Is Deprivation an Effective Form of Rehab? Addiction, whether to drugs or to alcohol, can have a devastating effect on an individual and on their family. The decision to start the process of rehabilitating your mind and body from the chains of addiction is an important step toward recovery and a normal life. As you start to research different rehabilitation programs, you might wonder if being deprived of the substance that you are addicted to is enough to gain permanent sobriety. While deprivation is certainly a part of any sobriety program, here are some other factors to consider that might help make your rehabilitation process more thorough and effective. Physical Rehabilitation To answer the question, yes, deprivation is an effective form of rehab. If you hope to overcome your addiction, you must gain freedom from the substance in question. When dealing with an addiction, you can’t just go part way. It’s not enough to say that you won’t have as much, or that you will only have some of the substance on the weekends. This is simply not how addiction works. If you hope to achieve long-lasting sobriety, you must go through a period of complete deprivation. This is why it can be so useful to enroll in a program that will help you distance yourself from the substance by controlling your environment. Having a trained staff of professionals to get you through the difficult withdrawal process can make success more likely.
Mental Rehabilitation As important as deprivation is, however, programs that look at the whole person, and not just the addiction, do a better job at addressing all of the issues at hand. When you are researching rehabilitation programs, look for a program that also works to rehabilitate the mind with therapy sessions, group counseling, and other programs directed at unearthing issues that may be influencing your behavior. If you deprive yourself of the substance, but fail to examine the mental structures that have set the foundation for addiction, you might struggle to maintain your sobriety. Spiritual Rehabilitation Finally, if you are looking into rehabilitation programs, you might consider finding one that also addresses spiritual rehabilitation. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will embrace a certain religion. What it means is that you make an internal connection that gives you perspective and that makes you feel connected to something greater than yourself. Look for a program that offers things like yoga, meditation practice, time in nature, and opportunities to speak with a spiritual guide. Although it might not sound appealing at this
point, down the road of your rehabilitation process, this connection to your own worth and place in the world can really provide focus, inspiration, and hope. Above all, find a program that uses a combination of these factors to create a customized rehabilitation program just for you. This is about recovering the person you really are and rediscovering your own worth. A program that approaches your rehabilitation from these different angles might just be your best option.
*First image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hckyso/3870006964/ *Second image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/asterix611/5987297142/