The 4 Stages of Alcohol and Drug Rehab Recovery

It isn’t long after a person stops drinking alcohol that they begin to feel the effects. When individuals suddenly stop drinking and develop various alcohol withdrawal symptoms, there are often two questions repeatedly asked. They are, “Are these withdrawal symptoms normal” and “How long do the withdrawal symptoms last”. When you contact our center for addiction treatment in Ohio, you begin the first stage of your recovery. We will work to help you get past those feelings of denial, as they will only impede your recovery.

• This stage can last from six months to five years, depending on the severity of the addiction and the individual’s genes and experience.
• Otherwise, the withdrawal symptoms may significantly affect the person’s ability to function normally at work, school, or just in general.
• Our wide variety of services ranges from outpatient to residential and everything in between, providing the appropriate level of medical supervision and support for alcohol addictions of any severity.
• Alcohol-related death is the third-highest cause of preventable deaths in the United States, and less than 10 percent typically attend a substance abuse treatment program annually.
• Mark has been instrumental in building healthy communities and providing access and quality healthcare to underserved populations.
• The pre-alcoholic stage is a formative stage; people go in one of two directions.

For instance, a new member facing the first day without drugs may come into a revolving membership group that includes people who have been abstinent for 2 or 3 weeks. stages of alcoholic recovery The mere presence of people able to sustain abstinence for days—even weeks—provides the new member with hope that life can be lived without alcohol or illicit drugs.

Tips to Stay Sober

Approximately five years into your abstinence, you will reach stage four, advanced recovery. During this stage, you have effectively used the tools and coping skills you learned over the years to live a life free of addiction.

• Behavioral therapy, medication-assisted treatment, and 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous are well-known treatment services.
• Understanding the timeline and stages of alcoholism is one of the first steps to achieving recovery.
• It attends less to the symptoms of drug and alcohol abuse and more to the psychology of relational interaction.
• Treatment and recovery help to stop the progressively worsening symptoms of addiction to support your goals of improving your health, relationships and other aspects of life.
• One of the important tasks of therapy is to help individuals redefine fun.

In these cases, the efforts to guard against relapse were not all in vain. With greater insight into the dynamics of their substance abuse, clients are better equipped to make another attempt at recovery, and ultimately, to succeed. The tasks of this stage are similar to the tasks that non-addicts face in everyday life.

What Does the Alcoholism Recovery Timeline Look Like?

Acquiring the necessary life skills is critical as it helps you to learn how to handle challenging situations and avoid relapse. When it is necessary to point out contradictions in clients’ statements and interpretations of reality, such confrontations should be well-timed, specific, and indisputably true. For example, author Wojciech Falkowski had a client whose medical records distinctly showed abnormal liver functions. Such caring confrontations made at the right time and in the right way are helpful, whether they come from group members or the leader. It also is very important for the group leader to “sew the client up” by the end of the session. Clients should not leave feeling as if they are “bleeding” emotions that they cannot cope with or dispel. A plan for the rest of the day should be developed, and the increased likelihood of relapse should be acknowledged so group members see the importance of following the plan.

At this stage, it’s normal to have second thoughts about giving up drugs or alcohol. You may even think you can control your addiction on your own without the help of an addiction treatment center. However, it’s important to remember why you entered treatment, as denial is the worst enemy of your recovery. Find support for yourself and other family members in a rehab family program. Go to an Al-Anon or Alateen meeting or set up an appointment with a mental health professional. At the end of the day, the person with addiction has to be willing to accept help.