseling measures to treat the alcoholism addiction.

To treat dual diagnosis patients in alcohol recovery, it is important to find a facility that has supervised onsite medical detox facilities—as well as an onsite alcohol recovery program with intensive therapy. Having these two components in the alcohol recovery center makes it possible to maintain a continuity of care that would not be otherwise possible, particularly important for dual diagnosis patients.

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Combating Denial With Alcohol Recovery

Inpatient alcohol recovery programs undertake the difficult task of helping us combat denial and break through our defense mechanisms. Unfortunately, while denial is still in effect, we earnestly believe and view as logical the thoughts and feelings we have about our continued alcohol use. We tell ourselves we do not really need treatment for alcoholism, that it’s simply the actions of others that cause us to drink, that we drink alcohol less than we really do, or that we truly have bigger problems to focus on. However, with the help of a team of addiction professionals at a successful alcohol recovery center, we can break through denial during our stay in inpatient alcohol recovery centers.

How to Inpatient Alcohol Recovery Removes Denial

There are two main ways in which alcohol recovery can help us combat denial.

• Inpatient Alcohol Detoxification
  Before denial can be removed, the mind needs to stop perceiving a lack of alcohol as a threat. This will be easier to do once withdrawal has subsided, and the body begins to adjust. As systems begin to normalize, brain chemistry makes a journey back to normal balance, and the alcohol dependent individual begins to think more clearly. Once denial lifts, we can make rational decisions, based on logic instead of alcohol addiction.
• Personalized Counseling
  Another benefit of inpatient alcohol recovery is the personalized counseling that comes along with treatment. Underneath most forms of denial is simply fear of the emotional and psychological pain that lies behind our physical addictions to alcohol. With intensive, on-on-one treatment customized for your past, relationships, personality and communication style, trained therapists can help you remove denial so that you can get to the heart of your alcohol addiction.

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Maximizing Your Alcohol Recovery Program

Here are just a few ways in which you can maximize your alcohol recovery program’s services for lasting healing.

• Write Your Thoughts Down
  Keep a journal or log of your thoughts while in your alcohol recovery program. These can be immensely useful for you, both in therapy and to encourage you as you reflect on the progress you’ve made. You will be surprised how much insight you’ll receive simply by taking the time to write down your thoughts and become more aware of your emotions.

• Take Advantage of Alternative Treatments
  The best alcohol recovery treatment programs tend to offer a variety of optional therapies and activities you can take part in. Remember that you are only in inpatient alcohol rehab programs for a relatively short period of time. Take advantage of each treatment you’re offered, to maximize your opportunity at full recovery from alcoholism.

• Ask Questions
  Many of us perfect the “nod and smile” approach when things fail to make sense to us, ultimately impeding our growth and learning. Ask questions whenever you need clarification, feel uncomfortable, or simply want a deeper understanding of the alcohol recovery treatment process. You will find a more lasting and enduring recovery if your heart and mind understand the healing process.

• Look for the Positive
  Sometimes, it’s easy to focus on negative aspects of inpatient alcohol treatment—you miss your friends and family, you face difficult emotions, and you may have to confront trauma that you’ve spent years avoiding. Instead, focus on the positive in each situation you are in—appreciate the chance to focus on yourself, to heal from your past, and to enjoy a peaceful atmosphere while you seek alcohol recovery treatment.

• Envision Your Future
  Visualizing your target future can be a wonderful way to inspire yourself during inpatient alcohol recovery treatment. Ask yourself what your life will look once you have recovered from alcoholism. What will you wear? What would you do with your spare time? Which exciting places would you visit? What do you see yourself doing for a living once you are not spending endless resources on alcohol? Picture your sober future, and use it to inspire you to achieve full healing.

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Relapse After Alcohol Recovery Program Completion

Unfortunately, many alcohol recovery centers treat relapse as a necessary step in the addiction recovery process. The expectation that you cannot seamlessly reach sobriety causes a defeatist outlook for the recovering alcohol dependent individual—and a convenient excuse for any addiction recovery program that simply does not work effectively. The truth is that relapse simply indicates that alcohol dependency treatment did not work. Just as you would seek out another mechanic if your car repairs only held up for a week, you need to seek out a different alcohol recovery approach if the last alcohol rehab program you attended simply did not treat—and possibly did not even diagnose well—your alcohol dependency.

Finding Alcohol Recovery After Relapse

Finding alcohol recovery after relapse can be an intimidating process. You may find yourself feeling at a loss as to where to begin in order to make your next attempt at alcohol recovery effective and lasting. Here are just a few traits to seek out as you explore alcohol recovery treatment after relapse.

• Inpatient Facility With Onsite Detox
  After a relapse, you truly do need the supportive environment that an inpatient alcohol recovery facility can provide. Look for an alcohol recovery center that offers onsite detox, so that you can transition seamlessly from detoxification to therapy.

• Individualized Counseling
  Especially after relapse, you truly do need personalized counseling in order to heal the underlying emotional and psychological causes that led you to drink in the first place.

• Holistic Approach to Treatment
  Alcoholism is not a simple problem, and it requires a comprehensive approach to treat in a lasting way. Seek out an inpatient recovery center that offers fitness, nutrition, intensive therapy, spiritual guidance, and medical and alternative therapy treatments in order to offer you a solution that endures.

• Belief in a Cure for Alcoholism
  Finally, avoid any alcohol treatment center that dooms you to a life of continual, managed addiction. Seek out an inpatient alcohol treatment center that believes in your ability to not only detoxify, but to deal with underlying root causes and eliminate the drive to drink. Anything less will create a cycle of relapse and temporary sobriety, rather than empowering you to make a lasting change.

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Misconceptions About Relapse in Alcohol Recovery

There are many misconceptions about alcohol relapse in circulation—even operating within the addiction treatment industry itself. Here are a few major misconceptions regarding alcohol relapse in dependent individuals.

• Relapse Is Essential to the Recovery Process.
  This falsehood has in part been spread by the alcohol treatment industry.  Relapse is not an expected or inevitable part of the recovery process. True recovery will free you from your dependency on alcohol—it will not cycle you back through your alcohol dependency.
• Relapse Is a Natural Process.
  You are already equipped for success—you only need your natural body and mind.  Your dependency on alcohol was the furthest thing from a natural process—and relapse is equally unnatural for the body.  Relapse sometimes occurs as a result of emotional trauma or chemical imbalances, but is ultimately a surefire sign that the base cause for your dependency was not effectively addressed.
• The Weak Are the Ones Who Relapse.
  Oftentimes, people who relapse lack the necessary tools and treatment that they need to effectively recover.  They do not, however, usually lack the desire to be sober.  Ineffective treatment methods are often responsible for relapse, rather than an individual’s lack of personal strength.
• Relapse Happens If You Miss Meetings.
  Consistent attendance at 12-step meetings does not guarantee your sobriety.  Some people are able to maintain complete sobriety without regularly attending meetings.  If you are regularly missing meetings, it may be an indication that relapse has started to happen—however, it is not the cause for the relapse.
• Other Forms of Dependency Are Not Relapse.
  Some people slip into the trap of switching out alcohol for another form of chemical dependency.  Regardless of the substance that caused you to seek treatment, any chemical dependency indicates a relapse.  The fact that you have a chemical dependency at all is a sign that your root issue has not been addressed.
• Relapse Is an Active Decision.
  Oftentimes, when relapse occurs, denial comes with it.  Ignoring, deflecting, or shrinking away from acknowledging relapse can be subconscious in nature.
• Relapse Is Only Over Once You’ve Reached Extreme Lows.
  While some people travel to “rock bottom” before seeking recovery, some individuals recognize their relapse far before things get too dire. Many dependent people see that their past recovery efforts have not been successful and search for new help in achieving sobriety.

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