Recovering from addiction is a difficult process that often requires a whole change in one’s lifestyle and way of thinking—kind of like fully rewiring a computer and restarting it. The goal of an addiction rehab center for recovery is itself a change in lifestyle and learning new skills that help replace bad habits with better ones. But how do we overcome those addictive habits, such as drinking, partying, or doing drugs in the wrong places with the wrong people?
In an addiction rehab center, psychologists and therapists work closely with individuals to help them to understand their addiction to prevent relapse and maintain their sobriety to allow those better changes to become properly embedded into daily living. Accommodating one’s life for better habits is like an act of brain rewiring, whether it is exercise, nutritional dieting, meditation, or enjoying more time with family. The theory is that good habits can be just as adaptive as bad habits. If a new life is practiced every day, the mind and body will learn to keep these practices in place. To understand and overcome bad habits, ask yourself the following:
- Why did you use drugs in the first place?
- Did other people or places influence these behaviors?
- What things can you do, or did you do, in your free time?
Understanding the answers to these questions can help in developing a new lifestyle for healthier living that involves alternative options in one’s decision making, rather than returning to old friends, drugs, and negative ways of thinking. Developing a new way of living can also work with the professional addiction rehab centers for help, as therapists work on a daily basis to provide therapy, 12 step group counseling, family counseling, private therapy, aftercare, and holistic therapy. In fact, there are many new approaches in addiction rehab centers that are common in our modern time. The world is constantly changing along with our general understanding of addiction in science, culture, and ethical perspectives.
Recreational activities have been shown to take an individual’s mind off of drug use. Addiction rehab centers help addicts by placing their minds into more fulfilling activities such as field sports, music, dance, art, physical exercise, camping, or wildlife adventure. Recreational activities can be quite therapeutic in the overall process of treatment, helping individuals gain confidence, higher self-esteem, and an adrenaline rush that is healthy for the mind and body.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in addiction treatment is a form of psychotherapy in which a psychotherapist works closely with a patient through discussion to address negative lifestyle choices and poor decision-making skills related to their addiction. Many people who have taken CBT now realize that their way of thinking has helped them gain the opportunity to better themselves by reacting more positively to high-stress situations. This concept is based on the fact that addiction is often linked to the user’s inability to handle personal problems throughout their life, such as personal relationships, workload, family problems, death of loved ones, traumatic memories, mental health disorders such as depression, financial struggles, and more. Some of these new therapies are often used in inpatient and outpatient rehab settings and can serve as a crucial aspect of an individual’s addiction recovery journey.
