Addiction is a liar. It allows you to overlook obvious signs that you need help. It enables you to explain away consequences such as a job loss or relationship problems. It helps you brush off every negative result as a short-term issue or as simply no big deal. In doing so, it ensures its own survival.

Problem is, one day you may wake up surrounded by the rubble of wasted years, wondering how it all happened. That’s why, if you’re searching for answers to the question “Do I need rehab?”, you should take a hard look at your life… now, before addiction steals any more of it.

Do I Need Rehab?

Am I An Addict?  

People spend hours searching the web for questions to answer which can prove whether they are an addict or not.

There are dozens of questions, but here’s the only one that matters: Can you stop using right now if it means the happiness and betterment of yourself, your friends and family?

If the answer is yes, then you’re done. If, however, the answer comes with a request for one last night, weekend or month, a delay until school, the holidays, or an important event is over, then you have your answer to “Do I need rehab?” Yes, you most likely do.

Are You Making Excuses?

Many times, those struggling with addiction will say anything to escape the fact that they need rehab. They want to get as far as possible away from the idea of quitting cold turkey.

They will say it’s not a good time to go to rehab, that it will cause problems with work or tension within the family, that they cannot afford it, and so forth. Every single one of those excuses may be valid and reasonable, but none of them change the fact that battling addiction, more often than not, requires rehabilitation center treatment.

The reason it is so hard to beat addiction without rehab is that addiction feeds off the areas of your life where you are most vulnerable. Your path of least resistance is where addiction works, playing tricks with your thought process and ensuring you stick with your crutch. It provides those excuses when you want them most, telling you that you’ve been working too much and need a break. Or that you are stressed because of never-ending bills, that you miss seeing your friends, or that you are sick of being alone.

Whatever the reasoning, your mind makes it swift and easy so you continue substance use. Your brain has been hijacked by addiction and is fighting to stay that way. It takes a lot to overcome the pull of addiction, and this is where rehab centers come in.

Why Do I Need Rehab? 

There are many aspects to rehab treatment. It provides much more than counseling and a place to dry out. Consider that rehab will provide:

• A break from real life – Think of all the daily tasks you must complete. What were the things you had to take care of today, the things you worried about doing? Maybe you had to walk the dog, drive the kids to school, to get an assignment done for your boss even though you don’t have time and it should be their job, or you had to take care of other responsibilities that were not fair. If these are just some of the excuses and crutches you use to indulge in your preferred substances, how are you supposed to get away from them while staying at home?
• Experienced therapists – We all have a reason we indulge in these substances and it’s rarely the first thing we think of. You drink too much because you are stressed about your job when the reality is that you’re stressed about money and your job doesn’t pay enough but you will not try to find a better one. You keep trying to drink to get over your annoyance with work when the easier and healthier fix would be to set a budget, stop drinking and save hundreds a month so that your job and money don’t stress you out more.
• Proven programs – You may know of people who failed in their sobriety and that makes you think that rehab does not work. The irony of that is that people always get that backwards. The person failed in sobriety because their rehab did work, but they could not retain their sobriety because of their daily life. They went back to old people, places and things. It’s important to build a new life that supports your newfound sobriety. Adding intensive outpatient and outpatient levels of care, as long as they are needed, can help. So can staying in a sober home for as long as necessary to firmly establish a new life.
• Ongoing support – Once someone graduates from rehab, they are not left on their own. They always have the option of joining in rehab alumni programs. Typically, they offer meetings, fellowship, events, and other forms of support in order to stay clean.

The fact is that rehabilitation centers get results, and it is the struggles of real, day-to-day life which cause people to lose their strength and relapse (more on that later).

If you want to understand the long-term benefits of rehab, speak with a center or visit one to get a better idea of how impactful it is. Although you may not have yet heard success stories, there are more than you can imagine. In fact, many rehab centers are staffed by those who formerly struggled with addiction. When someone is successful with their sobriety it’s not only a success for them but for their friends and family as well.

Overcoming Obstacles to Recovering On Your Own    

If you are an addict, you must understand that there are few options for getting clean and sober that your mind and body will be happy with. They have been polluted by this substance and they will fight you with everything they have in order to get that substance.

Here’s more reasons why it’s so hard to get clean and your own – and why rehab can be so critical to sobriety:

• You can’t step away – We’ve discussed how overwhelming your life can be and how important it is for you to get away. Rehabilitation allows just that, helping you take a real step away from your life and the stresses you endure each day. This freedom will help you to finally see the need to get healthy and the path to it.
• You have everyone fooled – Part of the reason your addiction has gotten this bad is because you’ve become an expert at hiding it from your friends and family. Even if they’ve confronted you, you’ve had your ways to sneak around it. That doesn’t happen here because you will be working with people who know every trick in the book because they’ve been through it.
• Triggers surround you – Many of the triggers that cause us to indulge in our addictions — stress, work, money and depression — are easier to deal with once they are removed from our lives. Removing these triggers allows you the space to stop using these substances and the time to see how much happier and healthier you are without them. Without external triggers and the things in your life that enabled your addiction, you can live in a new world that is engineered to produce and support sobriety.
• Lack of understanding of the disease – Addiction is a disease, but one many do not understand. To others, it may look like a self-discipline problem or a moral failing… which it is not. In fact, a lack of control and choice in the matter is characteristic of addiction. It takes time and professional help to understand and treat any disease and addiction is no different. It’s important to work our way through it with experienced guidance.

Take a moment to consider why your last several attempts to get clean failed. What were your excuses? As you write them down, ask yourself how you are supposed to get away from each one. How are you supposed to take a break so that you can get healthy? Then, ask yourself if you really think you can do it on your own. If you are really committing to being healthy, you will know the answer.

Don’t give yourself another excuse. If you’re ready to get clean and sober, seize the moment and reach out to a qualified rehab center now.