The Cycle of Addiction
Many people turn to drugs and alcohol to fix what is wrong in their lives, not realizing that using drugs or alcohol just makes things worse in the long run, leaving you over time with more things to fix than you even thought possible. The cycle goes some what like this, you are depressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed with life, so you take a quick fix, which for a time makes you feel better and provides you an escape. Then after a little while the substance wears off, and leaves you feeling frustrated at yourself, depressed and like you are just a failure. Maybe you spent money you shouldn't have to get high, maybe you let down a family member or friend in order to go get high, in any case, the feelings come back stronger than ever after the high, that leave you with more bad feelings and looking for the high again.
This is why the cycle is so difficult for addicts to break and why there is such an emphasis put on getting treatment. First off, when you are in a treatment facility, you can't access drugs and alcohol, so staying clean is not a choice, but a forced action. By staying clean, you can actually take a good long hard look at yourself and your life and figure out not only what went wrong, but also what needs to change. This can be done through counseling, both group and individual, to help you identify and put into actions the changes you need to make in your own life. Rehabilitation is not an action, but a process. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Many people believe that they can go into drug rehab for a month and that is it they are cured. For most people however, rehabilitation needs to be about 6 months to a year, with follow up counseling after that time. Also, it is common to relapse after short treatment programs, and many people who chose this option wind up returning to drug rehabilitation several times in order to work through all the issues in their lives associated with their drug use. This is why most counselors and other drug treatment experts feel it is best to do a long term treatment program right away, to insure that you don't have to keep returning over and over again, although there is no guarantee that a person will not relapse even after completion of a longer treatment program.