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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

About Drugs, Alcohols, and Addictions

Answer- Drugs can be used as prescribed by certified medical personnel. As treatments, drugs can be used. But when someone is physically and mentally dependent on the drug and takes it without certified personnel’s recommendation, it turns into drug abuse.

Answer- Substance use disorder is another name for drug abuse. The overall change in the body, mind, and behavior of a person because of an uncontrollable addiction to any drug or other substance is called substance use disorder.

Answer- Answers to a few questions can help to know about someone’s drinking problem. For ease, let’s think I’m asking you the questions. 

  • Have you ever felt the need for cutting your alcohol consumption?
  • Have people ever annoyed you by talking about your drinking behavior?
  • Do you sometimes feel embarrassed about alcohol consumption?
  • Have you felt the need for a drink to calm your nerves after you wake up in the morning?

If your response is ‘Yes’ in two or more cases, there is a chance that you have a drinking problem.

Answer- There are many drugs that have a direct effect on the baby as those can easily reach the fetus through the placenta. Nicotine causes low birth weight and premature birth, heroin may cause dependency. Many other drugs directly affect the brain and create behavioral problems. In a word, drug addiction during pregnancy has a direct negative impact on the baby.

Answer- It depends on the drug. Many people with addiction suffer from mental health issues. But it can’t be surely said that addiction is the reason behind mental health issues. It can be such a case that the person has started using the drug because of the issues. 

Some researchers have shown that marijuana can produce some psychotic symptoms.

Answer- Drugs, alcohol, and other substances that cause addiction have a long impact on the individual. Even if they recover from the addiction, the impact of the previous addiction is deep and long-lasting. 

So, addiction can’t be cured, but it can be discontinued. Discontinuation of addiction reduces the impact a lot. Discontinuation of addiction happens through an active participation in a healthy lifestyle. If the lifestyle is not followed, there is a huge chance of the addiction coming back.

Answer- Addiction brings so many behavioral and psychological changes in people’s minds. So, when people want to stop addiction and be sober, they need to go through behavioral and psychological changes again. A conscious transition towards being sober is very tough because of this. That’s why people have to struggle when trying to be sober.

Also, physical and mental dependence on drugs, alcohol, or other substances is another reason behind this.

Answer- There is no specific answer to this question. Some view addiction as a disease where some other people say that it is not a disease. Because of so many similarities with diseases, you can call addiction a disease. It won’t be wrong. 

According to some recent researches, addiction is connected to our biology too. So, you can call it a disease. 

However, unlike many diseases, addiction is not something that you can cure. It is like a chronic disease that can’t be cured and leaves a long-lasting impact on the body and mind.

Answer- The very first step of recovery from addiction is building a strong will of recovery. Then, you need to take help from recovery centers, personal therapists, or recovery groups. Even you can use the self-help approach, but it needs very strong intention. 

You’ll find a lot of rehab centers around you from which you can take help. They follow a lot of evidence-based and result-based approaches to help people to recover from addiction. Find the best one for you, and get admitted. They’ll show you the path. 

Recovering from addiction depends on you mostly. How you respond towards the process, how much you’re willing to do it, how do you respond to the change of lifestyle, etc. have effects on your recovery.

About Rehab Centers and Addiction Treatments

Answer- Most of the rehab centers work with private insurance organizations. So, you’ll easily find a rehab that’ll allow you to use your insurance to get the treatment done. However, the rest depends on the insurance company itself. Check the policy details to make sure if your insurance company covers treatment costs of substance use disorders or not.

Answer- You can’t continue your job while being treated as an inpatient or partial outpatient. In these cases, you’ll have to stay in the facility. So, you don’t have the scope of attending your job. However, if you’re an outpatient, you’ll have enough time to continue your job. Consult your psychiatrist to make sure if you’re allowed to go to jobs or not.

Answer- The programs of the addiction centers are designed to be total abstinence from such things. So, most of the rehabs don’t allow smoking when you’re in the recovery process. Still, there are some rehabs that allow smoking, but only in a limited amount. In the routine, you might get a specific time to smoke cigarettes.

Answer- Aftercare is not a must component of the recovery process designed by some rehabs. There is no specific reason for this. But nowadays, you’ll see many rehabs offering aftercare. If you want, you can pick those instead of the rehabs that don’t provide aftercare service.

Answer- If you have to take medicines regularly, the doctors in the rehab check them. After checking, they’ll know what to do. There is a possibility of stopping the medicine or changing it. But this will happen only when they’ll find those medicines harmful for you.

Answer- Rehab centers come with a routine that you should follow. The routine includes group therapy, individual counseling, family meetings, regular check-up, sessions, activities, etc. 

Though these are very important for the clients, following a similar routine every day may create monotony. So, the routine also contains enough free space for the clients to spend some time with themselves.

Answer- Yes, confidentiality is one of the most important features of rehab centers. The counselors, doctors, therapists, or anyone of the rehab who communicates with you are bound to maintain confidentiality at any cost. For proper treatment, they should know you fully. So, to provide you the scope of talking about everything, this is a federal regulation that they can’t disclose any information about you without your permission.

Answer- According to most rehab centers, family involvement is a very important factor for the recovery of the clients. So, family sessions are included in the process. So, your family can come to see you, interact with you and take part in sessions with you. Besides family sessions, some rehabs allow visiting hours so that your family can see you.

Answer- 12-step facilitation is a faith-based treatment process. Researches have proven its effectiveness. So, many rehab centers use this. On the other hand, for some specific reasons, this process is not effective at all for a certain type of people. It has some cons on which you can run debates. So, some rehabs avoid this treatment process. 

It all depends on the rehabs. Check the website and you’ll see if a rehab uses 12-step facilitation or not.

Answer- Relapse is not a rare case when we’re talking about recovery from addiction. It often happens and it doesn’t mean that the treatment was not effective. The main purpose of rehab is to build the ability and skills in you so that you can manage your sobriety. Rehabs do this by putting you in a routine.

After you come back to regular life, you become exposed to a lot of things that stimulate you to go back to the addicted life. A lot of changes also come. So, after coming back home, you are under your responsibility. As a result, a relapse might happen. If a relapse happens, it doesn’t mean the treatment was not effective. The problem can also be in maintaining the lifestyle.

Answer- Though relapse is very common and there is a huge chance of happening, there are some steps that help you to effectively avoid relapse for a long time. Below are the things you can do to prevent relapse. 

  • Have sober friends- Friends have a great influence on the minds of people. So, find a group of sober friends who won’t push you to addiction again.
  • Keep yourself busy- Keeping yourself busy in doing things you love is a must. As long as you’re busy doing things you enjoy, the chance of relapse is very low. You won’t have to take drugs to make yourself happy.
  • Focus on your physical health- Focusing on your physical health is equally important as your mental health. So, try to do exercise regularly, maintain proper nutrition and leave an active life. 
  • Follow what the therapists said- When leaving the rehab, the therapists suggest ways about how to lead a sober life. Follow the suggestion, take medicines regularly and try to keep everyday stress away.
  • Be open- After coming back to your regular life, it is obvious that you’ll face some challenges. Be open towards those. Face those challenges with positive energy. Don’t be stressed. 

These are some ways following which you can prevent relapse.