Fear is a powerful emotion that influences every step of your recovery journey. Many people start out using drugs to deal with issues such as anxiety that influence their every waking moment. As someone who has an addiction, you might have also felt fear as your drug use spiraled out of control. It is normal to feel scared that you might lose your family, career and home when your addiction begins to take over more of your life. The fear of going to jail for possessing controlled substances is natural. The same thing can be said about fearing that you could face financial ruin if you lose your job. Now that you have decided to get sober, your new fear might be about what happens during treatment. Here are five things to remember when IOP drug treatment makes you feel scared that will help you soar through your first few days.
Intensive outpatient drug treatment is designed to help you get control over your addiction while still maintaining other parts of your life. You’ve chosen this option because you feel that it is the best one for you, which already sets you on the right path for success. Building up your confidence takes time, and it is important to be gentle with yourself during this first phase of your recovery. Remember that almost everyone feels a little nervous about anything new that they do in life. Learning how to accept your fear and address it head-on is an essential skill that you’ll learn with the help of your counselors and the other people in your treatment program.
How to Ease Anxiety During IOP Drug Treatment
Being afraid tends to be associated with bad things in life. While it is true that fear is a natural response that helps to keep you safe, there are times when this emotion marks a good life achievement. Think about a few other times when you might have felt nervous. Most likely, you have felt some degree of fear before you started a new job or went on a first date. As a child you might have felt fearful of your first day of school. Later in life, you might have had wedding jitters or felt scared the first time you moved out to live on your own. In all of these cases, fear wasn’t coming from some type of danger. Instead, it came from a feeling of not knowing what would happen. The fear of the unknown is usually what is behind your feelings about IOP treatment for addiction. The best way to address this is to remember these five key things that make outpatient treatment so beneficial.
- Everyone is on the same page
- Recovery is a process
- You can do difficult things
- Each day gets easier
- Keep your eye on the prize
If you feel fear before your first day, then this might be because you are afraid of being judged. You might also feel this fear rise up again as your group begins to delve deeper into the causes of your addiction. Combating this fear is as simple as remembering that you are all there for the same reason. No one can judge your behavior when they have likely done or considered doing similar things in their past. Even your counselors know that drug addiction comes with habits that many people may regret. Dealing with regrets, guilt and shame are all part of the healing process. You might also be worried about facing setbacks.
As you just read, recovery is a lengthy process that also includes successes and occasional challenges. Remembering that you can absolutely manage difficult moments with the help of your treatment team makes it easier to stay calm about each session. Sometimes, people feel fear during their first few days of treatment. You might even start off feeling confident and then feel your resolve begin to wane. This is also normal since it is easy to feel overwhelmed during the first several weeks of recovery. Once again, share these thoughts with your group. Your counselors have heard it before, and you might be surprised to hear that others feel the same way. Working with your group helps you continue to focus on the benefits that trump any fears you feel about going to IOP treatment.
You’ve made the right choice to begin recovering from drug addiction. Now, don’t let fear stand in your way. Our counselors can help you plan your treatment so that you feel more secure about the future. Gives us a call at 833-364-0736 today.