Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation

Parents don’t know how to parent a young adult who is an alcoholic and/or drug addict. Period! What they do know, is that there comes a point when they reach outside of themselves, their family unit and ask for help. Usually, when everything they have tried to do to save their child from alcohol and drug addiction hasn’t worked. And, when they get to this point, we the addiction professionals can hear their emotional exhaustion and psychological desperation. But most importantly, we can hear the unconditional love that they have for their children. We can only hear it, if we are actually listening. And if we are listening; it is that love, that bond that we the professionals should be nurturing.

We should be utilizing every clinical skill we have attained to strengthen the individual and secure the foundation of their relationships, which are based on unconditional love.

Tenth Step: We Continued

“We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it.”

“Ugh, I’m so tired of looking at myself! When do I get a break? How much longer do I have to do this stuff?” Since we’ve made it this far, it only makes sense to go a little further. Step Ten is when we practice the Spiritual Principle of Perseverance. We have to remember, Recovery is something we get to do. Not everyone gets this opportunity to learn about and practice Spiritual Principles while making mistakes along the way. We are freely given a new way to live by our forefathers, it is truly an honor and a privilege to be in Recovery. Working the Tenth Step is a huge part of continuing on our journey and persevering.

Self-discipline greets us straight on in Step Ten.

In Part One of this blog, we investigated how the ego can be a major roadblock to recovery by making it harder for an addict to realize that they need help, and how it can increase their resistance to seeking help as well. However, even if an addict overcomes this block to recovery and undergoes rehab treatment, they must remain vigiliant to ego- driven emotions that can undermine treatment and lead to a relapse of self-defeating behaviors, including:

Roadblocks to Drug and Alcohol Recovery

In psychoanalysis, the ego is the division of the psyche that is conscious; it controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality. It is your ego which also gives you self-pride and self-esteem, which are crucial for happiness and success in life. However, if you or someone you love is addicted to drugs or alcohol, the ego can also become a major roadblock to recovery. An exaggerated sense of self-importance and conceit can trigger negative emotions that make it harder for an addict to realize that they need help, and can increase resistance to seeking help as well.

Ego may cause a drug user to ignore or deny the fact that his or her drug use is getting worse or is out of control. He or she may believe that quitting drug use would be a sign of weakness, and the idea of surrender is not an attractive concept.