Treatment Success Paper
Introduction
Sobriety is the state of being sober from any drug of choice. A patient’s journey to sobriety is not an easy one. Overcoming addiction can be hard but it all comes down to one’s ability to stay sober and maintain the recovery. Being sober do not simply mean saying no to the drug of choice but also changing and reevaluating a lot of things in one’s life. Things would be much easier if there was an easy way to maintain recovery and handle the difficulties arising along the way even after completing treatment but there is no easy way. Often with the help of treatment such as therapy patients are taken through the process of being sober and how to maintain that sobriety.
Boredom has been termed as one of the sobriety killers, therefore, one way of maintaining sobriety is by finding something productive to occupy oneself with in order to occupy the previous time that was used while abusing the substance that led to addiction. When a person who is struggling to remain sober finds themselves in a bored and in an inactive situation, they can start to reminisce on the past days while they had “fun” when using the substance, they are trying to stay away from. This would potentially make them reconsider reusing the which would lead to a relapse (Laudet, Savage, & Mahmood, 2002). In order to kill the boredom, it is advisable for one to pick a new hobby.
In addition to the formal or informal treatment such as the 12-step groups some psychological factors are important in helping a patient maintain sobriety. Several forms of motivation that stand out among cognitive variables have also produced good results and enabled patients to stay sober and example is if the persistence use of the substance will result to the patient losing a friend or a family member then the patient is likely to remain sober in order to keep their dear ones. The support of friends and family also helps in maintain sobriety (Laudet, Savage, & Mahmood, 2002). Recovery from addiction is a lifelong process.
The road to recovery does not always end with rehab treatment. After leaving rehab people are faced by the excitement of living a substance free life and the constant fear or relapsing back. Life after rehab can be hard and the constant support of peer counselors is very much needed, the follow up programs that are initiated after one leaves rehab help one to maintain sobriety after going back to their normal lives (Laudet, Savage, & Mahmood, 2002). Effective intervention is a way that is used to maintain sobriety too. Intervention are planned meeting that are directed towards someone with an addiction in order to enable change as they undergo recovery or maintain sobriety. Effective intervention meeting involves people that are important to the person so that they can be able to discuss the impact of addiction to the targeted person in a way that is direct and non-judgmental. Mostly, interventions involve a lot of planning and fore thoughts since the topic on addiction is sensitive and easily provokes the emotion of the targeted person (Abuse, S., US, M. H. S. A., & Office of the Surgeon General US, 2016).
Follow up support plays an important role in helping one maintain sobriety while on the road to recovery. Rehab can be termed as the beginning of recovery and to maintain sobriety it is important for a person to not only go through rehab but also to have people who will offer support to them after leaving rehab. It is much easier for addicts who receive help from friends and family to adjust to life away from rehab. Follow ups by one’s loved ones can be done by accepting them without judgment, creating a substance free environment for them in order to avoid substances that would lead to relapse. Actively listening to the concerns voiced by them and encouraging them to join a support group where they can share their experiences and listen to how other people are progressing on their road to recovery (Pagano, Zeltner, Jaber, Post, Zywiak, & Stout, 2009).
In order to improve addiction treatment in the future it is recommendable to increase the span of treatment which today it is virtually all short term while the disease of addiction has remained to be a lifelong threat since the chances of relapsing even after maintain sobriety for a long time are still very high (Robert, 2016). The future of addiction treatment depends on the adaptation of long-term recovery treatments that will give medical participants a chance to evaluate and asses the effectiveness of the addiction treatments being used.
Conclusion
The road to recovery is lifelong. For one to maintain sobriety it is important for them to avoid boredom which would likely lead to them reminiscing about the past days while they had fun abusing the substance and this would only lead to a relapse. Rehab treatment is the begin of the road to recovery and it is necessary that any addict willing to recover from any substance abuse to first start with rehab. Follow up support is very vital after one leaves rehab. Mostly, follow up support is offered by family and friend. Effective interventions are also necessary when it comes to maintain sobriety. The future of addiction treatment lies on the use of long-term addiction treatment.
References
Abuse, S., US, M. H. S. A., & Office of the Surgeon General (US. (2016). Early Intervention, Treatment, and Management of Substance Use Disorders.
Laudet, A. B., Savage, R., & Mahmood, D. (2002). Pathways to long-term recovery: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 34(3), 305-311.
Pagano, M. E., Zeltner, B. B., Jaber, J., Post, S. G., Zywiak, W. H., & Stout, R. L. (2009). Helping others and long-term sobriety: Who should I help to stay sober? Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 27(1), 38-50.
Robert L., (2016). Seizing the Moment to Improve Addiction Treatment. Retrieved from; https://www.asam.org/resources/publications/magazine/read/article/2016/08/05/seizing- the-moment-to-improve-addiction-treatment
