When addiction creeps into a person’s life, it can be very easy to feel trapped and unable to escape. However, addiction is like any disease and moves in specific stages. As a result, it is essential to fully understand the cycle of addiction and the ways that it can impact you and others in your life. With this knowledge, you can use rehab to overcome addiction and become a happy and healthy person again. We understand that no one sets out to develop a substance user disorder, and seek to provide information to help people recover by understanding addiction and its triggers.
Understanding the Cycle of Addiction
The cycle of addiction is one that can be very complex and is one that is affected and influenced by a broad array of different factors. Therefore, it is critical to understand the various aspects that affect this process and how it may impact you. Let’s start by examining how a person gets addicted and the ways that they may stay dependent on drugs in their life:
- Initial use – The earliest stages of addiction often focus on experimentation and many people never pass from this stage
- Abuse and tolerance – As a person continues to experiment with substances, they start becoming tolerant of its effects and increase how much they use
- Dependence and addiction – Once a person cannot live without a drug – either physically or emotionally – they are thoroughly addicted
- Recovery – Most people with addiction will try to quit to regain their sobriety and a more stable and healthy life
- Relapse – When a person starts using drugs again after an attempt at recovery, they have relapsed and may begin increasing their intake of drugs again
The devastating nature of this cycle makes it one that can be very hard for some people to handle. The sad truth is that many people relapse after substance abuse rehabilitation and think that this means they are weak or incapable of quitting. That misconception is problematic because relapse is often just a part of recovery and can be used to overcome drug abuse for good. Holding people to standard of perfection is unrealistic, and often leads to negative outcomes. Instead, it’s best to understand that relapse can happen, and what family members and other support networks can do in an effort to prevent it.
Ways Drug Rehab Can Help
Drug rehab has become one of the most powerful ways to break this cycle. Though a relapse may occur after some treatments, you can use this information to understand your triggers better and to walk away from substance abuse for good. You can do this by understanding the physical and emotional impact of addiction and by changing the behaviors that reinforce these influences and keep the cycle of addiction turning — once you’ve developed an understanding of how it works, you can change your behaviors to help break it. All of these benefits make substance abuse recovery a process that you need if you are going through the cycle of addiction. By interrupting this cycle as it occurs, you can ensure that you are happy and healthy and can prevent the spread of addiction throughout your life and the lives of others.
Let Us Help You Recover
Do you want to break the cycle of addiction and regain a sober life? Then contact us at Atlantic Recovery Center. When you verify your insurance and call 877.432.0867, you get access to a professional recovery facility that will help you regain a sober life in an intimate and family-style atmosphere. We also offer aftercare that helps to prevent relapse and which can end your cycle of abuse for good.
Atlantic Recovery Center’s mission, through drug treatment programs, is to provide our clients with insight and awareness into the root causes and life chain of events that led to their destructive use of substances. And to provide the critical skills and tools necessary to cultivate a sober identity built on integrity, dignity and self-respect. Learn more here.
