Substance Abuse

Substance abuse generally starts with an attempt to handle pain. This could me mental or physical pain and does not necessarily need to be great. A teenager uses drugs for the first time and finds they helped with shyness and so uses them more and more often, as a false solution to the pains of adolescence. A mother finds relief from family stress with anti-depressants and so continues their use and even increases the dosages. Physical pain is relieved with prescription painkillers and so they are continued more and more frequently. All of these substances have their own particular side-effects which create new situations and new sources of mental and physical pain, and so other substances are now used in an attempt to handle these new pains. Thus most of those entering substance abuse treatment find themselves having problems with not just one substance but multiple substances. Narconon Arrowhead aids the individual in confronting and resolving the use of these substances as well as dealing with the underlying mental and physical pains which resulted in the original and now continued abuse.

When considering effective addiction treatment drug rehab locations are one of the factors to be considered. Generally a rural location far from the addict’s usual environment is usually a better choice than urban and close to home. As most drug rehab facilities are not lock down facilities and can’t force someone to stay, the further away they are from familiar turf and easy access to drug sources the better. Addicts will often second guess the decision to receive treatment, especially at the beginning. This stems from cravings, guilt, and depression that cause them to want to run to drugs as the solution they always used before when these symptoms set in. When the logistics are more complicated than simply walking out the door and going to the nearest corner dealer it allows the time needed to think things through and most often keeps the addict in treatment when he or she may otherwise leave.

Each alcohol or drug can and does have its own set of side effects; however there are some side effects that are common to any form of addiction. These can be classed under the broad categories of cravings, guilt and depression. Cravings are the intense feeling of physical or emotion need for more drugs or alcohol. Guilt and depression are the inevitable side effects of all the things the individual has done to hurt or harm himself, his family and loved one, friends, associates, and others in general. These feelings along with cravings make it very difficult for the individual to stay away from drugs or alcohol. As he or she has a very hard time confronting the reality of the harm created, the drugs appear to be the only solution to remove the physical and emotional pain. It is a deadly trap as the drugs are the main contributor to these feelings.

An effective drug abuse treatment center will competently deal with all levels of drug use problems whether abuse or addiction. If one is abusing drugs or alcohol then addiction has already to spread its tentacles around the user. Drug or alcohol abuse leading to addiction always starts as an attempted solution to some form of pain in life. This pain could be mental, physical, or both. It could start as simply of handling the pain of trying to fit in by going along with the crowd and using drugs, or perhaps excessive drinking as a supposed solution to unconfrontable home situations. There are probably as many reasons as there are abusers, addicts, and alcoholics. A good drug abuse treatment center realizes that unless the underlying reasons behind the addiction are handled the individual though now clean, will often finding themselves falling back into the trap of use and addiction as a false solution to handling the stresses that initially caused it to begin with - and never were handled.

Drug addiction treatment to be effective needs to help and guide the individual in confronting and gaining the skills and abilities needed to resolve all areas of their lives – not merely ceasing their drug use which is only the beginning. Personal issues of nutrition and gaining a healthy balance need to be addressed. Issues of cravings, quilt, and depression resulting from addiction need confronted and relieved, legal issues often exist. Broken or strained relationships in the family and workplace need resolved. The issue of how the addict gets on with his life in a drug free and productive manner, and be happy and fulfilled doing so, can be one of the biggest issues of all. Addicts and alcoholics are often quite concerned about being miserable and suffering without the drugs or alcohol. Narconon Arrowhead is an empowering program that assists the individual in resolving each of these situations as well as others he or she may have. We don’t enforce or insist rather we help, guide, and assist the individual in finding their own unique answers that will work and more importantly continue to work for them. This helps insure a continuing drug free life as their solutions are theirs and not something dictated or enforced on them.