Relapse Prevention in Atascocita, TX

Relapses are a fundamental challenge to the rehabilitative efforts that are directed at people who suffer from addictive behaviors. Even when rehab treatment initially appears to go well, 95% of addicts who successfully quit drugs and achieve sobriety over several months, show signs of relapse and return to active, addictive behavior. Through our program for relapse prevention in Atascocita, our addiction experts support the scientific position that detoxification is pointless unless every effort is made at preventing relapse after the conclusion of detox.

We help our patients and their families understand how important relapse prevention is, and offer the best relapse prevention programs in the region.

What is Relapse?

Addictive substances alter the brain's chemical balance to produce physical dependence. The medical detox process helps the brain correct its balance and restore itself to its original state of normal chemical function. It is a short and well-defined process. The use of addictive substances, however, creates psychological dependence, as well. This type of dependence is not as easy to correct. Medications don't help, and neither does going off drugs. Psychological weakness for drug use, once it occurs, remains for life.

Psychological dependence occurs because addictive substances have the ability to alter the way the brain perceives drug use. In layman's terms, they have the ability to "brainwash" users. With exposure to addictive substances, the mind gains an instinctively positive view of drug use. While the addict may begin to realize at some point that drugs are harmful, permanent changes in the brain mean that this logical and reasonable view of drugs as harmful often simply disappears.

Relapses, then, are a psychological phenomenon -- they involve the addict's drug-created instinct that drugs are desirable. Internal psychological processes may at any point build up, and cause a relentless drift towards use.

The psychological phenomenon of relapse is best addressed through psychological therapy. Relapse prevention therapy is specifically designed for this purpose.

How Does Relapse Prevention Therapy Work?

With relapse prevention treatment, as with any other kind of therapy, no one method is effective for everyone. Therapists work individually with patients, one at a time, to identify the psychological challenges that they face. They then establish which approaches to use to counter them. They tailor a relapse prevention plan for them.

When the brain is exposed to drugs, it associates various environmental cues with the pleasure felt. The sights, smells, sounds, emotions and feelings experienced at the time, then, forever become associated with drug use. These cues then become triggers. Anytime the mind is exposed to any one of these cues, the person may find that his need for drugs is quickly triggered.

Research has found that strong emotions such as stress and joy are powerful triggers in most cases of relapse.

One of the primary aims of relapse prevention treatment is to help addicts recognize their triggers, and gain the psychological training necessary to avoid them. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is used in trigger discovery and the behavioral modification that follows.

Therapy For The Mind

Some people are more vulnerable than others to the pull of drugs for the simple reason that they lack essential psychological development. Where normal people may be able to face everyday disappointments, challenges and frustrations without complaint, some people with weaknesses in these areas find them intolerable. When faced with disappointment, they may descend into self-loathing, guilt or anger. Such cognitive distortions often lead to the escapism of drug use. These kinds of mental distortions can be treated by dual diagnosis in Atascocita.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the effective treatment programs in Atascocita which work against such issues. In a typical session to help treat a tendency to self-loathing, for instance, the therapist may help the patient by offering to analyze the thought processes that lead to a cycle of such obsessive thought. Once the individual thoughts that make up the cycle are recognized, the patient is asked to look for evidence for and against them. Usually, the patient recognizes that there is little evidence in support of these thoughts.

Finding The Right Therapy for Relapse Prevention in Atascocita

Programs for relapse prevention can take time to bring visible change. As with regular therapy, it can take dozens of sessions to see progress. Unfortunately, people recovering from addiction cannot afford to wait for years to see progress. They need intensive, full-time therapy over several months to quickly see results. It takes inpatient relapse prevention treatment to achieve the speed desired.

It's important to speak to many therapists. The best results are obtained when a patient finds a therapist who is a good fit. At our drug and alcohol rehab for relapse prevention in Atascocita, our many therapists are the best in their field, and are always glad to speak to patients and their families. It could help to call (877) 804-1531.