Most people who are struggling with an addiction to alcohol or drugs never thought they’d lose the power of choice. There is a wide range of reasons as to why people begin abusing drugs or alcohol, but at a point, the abuse crosses the line into addiction. Living with addiction can make your life spiral out of control, and you can begin to feel completely hopeless. The good thing is that through years of scientific research, there are now proven ways to treat a substance use disorder.
What Is a Substance Use Disorder?
Addiction is an extremely baffling disease whether you’re the person with the addiction or a loved one of this person. Many people drink or use drugs recreationally or experimentally without a problem, but there are those who can’t. The disease of addiction only affects roughly one out of every 12 people, so it’s difficult to grasp. It’s hard to understand why some people can’t stop drinking or using drugs even though their life has become unmanageable.
Having a substance use disorder means that you have lost the power to choose whether or not to drink or use drugs. There might be many days where you tell yourself that you aren’t going to get drunk or high, but you do anyway. The reason for this is because addiction takes control of the reward center of your brain. The disease of addiction makes you rationalize or justify your substance use by any means necessary, and this is why you need to go to treatment.
Understanding Your Substance Use Disorder
If you’re someone with a substance use disorder, you may ask yourself why it happened to you. In treatment, you’re going to get many of the answers that you’re looking for by working with trained professionals. Working with a therapist can help you get down to the specific sources of your addiction, and this can be liberating. The first step towards finding solutions is understanding how and why your addiction formed in the first place.
Some of the most common reasons people develop an addiction include:
- Genetic predisposition
- Anxiety and depression
- Trauma
- Lack of healthy coping skills
- Overwhelming life stresses
Working with an addiction therapist gives you a safe place where you can get vulnerable and open up about your past and present. A therapist can empathize with your situation and help you find solutions that work for you. Each person who develops an addiction has a different story and different ways of recovering. A therapist is there to help you try different strategies and keep the ones that work while getting rid of the rest.
Having Support for Your Substance Use Disorder
When you’re struggling with an addiction to alcohol or drugs, it can seem like nobody understands what you’re going through. For many people, their own family, spouses, friends, and children don’t understand why they can’t just stop. A major part of mental health programs for addiction recovery involves the peer support of others trying to recover. Here, you’ll see that you’re not alone and there are people who understand exactly what you’re going through and where you’ve been.
The best part about having a support system is that you know you can turn to people for help when you need it. The path of recovery is a difficult one, filled with both incredible days as well as obstacles and struggles. Knowing that you have people who understand you and that you can count on will help you avoid relapse. Some of the friendships that you build in treatment are going to last you for many years after your discharge.
Memphis Recovery Centers is an addiction treatment center located in beautiful Memphis, Tennessee. Not only do we offer substance use disorder treatment for the people of Memphis, but we provide help to the surrounding areas as well. We provide people with multiple levels of care including residential treatment as well as outpatient options. Our goal is to give you the best chance possible to live the life that you deserve.
Some of the programs we offer here include:
If you’re ready to begin on the path of recovery from your substance use disorder, call us today at 901-272-7751.
