Drug abuse and addiction lead to changes in the brain – and these changes in the brain affect our ability to resist temptation. You don’t need drug treatment because you’re weak – you need drug treatment because you have a brain disease that can be reversed with appropriate professional treatment. Find out more about what happens in the brain after drug abuse and find out how drug treatment programs can teach you how to stay clean and sober during those very tough first few months – and read about all of the different drug treatment options available, so you can choose something that’s going to work for you!
Why Do People Need Drug Treatment? - It can be hard for people who’ve never been addicted to drugs or alcohol to understand how it can be so hard to just stop using.
“With a little willpower and determination – surely anyone could stop drinking or taking drugs!?!”
Why Do People Need Drug Treatment?
Unfortunately, the regular and chronic use of alcohol and certain drugs causes changes in the way the brain functions. Because of changes in brain chemistry, a person in early recovery may:
- Have difficulty concentrating and planning
- Have difficulty staying motivated and exerting will power
- Feel lingering withdrawal symptoms
- Feel very little pleasure from normally pleasurable activities, such as sex or eating
Because a person in early recover isn’t able to think clearly, may be feeling depressed or anxious, may be feeling lingering withdrawal effects and may be getting discouraged by a failure to experience pleasure from a drug free life, the initial period of abstinence is a very high risk period for relapse.
Without some form of drug treatment, relapse is almost certain.
Drug treatment teaches you how to compensate for changes in brain chemistry during initial recovery. How to stay motivated even during the tough times, how to restructure your life to minimize temptation and how to deal with the temptation that does occur.
page last update Aug 05, 2010
