If you've tried again and again to stop using certain drugs but fail every time, this is not the time to give up hope. The same applies to anyone who drinks too much. Addiction is a real medical issue, and it's not easy to give up without professional guidance and medical support. Your best chance of recovery may lie within the walls of your local inpatient substance abuse treatment center.

Do I Have a Bad Habit or an Addiction?

Firstly, it's important to understand what addiction really is. If you are a nail biter, that's an issue you can overcome with the right behavioral therapy. If you wake up every day and reach for a drink, that's another sort of problem altogether. Alcoholism is an actual medical condition that also has numerous mental effects. Doing illegal drugs every day is not a habit that can be stopped without help, support, and guidance. In the cases of long-term addiction, medical interventions may actually save lives.

Are you unsure whether or not you may be an addict? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Does every day start with a thought about drugs or drinking? When you are running low, do you feel nervous, edgy and anxious? Have you ever lied to a doctor to get more drugs? Are you uninterested in your former hobbies? Do you get prescriptions from multiple doctors for the same condition? Have you ever skipped class or missed work because you were hungover? Have you been in trouble with the law because you were drunk or high? Have you replaced your friends with drug dealers and bartenders?

If you answered 'yes' to one of these questions, it doesn't mean that you're an addict or alcoholic. If you answered in the affirmative to more than one, you may need to consider calling your local inpatient substance abuse treatment center today. Speak with a counselor and enjoy a confidential conversation. Calling for information won't obligate you in any way, but it might open your eyes to the true nature of your situation.

Behavioral Therapies Offered at Inpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Centers

Behavioral approaches assist rehab guests in feeling motivated about drug abuse treatment. Incentives for abstinence, attitude modification, and behavior changes help patients boost their coping skills. Behavioral therapy helps clients learn to handle stressful circumstances and environmental triggers that may cause yet another craving. Behavioral therapy is proven to lessen cycles of compulsive abuse, explains the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Designed as a therapy to prevent alcoholic relapse, CBT relies on the theory that addiction is a learned behavior, at least on a mental level. A central tenet of the cognitive behavioral modality is the identification and correction of maladaptive behaviors. Clients in CBT therapy explore the negative and positive consequences of continuing their addictive behavior. Self-monitoring becomes part of daily life for clients who successfully undergo CBT therapy during their stay at an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility.

Psychotherapy focuses on unconscious mental processes that manifest in the addict's drug-seeking behavior, explains the National Institute of Health. When the client understands the connection between past situations and current behavior, they may learn to resolve old and future conflicts without resorting to substance abuse. Dynamic psychotherapy may work better after a period of abstinence, according to the NIH.

Peer Support Groups

Many modern inpatient substance abuse treatment facilities require daily attendance in a peer support group based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Some expect guests to participate in a SMART Recovery program. Interestingly, peers are oftentimes the ones who lead friends into addiction, yet peer groups are also a proven way to kick a bad habit to the curb, as you are learning from each other's struggles.

A complete cure for drug addiction or alcoholism has not yet been devised, but recovery is absolutely possible at numerous centers for inpatient substance abuse treatment. Inpatient rehab provides 'round the clock care and supervision and medical support when required.

Alternative Therapies

When someone enters rehab, they may wonder what they'll do with their time. When drugs and drinking are no longer the focus of the guest's day to day life, they may open their mind to a world of creative and healthful endeavors.

Equine therapy with gentle horses on meandering paths helps many recovering addicts feel better about life sans intoxicants. Therapy pets may visit an inpatient rehab and interact playfully with the guests and staff. Some inpatient centers provide art classes, writing classes, yoga, and meditation sessions. Journal-writing is shown to be helpful for persons seeking change, so that may be offered as part of the therapy curriculum at your local substance treatment center.

A number of treatment facilities offer therapies for families of the addict. After all, the people closest to the patient have probably been hurt by their behavior. Al-Anon and family support meetings help many families mend the rifts caused by alcoholic and addictive behavior. When the client "works the 12 steps" they will learn how to make amends for the havoc they caused in the lives of other people as well as for themselves.

Medical Detox as Part of an Inpatient Rehab Program

When the human body and brain have been using certain drugs for an extended period of time, they become very dependent on their presence. Narcotics and opiates "fit into" brain regions where they release a burst of feel-good natural chemicals. Soon enough, the brain relies on these artificially stimulated chemicals and no longer makes enough of its own. Someone with an OxyContin habit has the same sort of brain-body problem as someone who takes heroin every day. Both drugs come from the Asian poppy plant, and they may be synthesized in a laboratory, too. In either case, the effect of opiates is the same. Once the brain expects narcotics, and when it is denied, a heinous feeling sets in. This is "withdrawal" and it feels worse than the worst case of the flu.

Withdrawal can be tough and those who try to endure it alone wind up back on drugs very soon after. That is, the way it happens without medical support at a confidential inpatient substance abuse treatment facility. When checked into a proper rehab center, medical staff are always nearby to manage the pangs and dangers of withdrawal. Replacement opiate-like medicines may be offered for a short time, after which the guest will taper off gradually and comfortably. If you or someone you care about needs medical detox help, please call a facility near you right away. There's no reason to suffer when confidential detox help is only a phone call away.

Medically supported withdrawal may be the first stage of your inpatient treatment. Medicines will help you detox in relative comfort, but it won't do anything to address the reasons you got addicted in the first place, according to the NIH. Mental, social, and behavioral issues must also be addressed if recovery is to work.

Dual Diagnosis

An Oxford Academic publication reveals the results of a study of three dozen patients who received inpatient substance abuse treatment concurrently with treatment for mental health issues. Known to professionals as "dual diagnosis," patients who present with multiple mental issues along with over-drinking or drugging may now be treated in a number of inpatient substance abuse treatment centers that provide psychiatric and psychological assessment and treatment, as well. Oxford reminds readers of the efficacy of integrated treatment that incorporates assertive outreach, case management, and a motivational approach to substance abuse treatment.

Not every inpatient facility offers treatment for dual diagnosis. If you or the person you care about is struggling with mental issues as well as alcoholism and/or addiction, be sure the inpatient substance abuse treatment center you select offers treatment for co-existing conditions.

Addiction is a Real Medical Issue

Anyone who tells you that the reason you use drugs or drink to excess is because you have no self-control is wrong. Some may say that any addict could stop using or any alcoholic could cease over-drinking, if only they had enough backbone. Actually, addiction isn't a matter of willpower at all. Drug addiction and alcoholism are actual medical conditions that may be considered much the way we think of asthma or high blood pressure. These medical maladies, like addiction, may be effectively treated and managed, but never entirely cured. Nonetheless, thousands of people successfully stop using with the help of therapists, medical staff and the peers that they meet in a confidential and caring rehab center.

Addiction doesn't happen to everyone, but the people who do become habituated to drinking and drugging appear to have brain "wiring" that makes them prone to addiction. It's not their fault and it's not your fault if your brain is predisposed for addiction. There's no shame in admitting you need help. The only shame is if you know that help is available but don't make the call to an inpatient substance abuse treatment center today.