Life After Rehab: What Is It Like?

Substance abuse can be a tough habit to break, which is why so many people eventually go to rehab. With substantial support and removal from the stressors that often lead to substance abuse, the treatment center becomes a safe place for anyone who needs it. Eventually, time catches up to the recovering addict and real life beckons. It becomes time to leave the treatment center.

The big question then arises: What is life going to be like after rehab? The answer is complicated and personal for everyone who takes steps into and out of a rehab center. You can find help at harrishousestl at any time. When in treatment, your entire day is planned and supervised. When you return home, your time is yours. While this might seem like a great thing, recovering addicts can be overwhelmed at certain times of the day.

Treatment center do not send recovering addicts home without a plan, but some recovering addicts can have struggles. Unfortunately, addiction is difficult to cure and it takes a lifetime to keep it under control. Recovering addicts who are sent home often spend hours each week at meetings and health care appointments. They also might have support meetings at the treatment center, simply so they can keep feeling some level of safety when they walk into the outpatient areas.

What else happens after rehab?

These are a few of the issues that recovering addicts face when they return home after rehab:

#1. Working with family and friends

Depending on how long you were in rehab, you might have to make some changes to your relationships. Often, family and friends are not sure how to react to the new you who no longer needs substances to make it through the day. Since relationships are often major life stressors, there are therapeutic programs that involve family and close friends in your recovery.

Your romantic partner might need to come to therapy with you, when it is appropriate, to learn how to help you stay sober. If your romantic partner was involved in your addiction, you might have to make some changes to your relationship so you are not tempted. Your relationship might flourish now that you are no longer fighting with an addiction. But, be prepared that it might not succeed without your addiction. 

#2. Avoid new addictions

As you have worked so hard to break your addiction to drugs or alcohol, be on the lookout for a new addiction to start. Some people find that they transfer their old addictive behaviors to a new substance. While you might not experience the same type of high from the new substance, any addiction has the potential to be damaging.

Recovering addicts often find solace in cigarettes, candy, or caffeine. These are all easy to find at local grocery stores and the substances can cause some serious problems. Nicotine is addictive and cigarettes have been linked to cancer. Vaping and e-cigs have also been linked to health problems and some states are taking steps to ban them.

Addictions to food can also be problematic. They can lead to weight gain, spikes in blood sugar, and diabetes, too. Instead of eating unhealthy food, it is best to eat a well-rounded diet with natural food, like fruits and vegetables.

Caffeine is one of the most widely abused substances on the planet. Many people can make it through the day with a cup of coffee or a can of soda, but some people need caffeine throughout the day to stay awake and avoid withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine, on its own, isn’t not overly problematic, but if you are drinking several cans of soda per day, you are taking in empty calories. Caffeine withdrawal can cause painful headaches, so it is best to avoid ingesting too much throughout the day. Caffeine can also exacerbate conditions like TMJ and it can cause sleeping problems, too.

Take good care to eat healthy and exercise often. Drink water rather than soda and try to get enough sleep each night so you do not need to supplement with caffeine. Feeling good physically will help you stay away from relapsing.

#3. Finding new hangouts

If you have a crowd that you drank with, then you might need to find a new place and new people. Some people might be able to spend time with you without using addictive substances, but if they can’t, then you have to take care of yourself. There will be new people who will love to spend time with the new you.

Instead of going to a bar or your regular haunts, try a new place, like a coffee shop or a gym. It is a good idea to stay away from any place that might tempt you to engage in the behaviors your broke in rehab. Another new place you might want to try is a support group. There are plenty of them out there and they are full of people who are like you, trying to get by without using drugs or alcohol.

#4. Adjusting to stress

Life is stressful. Some people seem to be able to handle it without any trouble at all. Some turn to healthy stress-management tools like meditation or yoga. While others choose to turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with stress. Now that you have been through rehab and have been successfully exited from it, you can no longer turn to drugs or alcohol when stress rises in your life.

Instead, you have to find a new way to deal with stress, preferably something that does not drive you to a potentially addictive substance like caffeine or sugar.

If you have stress at work, you should talk to your boss about the situation. If you have stress in a relationship, you should talk to the other person in the relationship. When stress arises, you can also talk to your therapist or your support group for ideas that might work well for you.

#5. Continuing support

Even though you are no longer staying at an inpatient facility at your treatment center, you can still get support. Most people who leave rehab cannot stop getting help with returning to real life. There are several types of outpatient support that you can get to keep you from relapsing into behaviors that will lead you down the road to addiction.

For some recovering addicts, simple things like going to church, starting a hobby, journaling, or exercising is enough to get them through life after rehab. But, most recovering addicts need professional support in the form of individual therapy, regular check-ups, support groups, or 12-step programs.

People who benefit from individual therapy appreciate working with therapists who help them understand what triggers their need for drugs or alcohol. During individual therapy, therapists ask questions that help recovering addicts dig deeply into their behaviors and thoughts. Therapists often suggest co-therapies like meditation, exercise, hypnosis, music therapy, and sometimes, medication.

Patients who do not need regular therapy benefit from occasion checkups. Some people see a therapist between 3 and 12 times in a year. The checkups are helpful because the health care provider can do a physical exam and have a meaningful conversation, too. People who have experience with drug and alcohol addiction can have lasting effects on physical health. It can create weight problems, sleeping problems, and heart problems.

Many recovering addicts will enter a 12-step program. There is one for nearly any specific addiction. In these programs, attendees go to meetings as often as they want – even daily if needed. These programs help with everything from self-esteem to relationships and can be formatted to specific cultures and religions.

The other possibility for recovering addicts is the alternative support group. There are several types of groups. They are usually sponsored by treatment centers, churches, hospitals, and clinics. One of the alternative support groups to check out is the Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) group which uses research-proven techniques for controlling addiction recovery.

#6. Learning to socialize

As you continue to learn about your new life after rehab, you might find yourself needing to build a new group of friends. The changes that you made in rehab might not be what your old friends want, so you might not have the same group of friends you had when you entered rehab. You might be a bit lonely when you find that many of your friends were just there for the drugs or alcohol.

Instead of hanging out with your old friends, who might not have really been friends at all, you need to find something else to do. Building a new social life might seem impossible, but it really isn’t. There are healthy things you can do that put you in contact with other people who also do those healthy things. Instead of going to the bar or spending time with people who are drunk or high, you can learn to play an instrument, take a class, join a gym, learn a new language, or go to sporting events. You could even volunteer to help people in your community.