Long term treatment centers boast some of the highest success rates among all rehab types. These facilities are designed to give people ample time away from unhealthy relationships and environments, and from countless other stressors. This break from the pressure, temptation, and guilt that’s associated with their everyday lives gives recovering addicts the opportunity to understand and deal with their substance use disorder. When you stay at these facilities, you can spend as long as one month to one year focusing solely on getting well. For most patients, this is ample time to discover the underlying causes of their addictions, develop healthy coping skills, and prepare for the outside world. Although you won’t have the freedom to come and go as you please, and you won’t often have the opportunity to entertain visitors, this may be the most socially rewarding time of your life.
People who commit to long-term treatment are dedicated to getting their lives back on track. These are often individuals who have tried and failed in rehab before, but who remain motivated to both achieve sobriety and maintain it. As such, you’ll find yourself surrounded by like-minded, understanding, and truly empathetic people who are open to sharing their experiences, and who are incredibly receptive to hearing about your own. The friendships that you make in these environments can be lifelong. Moreover, they’ll help you better understand how to pick supportive, positive friends post-treatment.
Long Term Treatment Can Help You Dramatically Improve Your Social Skills
Like all forms of inpatient rehab, long term treatment is a multi-pronged process that includes various options in therapy, self-improvement, and activities to support your mental and physical health. One large part of these services is encouraging people to explore and better understand their emotions in group therapy. Although you’ll spend a significant amount of time working with therapists and counselors in a private, one-on-one setting, you’ll also take part in sharing and self-discovery sessions with your peers.
Most treatment centers are structured to cater to people from common demographics. Thus, if you’re entering your senior years, you’ll likely do best in a facility that largely caters to aging adults. As you review your options in rehab programs, you’ll find all-male centers, centers that work with women, centers that are streamlined for helping young adults, and even centers that cater to members of the LGBTQ community. Services like these exist so that recovering addicts are able to connect and bond with their fellow patients. Developing a strong sense of camaraderie with other clients while in treatment can help you stay motivated, and it will additionally boost your morale.
Break The Pattern Of Self-Isolation
When dealing with drug addiction, many people tend to self-isolate. This can make an already lonely experience even lonelier still. Moreover, when substance abusers do have friends, they tend to surround themselves with other addicts. When everyone is prioritizing their own addiction, friendship can feel far different from what it should. Entering into long-term rehab gives people the chance to think about the relationships that they’ve built, and to develop a better understanding of what real friendship looks like. This is actually one of the primary goals of group therapy.
In group therapy, you’ll have the opportunity to hone your listening skills, even as you become more comfortable and confident in expressing yourself. Group therapy leaders will discuss the importance of setting boundaries in relationships, and they’ll also teach patients how to do so. As you meet people and make new friends, you’ll become more adept in identifying healthy and harmful relationships, sharing your thoughts and feelings, and establishing meaningful and lasting social connections. Many of the people who form friendships in long term treatment centers continue on as support partners after their inpatient programs ended. These are people that you may be able to turn to for moral support when temptations and cravings rear their heads. Establishing these connections makes spending time in inpatient treatment infinitely easier and far more fulfilling.
Choosing to take part in a long term treatment program for drug or alcohol addiction can be very rewarding. Not only will you develop the skills for overcoming addiction and for keeping your recovery on track, but you’ll also have the opportunity to meet new people, build your social skills, and step away from the unhealthy and incredibly lonely patterns of self-isolation. If you’re ready to find the right long term treatment center for your recovery, we can help. Call us today at 833-364-0736.