Many people have a misconception about recovery. They seem to believe that the core process of recovery is sheer willpower. The key to sobriety is simply white-knuckling your way past any sort of addiction. This is not only unappealing but also untrue. Our Recovery Care management team offers a more hopeful and reasonable means of recovery. Although practices of willpower are surely a part of the journey, it is not what gets one through the struggle. What we need is proper addiction education on how our bodies and minds uniquely respond to drugs and/or alcohol.

Cut it at the roots

Addiction is like a tree. If the tree is giving us bad fruit (addiction), we try to cut it off by the branches. This is futile since it does not get rid of the source of the fruit. The branches just grow back. The bad fruit returns. In order to get rid of the fruit permanently, we need to cut it off at the roots. And those roots go deeper than we realize. That is why personal addiction education is so crucial.

Manipulation of the brain

We often fail to realize is that the addictive substance is not the problem. It is how our brain responds to the substance. Drugs and alcohol are not dangerous in of themselves. The danger comes when they are applied to our brains. When a drug like cocaine enters the brain, it manipulates the brain’s usage of natural chemicals. It increases the chemical messenger known as dopamine. Dopamine is known as a “happy hormone.” Dopamine is good and necessary for healthy living. However, cocaine excessively builds up the dopamine between the nerve cells, causing a high. This is not a proper delivery of dopamine and leads to addiction. Many other forms of drugs and alcohol manipulate the brain and body. But one has to ask, why do we even need that excessive amount of dopamine? What are we trying to avoid? This goes back to the origin of the need for the substance.

The desire for the substance

As many discover during recovery, the reason for many addictions is traumatic experiences or personal dilemmas. Drugs and alcohol tend to make facing these problems much more bearable. Now, everyone is different. But for many people, addiction treatment has more to do with the psychological reasons for the substance, rather than the substance itself. That is why our Recovery Care management is here to help you reach the therapeutic goal of personal understanding. We help you get to the core of your reasons for the substance, whether it be personal trauma or other experiences. And once you are able to confront that, your recovery becomes a whole lot more accessible. It may not be easy, but with loving support, it is far more than just possible. It is hopeful.

Further Resources

For more information on our addiction recovery services and Recovery Care management, please be sure to contact us today. Addiction education is the start of your successful recovery.