Step back in time and there is a person who you used to be before you began drug or alcohol addiction. Who are you today? How different are you from that person you used to be? This blog talks about how to recover health, wellness and vitality through detox.
Women’s rehab centers
It is important to realize that you need help to detoxify. Detox is not easy, and under the wrong conditions it is dangerous. There are many reasons to choose one of the many women’s rehab centers Arizona has to offer. The biggest reason is likely that you will be surrounded by people who have already gone through detox and who are well on their way to recovery. Understand that there is a gift in sharing experiences, discovering easier paths and bonding with others. This is part of the rewarding process that you gain when you enter a rehab. It is often through others that people find out who they can be. In that, there is hope.
Dual diagnosis and you
Nearly a third of people who have a mental illness also become addicts. The use of some drugs can cause the brain to change and mental illness to emerge. The women’s rehab centers screen for dual diagnosis. There are even dual-diagnosis treatment programs available. It is also important to understand that mental illness occurs in 18.6 percent of the U.S. adult population, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The takeaway is that if you have a mental illness, you are not alone.
Mental illness and you
First, let’s take the dirty word out of mental illness. Mental illness is an illness; it is not something that people have control over having or not having. But it does not have to control the person who has it. People can discover who they are and recover their health, wellness and vitality.
People have depression. People have anxiety. People have bipolar disorder. People might have any one of those conditions or more than one of those conditions. People might even have more conditions than are listed here. This cannot be changed, but it can be controlled through proper treatment.
Understanding who you are is important. Recovery is not just about kicking the drug or alcohol habit. It is bigger than that. This is about treating you, not just your addiction. Many people focus on just the addiction, and they walk away clean and sober. How often do they relapse? Would they relapse if their mental illness were addressed and treated? These are questions that are not easy to answer, but the fact that co-occurring conditions are so prevalent in addicts cannot be a coincidence.
Discover who you are. Find a diagnosis, and then learn to live with it. That sounds harsh, but the reality is that accepting mental illness as part of who you are gives you power over it. That power can help you recover your health and well-being, and help you stay clean and sober. That is another reason why women’s rehab centers are key to your recovery.
Detox and your body
People often describe drugs and alcohol as a crutch. For your body, they very much are a crutch. When your body is used to having drugs or alcohol present, it begins to rely upon their presence. This is where dependency occurs. When you take away that crutch, your body rebels. It becomes like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum. The problem is that your body has forgotten how to make certain chemicals, because drugs or alcohol replaced the need for your body to manufacture all of the chemicals that your body needs. As you go through detox and the drug levels decrease, your body struggles to remember how to create chemicals like dopamine.
Detox itself
That struggle is the beginning of recovering your health. It is very much like a door opening and finding yourself in a room that seems familiar but is still unknown. This is ground zero. It is a surreal moment.
The beginning of this blog asked the question: How different are you from that person you used to be? Notice that you were not asked: Can you get back to being the person you used to be? The honest answer to that question is that people were never meant to remain who they are now. People are meant to grow and become more by living and experiencing life. People can never be who they once were, but many addicts struggle to be someone they used to be.
To find your vitality is to recognize your strength and weaknesses. Those are part of who you are. Every person has strengths and weaknesses. People should never fear their weaknesses but instead embrace them. When you own something that is negative about yourself, you are then free to change it. That is how people grow. People learn from their mistakes and grow such that they overcome temptation. That is how people recover from drug and alcohol abuse.
This room that you sit in will become filled with new experiences. It will be where you return as you live your life once you leave the women’s rehab center’s guidance.
Part of how you learn to live again involves therapy. Consider the benefits that many find in mental health retreats for women. These are places where you meet others who suffer from the same dual diagnosis. These are places where you form bonds, listen to experiences, and grow as you find the strength to overcome addiction and mental illness, and where you learn new life skills. It is that journey after detox where you will find better health and stronger well-being, and where you regain vitality. If you are ready to learn to live again, then contact one of Arizona’s women’s rehab centers.