Archive for the ‘Stop drinking’ Category

postheadericon Reality Therapy in Drug Rehab

Drug rehab helps thousands of addicts across the United States make lasting recoveries every year. Though most people once viewed addiction as a simple lack of willpower, drug rehab specialists now recognize it as a neurological disease. Even the most severe cases of addiction can be treated with proven therapies.

”"

The most popular treatments for drug rehab are evidence-based therapies. These are therapies which have been tested in controlled environments, statistically proven to produce lasting recoveries, and approved by government and private agencies alike. They primarily include individual counseling, group discussions, and family therapy.

However, there are several other treatments which rehab clinicians have used with great success over the last several years. One of the most common is reality therapy – a set of treatments designed to help addicts make smooth transitions from clinical environments to the outside world. The coping strategies patients develop during rehab are only useful if they maintain them for years to come. Here are some of the most important aspects of reality therapy for drug rehab.

Lifelike Environments

Most rehab clinics use reality therapy in the management of their inpatients’ everyday lives. Inpatients lives full-time at their treatment facilities for one to three months and receive fifty or more hours of therapy per week. Addiction professionals help them connect such a large amount of therapy to real-life situations by having them cook, clean, schedule appointments, and even shop for themselves. Performing everyday tasks while receiving treatment helps inpatients transition smoothly from supervised, clinical environments to the independence and responsibility of normal life.

Learning About Control

The other important lesson of reality therapy is that everyone must live alongside other people. They must satisfy their own needs without compromising the needs of others. Accomplishing this goal requires that rehab patients understand the difference between situations they can control and situations they can’t control. Learning this difference is crucial for making productive choices in difficult real-life situations.

Cravings – Avoidance or Mitigation?

During individual counseling sessions, addicts develop two types of strategies for dealing with future drug cravings. First, they learn their addiction triggers and determine ways to avoid them altogether. Second, they learn ways they can mitigate their cravings when they encounter unavoidable situations involving drugs or alcohol.

Reality therapists teach addicts to practice avoidance in situations they can control. For example, heroin addicts can take indirect routes to work or school in order to avoid driving by dealers’ houses or parks where they used to get high.

On the other hand, uncontrollable situations require effective coping techniques. For instance, alcoholics would be hard-pressed to avoid every single situation involving alcohol. Reality therapy teaches them to apply their coping strategies when they attend work functions, parties, or other important events where people are sure to be drinking.

If you or someone you know is struggling with drugs or alcohol, click the links below to find a treatment center near you. Addiction is a serious disease, but you can achieve lasting sobriety and a second change with an effective drug rehab program.

casino online slot |bet my bingo |casino online room |bonous Poker Review |betting casino slot

postheadericon Life and Dirty Windshields

I am a full time parish pastor in McCook, Nebraska and a part time Chaplain at Norton, Kansas and I live in a another town altogether (Oberlin, KS). Needless to say I am on the road a lot. I have much windshield time. When I have patients assigned to me, I have been known to drive to Norton and see my patients, drive up to McCook for drug addiction treatment meetings and visits and then back home all in one long day–and 130 miles later.

In my 17-years of ministry, I’ve come to appreciate and have enjoyed the use of illustrations to communicate in sermons, as well as working with patients on their step work. Driving on the road a lot it is inevitable that “stuff happens” on the windshield. The more miles driven, or the longer one is on the road of life, the more “stuff happens” on your windshield. Now, the more bugs and bird stuff that splatter on the windshield I equate with the stuff that happens in life that brings about regret, shame and guilt. Fortunately, most cars are equipped with fluid that can be easily accessed by the flip of a switch and the wiper blades can wipe clean your windshield as you motor on. Imagine if you never utilized that fluid and wiper blade and the “stuff ” splattered on your windshield began to accumulate until it became difficult to see straight at all! If we played out this illustration, we would understand eventually we would have to do something about the “stuff ” on the windshield or we would put ourselves in a serious risk of wrecking our “road of life” vehicle.

When patients come to treatment they have been though rough times. Their powerlessness and unmanageable lives have brought them to the bottom. Reaching out for help, they finally seek drug addiction treatment. They learn they are powerless, they cannot, but God can, and begin to allow God to lead them in a new journey in life called recovery. The next step, is the beginning of a series of steps that fit together in a spiritual program. It has everything to do with a spiritual remedy for regrets, guilt, and shame, the “stuff ” that wants to rob us of clear sight on the road of life. The spiritual remedy is FORGIVENESS. There is freedom in receiving the forgiveness we need for those relapse triggers, regret, guilt and shame that want to hold us back and keep us in the life of drug addiction.

It is good to know this switch is available to flip on the fluid and wiper blade for the road of life in recovery. Making “searching and fearless moral inventory of our lives” prepares us to turn over those obstacles that would hold us back from freedom of a quality life, a clean windshield on the road of life. It is important to remember while sharing this inventory, the information is held in strict confidence. Sharing this with someone trained in understanding the significance of forgiveness, a chaplain or pastor, is important and preferable. Often times when “we admit to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs” a great sense of relief washes over us. When we remove the “stuff ” from our windshields, where we are going in life can become clearer.

I believe God is a perfect loving parent, who gives you life and loves you and hopes you will love in return. You have freedom of choice. God will not force you to love. Freedom of choice is honored. You can hold on to your guilt if you want to, of course who would want to know what freedom and relief come from letting go of guilt, yet sometimes we kick ourselves needlessly. The spiritual challenge is for you to get yourself “entirely ready” so God can remove the guilt. God will remove it if you ask. The wonderful blessings are deep for all who work these steps. Forgiveness can be a choice that is selected, if we set in motion the wiper blades, dig deep and write out our inventories and share and give it all away. Freedom from guilt and shame are possible when we are truly working these steps. You will get as much out of them as you put into them. God bless you in this endeavor.
casino online slot |
bet my bingo |
casino online room |
bonous Poker Review |
betting casino slot

postheadericon Drug Addiction Develops

Just as it is said, a journey of a thousand miles often begins with a single step. An addiction can develop from just one heroin injection or from smoking a joint. Most drug users never know when they cross the line from the usual usage to satisfy their desires to living with a drug addiction. While drugs affect people differently, the results of drug addiction are more or less the same.

Addiction is a one of the complex health disorders and it is characterized by habitual usage of drugs. Different drugs will cause different effects to the physical body. The common effect of substance abuse is that the repeated use of drugs can change the way your brain looks and functions. One thing drugs will do is lower the level of dopamine, a brain resident hormone. This develops feelings of pleasure which the brain remembers and repeats when it is required.

Continual intake of drug substances make the substance become significant in an addict’s body and the body demands it for survival. Someone knows they are addicted when they start desiring a drug or a substance the same or more than the way a person desires food or water. The substance slowly starts dominating the person and in adverse stages, an addict starts valuing it more than anything else in their life, including friends, family, health and even happiness.

The more they take the substance, the more their brain is altered. The results are seen when their ability to think clearly deteriorates. At this stage, a person cannot exercise good judgment. They lose self-control and they don’t feel normal without taking drugs. Whether it is smoking, sniffing, injection of drugs or whatever it is, addicts develop an uncontrollable craving for the substance. It is at this point when the drug becomes their master and the person can do nothing to control how much they need and take.

When experimenting with drugs, everyone should be aware of the long-term effects. The amount and frequency of drug intake may not lead to drug addiction but there are other drug related problems. It is only wise to avoid these problems early enough and when it is possible to do so. The longer someone keeps on taking drugs, the more difficult it becomes to leave the habit.

For whatever reason a person may be taking a drug whether they just want to feel good, or the drug is fulfilling a valuable need, the person must be watchful not to abuse the drugs. Anyone overusing a drug will become addicted very quickly.

Despite all the problems associated with drug abuse and drug addiction, there is some good news as addicts can seek the right treatment and emotional support to help curb the effects of drug addiction and get control of their life back. It all starts with the addict admitting that they have a problem and allowing the people around them to give the person the encouragement they need to recover.

betting blackjack |bet on rolout |Card Poker Tips |play poker |play jackpots

postheadericon Alcohol Rehab: Getting Help

If you’re worried that you or someone that you love has a problem with alcoholism, help is available. There are various types of alcohol rehab, alcohol treatment and alcohol detox to help someone addicted to drink get back on their feet.

Alcoholism

Drinking is not always a problem but it can become a health and psychological issue when it starts causing issues in a person’s life. Drinking can go from a pleasurable social activity to alcohol dependence in some people. Drinking problems can often begin with someone binge drinking large amounts of alcohol to get drunk. Some people drink too much because they feel they need to enjoy themselves. Others do so to manage stress or block out bad things in their life.

In turn, problem drinking, unchecked, can turn into an alcohol addiction – this is when the body becomes physically addicted to alcohol. Individuals may experience withdrawal symptoms when they don’t drink and they often have very strong cravings for alcohol.

Alcohol rehab and treatment

There is help and support available for those who wish to stop drinking. Alcohol detox and alcohol rehab are often the start of recovery. Once someone is physically dependent on alcohol, medical supervision is needed to help them stop drinking. This is because the physical withdrawal symptoms from alcohol can be very serious and dangerous.

In addition, structured alcohol treatment is often the best way to stop drinking long-term and prevent a relapse. Alcohol rehab is available on a residential basis and an outpatient basis – there is help available for those who want to beat their addiction.

The emotional aspects of addiction need to be addressed just as much as the physical addiction – alcohol treatment helps an individual consider the underlying issues that may have led to their alcohol addiction and help them to change their habits and mindset to prevent a relapse.

Alcoholism: The issues

It should be noted that there are a number of stereotypes about alcoholism but not everyone who is addicted to alcohol drinks all day every day. You can still have a job, for example, yet be an alcoholic in some cases.

There are a number of short and long-term health risks associated with heavy drinking. Heavy drinkers may develop puffy faces and red blotches on their face. Significant weight gain or loss is also common. Long-term, some cancers are associated with persistent heavy drinking and alcohol abuse is also associated with a number of potentially fatal liver problems.

Alcohol can also cause emotional issues such as depression, anxiety and mood swings. Alcoholics often lose interest in pursuits such as hobbies and work and their relationships may be negatively affected.