Sooner or later most addicts reach a point in their life or more accurately a point in their active addiction, where they consider the question “How do I come off Drugs?”
Most often this is a desperate and hopeless time where the addict feels lost, alone and fearful and it seems that there’s no answer. This “wanting to come off drugs” could also be a feeling which surfaces regularly but is pushed away by addicted person for a number of reasons. Perhaps they believe they actually can’t clean up, come off drugs and live another way. Sometimes it may feel that the energy required to come off drugs and make the much needed changes is too much to handle. This sensation is common amongst addicted people as they can have a low frustration tolerance and see it as one big mountain when really what’s needed is to compartmentalise the issues and deal with them in order of severity.
The primary issue is to come of drugs. The World Health Organisation views addiction as a Primary Illness. Now what that means is that until the addiction is dealt with, no other part of the addict’s life is going to get better. Coming off drugs is the number one priority – all else comes second. Once the addicted person’s life is structured this way and their addictive illness is getting the appropriate care and attention, all other facets of their life will improve. This includes, work, family, financial, mental, emotional and physical, all areas improve!
Addicted people have the tendency to ‘pole vault over rat droppings’ and can make their issues seem so large and looming in their minds that they become overwhelmed and paralysed. As addicts have an above average intelligence, the ability to see all 9000 angles and get stuck in analysis paralysis is all too common. Having the ability to trust the treatment professionals, hand it over and learn to breathe, relax and trust the process is paramount to coming off drugs.
Using qualified addictions counsellors in a registered rehab setting to get an independent, external and professional view of the addicted person’s life is absolutely critical to coming off drugs. Once the addict and their addictions counsellor have established a solid rapport, the addict will begin to allow someone into his world and get some help breaking the addiction down into bite sized, easily managed chunks. This is the best way to come off drugs. Being addicted is a real see-saw, almost like being stuck in no-man’s land between life and death and feeling ambivalent and conflicted about coming off drugs is par for the course. Perhaps the addicted person pushes away the yearning to come off drugs as the desire to use drugs is so strong and frequent.
In these moments the help which is available to come off drugs can be the key to a new way of life. The first action for many addicts who manage to come off drugs is to ask for help. Many addicts can find this the hardest step of all; for it means accepting that they can’t come off drugs on their own and have a real problem. The scary thing for many addicts who’d like to come off drugs is that it may mean beginning to consider letting go of the only life they know, however poor the quality of that life is. Addicted people who crave to come off drugs know that their life is not going nowhere but downhill, as they continue to remain in active addiction hurting the ones they love and wasting more time and opportunity but sometimes it’s a case of the familiar being easier, better the devil you know scenario.
The fear of change can be immense and facing a future without the predicable misery they have come to understand, can be quite terrifying. There is little doubt that for most addicts the best option to come off drugs is to find a detoxification at some form of addiction treatment centre. If the addict is asking the question, How Do I stop? They are certainly ready for this part of the recovery process. This is not to say that even reluctant addicts will not benefit from the residential rehab process.
The benefits of a secure addiction treatment clinic staffed with understanding addictions counsellors and other professional’s give the addicted person, who’s trying to come off drugs, the chance to get a medically supervised detoxification. This addictions treatment is aimed at helping them use these first few days while coming off drugs to obtain some clarity on their lives and the best way forward. It is a frequent feature of the addiction rehab experience to feel what are sometimes referred to as “ah-ha” or light bulb moments. It is these moments that provide the first glimmers of hope for the suffering addict trying to come off drugs.
Addiction treatment centres that are aligned with the 12 Step Fellowships such as N.A. and A.A. will, in addition to professional therapeutic treatment, introduce the benefits of ongoing meeting attendance and encourage the addict to become involved with the fellowship. This is where the answers to How Do I Come Off Drugs can start to be understood. Addiction Rehab will help the addict who’s trying to come off drugs and understanding that they have a disease and that recovery from this condition is entirely possible. Attending Narcotics Anonymous (N.A.) and Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) fellowship meetings will provide the ongoing evidence that a new way of life is a real possibility.
The help and support is there and by this stage the addict will feel more able to ask for it from people they feel are cut from the same cloth as they are. It’s said that the therapeutic value of one addict helping another, is without parallel. The 12 Step Fellowships of AA & NA offer regular meetings where addicts can share their experiences, the ways they cope and the benefits they have found living clean. At these meetings newly recovering addicts who are trying to come off drugs are encouraged to find a sponsor, this is an addict in recovery with the time and experience to pass on to the newcomer just as it was passed on to them. The fellowship meetings are full of a diverse range of people, some have come to recovery through the addiction rehab system others have come to the meetings off the street or through one of the fellowship public info sessions or phone lines, however when the addict who’s trying to come off drugs arrives at a 12 step fellowship meeting they will be welcomed and accepted.
The only way to come off drugs is not to pick up, alone this is almost impossible but with the benefit of some clarity of thought and the opportunity to experience the help that is freely available following a period of addiction treatment a sustained recovery becomes a real possibility. A new way of life is available to the suffering addict, a life with hope, a life without fear and a life that is shared with others who have found a path to recovery.
If you want to find a way to come off drugs ask for help. Call WeDORecover.com on 081 444 7000 in South Africa or if in the UK call toll-free on 0808-267-3422 for immediate admission to a private addiction treatment centre.
