Just like the song by the late, great Amy Winehouse, when I was told to go to rehab, I also said “No, no, no.” In fact, I used much stronger terms than that. Something more along the lines of “Not on your effin’ life!”
I eventually found my recovery without rehab, but does that mean that everyone can get over an addiction without inpatient help?
The important thing to remember, whether you go to rehab or not, is that you can not beat an addiction alone. Well, you can, but it will be flipping hard work. It’s hard anyway, so why make it harder?
There are always times, especially in early sobriety, when you want to jack it all in, and it is super-useful to have support for these trying moments.
Inpatient rehab may be helpful for people who feel they need 24/7 help to stop drinking or using drugs and may need further physical or mental health care. It is possibly the safest place to be if you really have got yourself into a horrible mess and have no clue how to get out of it.
If you choose not to go to rehab, make sure you have a support network you can rely on, preferably made up of other addicts. And make sure you work on your addiction with someone who knows what they are talking about.
There are some brilliant addiction and recovery forums that you can join. If you want to meet up with other addicts, recovery groups and fellowships can offer wonderful support.
Why I Didn’t Go To Rehab
I was put off rehab by the reality of many addicts going in and out repeatedly and making little to no progress. I have come to understand that this is because most rehabs do not explain some fundamental truths about addiction; things you do actually need to know if you ever hope to recover.
Rehabs may focus on the symptoms of addiction without explaining what drives them. They may hold groups or enforce rules without telling you the purpose.
Many people I have spoken to who have gone inpatient left confused. They still had no real understanding of why they still struggled with cravings and kept relapsing. They still had no idea how to build a strong recovery for themselves.
So if you do choose to go to rehab, unless you are very lucky, you will have to do more than that to achieve a solid recovery.
I have written a book which will help anyone trying to get clean and sober to understand the foundational pillars of staying long-term sober. These are truths I took a long time to discover despite many stints in outpatient treatment.
No counsellor, addiction treatment centre, or keyworker ever told me these things. I had to find them out myself through painful trial and error and a lot of relapsing.
The Recovery Formula is the book I wish I had had when I started my journey to recovery – because then I need not have struggled for so long. It’s out now.
