Admitting that you have a problem with alcohol isn’t easy. However, committing to alcohol addiction treatment can be even harder. Many people are afraid to step away from their lives for one to three months to enter a rehab facility.
Although it is possible to get sober without going to alcohol rehab, it’s incredibly challenging to stay that way. Relapse rates are high among recovering alcoholics who’ve received addiction treatment, but they’re highest among those who’ve never gone to rehab at all. It’s also important to note that detoxing from alcohol on your own is dangerous. Without the right monitoring and support, alcohol detox can cause permanent physical harm. In some instances, unmanaged withdrawal symptoms can even result in death. Quitting alcohol is only the very first step of the recovery process.
To ensure lifelong sobriety, it’s important for recovering alcoholics to understand the nature of addiction and to identify the reasons why they started drinking to begin with. If you began drinking to alleviate the psychological anguish of an untreated mental health issue, you’ll likely return to alcohol repeatedly until this issue is successfully managed.
This is also true whether you started drinking to mute the pain of past trauma, to compensate for feelings of low self-worth, or to relieve the discomfort of unprocessed emotions like guilt or grief. Statistically, getting some treatment for alcohol addiction is always better than getting none. Moreover, the more treatment that you ultimately receive for your addiction, the more likely you are to stay the course.
Why Going to Alcohol Rehab Is Important
The benefits of professional alcohol addiction treatment start with medically assisted detox services. Detoxing from heavy alcohol use is always safest and easiest when it’s done with professional monitoring and support. During your time in detox, you’ll have ongoing:
- Nutritional support
- Hydration support
- Sleep support
- Interventions for managing and minimizing your withdrawal symptoms
With alcohol detox, heavy, long-term drinkers are always at risk of entering delirium tremens. This is the last and most intense stage of withdrawal that can include visual and auditory hallucinations, seizures, coma, and death. With medically assisted detox in a professional alcohol rehab program, most patients are able to sidestep delirium tremens entirely. That’s because successful mitigation of early alcohol withdrawal symptoms prevents more severe symptoms from developing.
Once your detox is finished, you’ll be able to learn more about the nature of addiction and about why you’ve been using alcohol in obsessive and unhealthy ways. You’ll take part in group and individual counseling sessions. You’ll also have access to stress management training, life-planning and goal-setting activities, and strategies for relapse prevention. In rehab, recovering alcoholics learn how to:
- Leverage healthy coping techniques when confronted with real-world stress
- Maintain balanced and sustainable lifestyles
- Successfully manage any co-occurring disorders they have
- Avoid or overcome common relapse triggers
Attempting to get sober without the benefit of rehab fails to acknowledge the very nature of addiction. Quitting alcohol and maintaining your abstinence over the long-term isn’t about mustering up enough willpower. You also have to have solid, sustainable ways of dealing with the things in your life that acted as catalysts for your addiction. Whether this means improving your self-image or working through intense feelings of guilt and grief that you have yet to process, tackling addiction with the guidance and support of trained professionals is always the best way to go.
You may be surprised to discover that alcohol rehab doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. Addiction treatment can last just one month or it can last three full months or longer. You can take part in an inpatient program that’s conducted entirely on a closed campus, or you can sign up for outpatient addiction treatment where you can continue going to work and school, and spending time with your loved ones. If you’re ready to learn more about the available options in alcohol rehab, we’ve got you covered. Call us today at 855-334-6120 to get started.
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