Alex Atwood's Blog: Stopping Drug Addiction without Rehabilitation

A lot of people are saying that stopping addiction or drug addiction is not possible if the person will not undergo rehabilitation. However, few people still believe about quitting addiction without rehabilitation. Recovery from such challenges is still possible and many succeeded going through this road less traveled. Let’s try to explore on the thought of stopping addiction without going through rehabilitation.

One of the main ingredients or components in wanting to stop addiction without going through any drug rehabilitation center is YOU. A lot of health experts and physicians would say that in order for an addict to stop, they must first be willing to stop. So the key to your rehabilitation without being confined to any rehabilitation facility is yourself.

Psychologists would often say that addiction is caused by the person’s inability to cope with different situations in their life, such as depression, stress, anxiety, and problems. If the key factor to stopping addiction is yourself, you may need to bear the following things in mind:

Your reason to change.

The hardest and greatest motivator is your reasons to change. The most successful people are those who are able to discover their deepest WHY? Questions like: Why do I want to stop using drugs? Why do I want to change? This is a major factor that would determine your success in quitting the addiction.

Knowing your deepest why and having that motivation of wanting to do whatever it takes in order to change your life and stop using drugs totally would be the best start to stop addiction without rehabilitation.

Set your goals.

If you really want to change, you need to set your goals and determined to finish it. In setting your goals, you have to bear in mind that your goals should be: Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. Setting your goals would give you a roadmap of how things are going to be. Goal-setting is essential because this is the blueprint of what you want to happen in your life. As successful people often say, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.

Focus.

Just like in any other goal, you have to focus. There might have been previous attempts where you failed, previous scenarios when you said you want to quit, but then, when you start doing it, you slide back. If you focus on your goal of really wanting to quit, no matter how many times you slide back, you would always get back on your feet and try again.

Change your environment.

One of the things that often let you slide is due to the environment that you have. If you keep living in an environment that lures you into using drugs, then the tendency is that you would go back into using it. Changing your environment includes changing your friends. If your friends are the ones influencing you to use drugs, then take them out. Changing your environment means changing the people you interact with, changing the places that you go to, and totally removing all the stuff that would remind you to go back to use drugs again.

Have a Support Group.

Having a support group is essential if you would want to stop your drug addiction and resolve not to go back into it. Your support group can be your family, your best friend, or a colleague who has your best interests in mind. You should let them know of your desire, and keep an open communication with them so that during times when you feel like you want to go back into using drugs, they can provide you the appropriate support that you would need to prevent you from going into a relapse.

Know your triggers.

In every feeling, scenario, or moments when you wanted to use drugs, there will always be triggers. The important thing in your journey towards a drug-free life is knowing what triggers you to think of going back into the use of drugs. Knowing your triggers would allow you to avoid falling into those triggers. This can be associated with the previous topic where you would need to change your environment. Knowing what your triggers are would allow you to include this in the things that you need to change in your environment.

Therapy.

Therapy is also one effective solution to stop drug addiction. Since experts say that addiction is something that is triggered by our mental state, the best way to be able to fight it is through different therapy sessions. Some psychologists would even recommend going into hypnotherapy just to help a person remove their dependency on drugs. Some even state that drug addiction is just like an alcohol addiction or smoking addiction. People tend to use drugs because of some wrong belief or conception which should be changed and the only way to change it is through therapy.

There are several other types of treatment that one can explore and find out about. There is no single treatment applicable for each drug dependent who wants to change and thus, it would be wise for one to explore his options in terms of seeking treatment, whether it be a medical treatment or psychological treatment. Last, there are several reasons that would want you to stop your addiction and dependency on drugs so just think of the positive impact it can have in your life, such as:

Becoming healthier
Reducing your risk of death
Keeping your job
Preserving your relationships
Having more money
Regaining the ability to be a real person again, having authentic emotions, etc.

Check out this playlist from Detox of South Florida for more help.