Treatment for a substance use disorder, be it drugs or alcohol, comes in many forms. You can’t unlock every door with the same key after all.

Just like the situations and circumstances that drove a person to addiction are distinctive, so too are the solutions. On top of that, because rehabilitation happens along a continuum, some facilities specialize and handle different parts of that process while others can guide you from start to finish.

Some treatment centers are purely evidence-based while others may incorporate more alternative methods.

To that end when asking yourself, “what drug treatment facilities near me?” it’s important to understand where you are with your addiction and what would be best for you as far as treatment goes. Thankfully, with so many options available these days, with a bit of research, you can find a recovery center that’s well suited to your needs.

Signs and Symptoms of Addiction

Before treatment can start though, there needs to be an acknowledgment that an addiction is present. It’s hard to solve a problem if you don’t believe there is one and that realization is often a challenge to come to terms with.

It’s natural for you to deny there’s an issue and it’s equally natural for family members or friends to live in a state of denial too. Nobody wants to believe they’re an addict or are enabling one, so excuses get made until the evidence becomes overwhelming.

That evidence comes in the form of signs and symptoms.

As far as diagnosing a substance use disorder goes, and for the sake of consistency, clinicians use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition or DSM-5. The criteria, or signs, of addiction as summarized from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) are:

Taking the substance in larger amounts or over a longer period than intended
Inability to cut back or quit despite genuine efforts to do so
Spending inordinate amounts of time getting, using and/or recovery from usage
Strong cravings
Failure to fulfill obligations at work, school or home due to substances
Continuing to use despite the clear relationship problems it’s creating
Skipping or giving up on social, occupational or recreational activities in favor of using
Using despite it putting you in physical danger, i.e., drunk driving
Continued use despite the physical or psychological problems it’s causing or making worse
A tolerance develops, as in you need more to achieve the same effect
Withdrawal symptoms develop when you stop using and you continue to use to relieve them as

Different Types of Drug Treatment Facilities to Go To

Fortunately, whenever you do reach that psychological tipping point, where you recognize the need for treatment, there are options.

Detox

This is the process of flushing the toxins out of the body. In addition to the mental stranglehold drugs and alcohol have, they also create physical dependency which needs to be broken. That’s what detox is all about.

Residential Inpatient Care

This is where the real work of rehabilitation happens. Inpatient care is a type of treatment that is generally for more severe addiction and can last from a few weeks to many months depending on how heavy the substance use disorder you’re dealing with is.

With inpatient care you live at the facility and are immersed in a treatment regimen, removed from all distractions like work, school, friends, family, etc. so you can concentrate all your attention on recovery. The focus is on psychoeducation and psychotherapy which goes deep into the root causes of your addiction by way of one-on-one and group therapy. Guided by a trained addiction specialist of course.

Outpatient Care

The type of treatment you get with outpatient care is similar to what you get at an inpatient facility. The main difference is that you don’t live in. You’re able to carry on with your regular life and you come in for regularly scheduled sessions. Outpatient treatment is ideal for those with less severe addiction or for people who are transitioning out of inpatient rehab.

VRC Agua Dulce Is Here to Help You With Your Addiction

Be it alcohol or drugs like opioids or benzodiazepines, at Valley Recovery Center in Agua Dulce, we offer highly-structured and customized therapy with a holistic focus on your overall well being. Get in touch with us today to learn more.

What Are the 12 Steps of Recovery?

The concept of 12 steps was started decades ago by another familiar name in recovery from substance abuse, Alcoholics Anonymous. AA was founded back in 1935 with the initial writings that now make up the 12 steps starting to take shape around 1939.

While the history is interesting, the more common question that comes up is, “what are the 12 steps of recovery?”. As per AA, they are:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

You’ll no doubt notice the heavy religious/spiritual nature of the steps but being religious is in no way, shape or form a prerequisite for finding value and guidance in the process. Support groups that utilize the 12 step model are first and foremost about the support you find within them.

How Are 12 Step Groups Incorporated Into Rehab?

12 step groups are incorporated at the later stages of rehab and thereafter. If you move to a sober living home, for example, participation in a 12 step group may be required as a condition of your stay.

The integration of a 12 step group is based on the idea that a great way to stay sober is to have a support system of people who know what you’re going through. A group that is free of judgment and intimately knows the depths of addiction themselves.

12 step programs, and any other type of support group for that matter, are a place to develop camaraderie and friendship of like-minded people who are on the same path as you and therefore understand what you’re going through. The mentor/mentee relationships that are formed also create a sense of accountability that helps people avoid relapse.

Get Help With Addiction at Valley Recovery Center Agua Dulce Today

At Valley Recovery Center Agua Dulce, we firmly grasp the imperative for continued care after your treatment with us is complete which is why we make sure to help you with aftercare and develop a relapse prevention plan. Reach out to us to learn more about what we offer or to get more information about 12 step programs and how they help heal addiction.