How Do I Make the Most Out of Addiction Treatment?

An inpatient addiction treatment program can be a daunting prospect, especially if it is someone’s first experience with inpatient treatment. Inpatient treatment programs are a large time as well as financial commitment, and one will naturally want to make sure that they are getting the most out of the experience. If it is somebody’s first time going through rehab, that person can place a lot of extra pressure on themselves to do “well,” as if they’ll be judged or graded on their rehab performance. People often go through rehab for the first time after hitting an especially low moment in their lives that prompts them to seek treatment. Having finally worked up the desire and will to get better, it can feel especially crushing and hopeless to emerge from treatment and feel as though nothing has changed from before. For these reasons, many people going through inpatient addiction treatment for the first time will want to know how they can get the most out of treatment.

Emotional honesty

Patients can invest a lot of time and money in selecting the highest quality care at the most luxurious facility, but what really matters at the end of the day is how much effort and energy patients invest in themselves and in their treatment. The most qualified care team in the world will have little effect on addiction if the patient doesn’t make a sincere and honest commitment to recovery. That requires a great deal of vulnerability and trust on the patient’s behalf, as patients not only need to be emotionally honest with themselves, but also with their care team, therapist, peers, and loved ones. Opening ourselves up to emotional vulnerability can undoubtedly be a really scary experience, but it is a necessary part of healing and moving forward in a productive way. By engaging with treatment with emotional openness and vulnerability, patients can inspire their peers to do the same, allowing patients to feel a sense of solidarity with one another, and draw strength from each other’s experience

Holistic rehab

The bulk of patients’ time during inpatient addiction treatment will be spent in peer support groups and individual therapy, the main drivers of addiction treatment. Many inpatient rehab facilities, however, have integrated holistic rehab methods into their treatment facilities as well. While these holistic methods aren’t replacements for medically standard addiction treatment, research does support their efficacy as a supplement to standard treatment practices. Commonly offered holistic rehab methods include art therapy and music therapy. Both art and music are intrinsic parts of human culture across time, space, and cultural groups, and research has shown that making art and music makes us feel less depressed and less anxious and that this holds true across skill levels, even for complete beginners. For the less artistically inclined, other holistic treatment methods include yoga and meditation, both of which bring their own benefits including lower anxiety and better sleep. Participating in the holistic treatment programs offered by many modern addiction treatment facilities can leave patients feeling happier, and healthier, and can help make the fight against addiction that much easier.

Utilize amenities 

Many modern inpatient rehab centers make it a point to focus on patient comfort and satisfaction. To that end, they invest in different amenities and activities for patients to engage with in their free time. For example, many rehab centers today offer fitness rooms and pools for residents to work out in. Rehab centers may also take advantage of their location to offer unique amenities, such as Chapters Capistrano in San Clemente, CA which fully utilizes their oceanfront location to offer popular water activities like swimming, kayaking, and whale-watching, or Mountain Springs Recovery in Monument, CO, which takes advantage of its alpine setting with plenty of opportunities to hike and spend time outdoors. While these activities will never be core to treatment, they do help patients destress and make their stays at rehab a much happier, and even fun experience.  

Practice skills

Addiction often starts out as a maladaptive coping mechanism people use to help deal with the stress in their lives. A common goal for addiction treatment, then, is to replace substance abuse with healthier and more productive coping skills. During group treatment and therapy, patients are taught many different skills and techniques to process emotions and handle their stress and anxiety in more healthy ways. Because everybody is unique, not every person will find the same skills helpful or useful to them, so patients are taught a wide range of different skills and strategies so that they are able to find at least a few that work for them. Patients are encouraged to practice the skills they learn during group on their own, and rehab is the perfect place to experiment with the different coping skills in a risk-free environment, so when patients finish their stay they know they have the skills and tools necessary to take care of themselves and handle stress and anxiety without having to resort to substances. Making sure to have reliable tools in the toolbox now can prevent a painful and disheartening relapse later. 

It can be difficult for people to seek treatment for addiction because the possibility of investing all of that time, money, and effort into rehab only to fail is a terrifying and awful prospect to consider. However, it is helpful to remember that while relapse is certainly scary, it is only the end if you give up, otherwise, it is simply a setback. Setbacks can be hard and even painful, yes, but life goes on after. Addiction is a difficult disease to conquer, no doubt, but help is available. Sunshine Behavioral Health offers industry-leading luxury rehab across five locations in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Texas. A strong believer in patient choice, Sunshine Behavioral Health rehab facilities offer a wide variety of treatments so that patients are able to find and choose the types of treatment that work best for them. To learn more about Sunshine Behavioral Health and how we can help you, please visit us at www.sunshinebehavioralhealth.com. 

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