Addiction recovery is a term that normally refers to the type of addiction treatment programs offered in a rehab a treatment center that are designed to help people who are either alcoholics or have an addiction to various types of drugs or other substances.
Addiction recovery can also refer to people who use 12-step organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous as a way of dealing with that alcoholism or drug addiction, whether they have been through a rehab or not.
There are other approaches to addiction recovery as well, often involving a wide range of different therapeutic and holistic approaches to helping the individual deal with the nature of that alcoholism or other addiction.
Addiction recovery in a rehab will be based around a number of addiction treatment programs that are likely to be rooted in and derived from the 12-step principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. The most commonly understood of these principles is the need for the individual to acknowledge that they have a problem, prior to be a able to acknowledge the need for help and begin the process of recovery.
Whilst this is true, many people entering a rehab will have a scant understanding of the fact that they have a problem with alcohol or other substances. What they may well be aware of is that their life has become an awful mess, both internally and externally.
Addiction Recovery – Rehab
It is probably fair to say that anyone beginning the process of addiction recovery whether in rehab or in Alcoholics Anonymous will at some level believe that alcohol is essentially the thing that is holding them together.
Some alcoholics will want to stop drinking but be unable to do so, other alcoholics will be so ingrained with this belief that alcohol is their only survival mechanism that they will be unable to emotionally countenance the idea of living without it.
Anyone entering a rehab for alcoholism will in some level have one or both of these beliefs.
The clinical staff and therapeutic staff in a rehab responsible for addiction recovery programs and addiction treatment programs need to be fully aware and understand this mindset in order to allow the alcoholic the freedom they need to begin the process of unblocking this sense of needing to protect themselves.
Any type of addiction recovery from alcoholism is likely to be a lifelong process, and the therapeutic work done in a rehab should mainly focus on the beginning of that process, helping the alcoholic to understand at some level the basis of their illness, and helping to lay the groundwork and foundations both in rehab and Alcoholics Anonymous to help the individual recover and get better.