Relapse Prevention in Wayne, NJ

Of those who pass through detoxification, two out of three addicts relapse within a year. After months of successfully abstaining, they helplessly slide back into active drug use. As common as it may be, however, the concept of relapse tends to be a tough one to grasp for many. If they go through detoxification and are drug-free, why should they be sucked back in, they wonder? It's a question we often get at our center for relapse prevention in Wayne. To understand, you need to look at the process by which addictions form.

What Is a Relapse?

An addiction is more than a bad habit -- it is the external manifestation of the damage to the brain that drug and alcohol addiction in Wayne can cause. The regions of the brain that sustain such damage are the ones that control pleasure and learning. The consequence of such damage is irreversible attachment to the idea of pursuing drugs for pleasure.

Detoxification frees the brain of physical addiction, allowing it to function without drugs on a day-to-day basis. A mental fixation to drugs, however, comes from a different source -- damage to the brain. It cannot be reversed as physical addiction can. It can only be managed with psychological therapy. Since detoxification does not include therapy, addicts coming out of detox tend to continue to be addicted. The cravings can show up. When they do, these addicts have no choice but to relapse, or return to drug use.

How Does Psychological Addiction Function?

A craving for a drug is more than a simple hankering. Instead, it is an altered state of mind. When the craving of a relapse begins, the addict is no longer able to feel the need to be loved, to be free or to be independent. The mind plays tricks on the addict to effect a rearrangement of priorities. The love of a high begins to seem a far more meaningful pursuit.

Relapses exploit psychological weaknesses, as well. Many addicts tend to suffer from disorders of psychology and personality. From moral shortcomings to psychological ones such anger issues and guilt, addicts tend to struggle with cognitive positions and processes that do not work as they should. A person struggling with poorly functioning psychological abilities may turn to substance abuse to escape life's stresses. Dual diagnosis treatment in Wayne can treat a mental illness that fuels an addiction or vice versa.

True escape from addiction can only happen when uncontrollable psychological processes that enable addiction are addressed. Work of this nature as done in relapse prevention for addiction, the most important part of rehab.

How Does Relapse Prevention in Wayne Work?

We offer a variety of therapeutic approaches at our rehab for relapse prevention in Wayne. A thorough grounding in the science of addiction and relapses alone often proves a powerful tool in the fight against relapse. When patients learn about how the mind works in response to the presence of addictive substances, they have the ability to truly engage in the work that they need to do.

As an example, learning about the exact ways in which relapses build tends to help addicts anticipate relapses. Patients learn to look for the signs -- dishonesty, emotional touchiness and drug use fantasies -- and gather that they need help.

Therapeutic Programs Can Be Useful

12-step programs: These are programs designed for those who are partial to spirituality. This group therapy program encourages participants to take a journey through 12 steps of self-discovery and change. Participants put their faith in a higher power, acknowledge their helplessness, absolve themselves of guilt, admit where they've been wrong and make amends. It is a journey that tends to help a great many addicts gain feelings of control over their relationship with drugs.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy: One of the most powerful tools in the fight against addiction, CBT helps addicts use techniques of cognitive analysis to identify and locate areas of weakness most likely to trigger cravings for use. They then apply behavioral modification to attempt to stay away from activities likely to test their resolve. CBT also helps participants use self-analysis to understand the unreasonable thought patterns involved in anger, pessimism or guilt, to aid change.

Relapse prevention treatment programs in Wayne can take years to complete, and can take further work to maintain. When done diligently, however, it does help addicts build stronger minds that are well-equipped to reject substance abuse.

Aftercare May Be Necessary

When an addict uses rehab to successfully emerge from a habit that has existed for years, the thought of re-entering regular life can be stressful. It is such stress that often triggers relapse. Addicts who feel overwhelmed are able to take advantage of halfway houses. These are living arrangements that offer a balance of freedom and supervision. Halfway houses provide recovering addicts with an effective way to test the waters as they ease their way back into life.

Our relapse prevention programs and aftercare require the considerable expertise that our drug rehab in Wayne provides. For this reason, most rehabs simply offer detoxification alone. At our center for relapse prevention in Wayne, however, these therapeutic programs form the core of our approach.

If you believe that you need care or if you have a loved one in mind who might need it, all you need to do is to call us at (877) 804-1531. There's much that we can do to help.