News about addiction isn’t all bad news. In fact, a lot of it is good news. The good news we’re going to focus on today is that recovery is possible, and you may be able to recover faster than you previously believed.
As anyone who has been addicted to drugs or alcohol knows — or as anyone who has been close to someone addicted to drugs or alcohol knows — addiction doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. What may have seemed like a harmless drink, puff or pill in the beginning can turn into a life-altering problem.
Maybe you were in high school when you had your first drink, and you learned that it made some things easier for you. It may have made you feel less awkward, less lonely, less hopeless; more confident, happier, more removed from your problems. The same feeling is often derived from popular drugs such as weed, opioids or cocaine. You learn eventually that what once made things easier went on to make other things much harder. But what happens along the way?
The addiction thermometer is a metaphor used by those who study addiction to show how the process happens over time. Imagine the time it takes for a cup of water to turn to ice. It gets colder, ice crystals form around the edges of the cup and eventually progress to the middle until the entire cup of water is frozen solid.
It can be the same way with addiction. The form that a drug or alcohol addiction takes at its outset can be very different from how it ends up. Using alcohol as an example, you may spend one or two years having a few beers a week socially until you progress to having a couple every night after work. Then, as time goes on, you may find yourself drinking during work, before work or both.
Most people know that it isn’t so much when you drink — or even how much you drink — that matters. It’s what happens when you drink, or because you were drinking. Arguments. Fights. Domestic violence. Job loss. Eviction. Car crashes. Hospitalization. DUIs. Jail terms. These are all serious consequences no one wants to face.
While everyone is different, most people seek help four to five years after addiction has set in. This is often the time when lives begin to become undeniably unmanageable. People can sometimes hide their addictions from others for a while, but eventually, when the need to use becomes greater than the need to keep it a secret — or the user grows careless under the influence — people find out. Family members may discover your stash, or empty bottles. Co-workers notice how often you are late or absent, and when you are there, you may struggle to get your work done. You may arrive smelling of alcohol, wearing the same clothes for more than a day, looking unkempt.
This is the beginning of the unraveling. People may pull you aside and say something to you privately about how others are noticing your struggle. Denial is common in this stage. You may think you can pull yourself together and return to a time when you managed your usage better. But this almost never works.
Once it becomes clear you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, what happens next is a function of time. Studies show that most addicted people recover. But when? Right away? Years later? Decades later? This is the variable that you have control over.
Although many programs attempt to prevent people from becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol, they don’t work effectively on everyone. Education in schools is helpful, but alcohol and drugs are so prevalent that it is difficult to avoid being around those who use them. While some people never try either, these people are in the minority. Additionally, most people who try drugs or alcohol do not become addicted, so the danger of possible addiction doesn’t always feel real to those who consider dabbling in using.
Therefore, the goal of addiction scientists and those working at hospitals and facilities that serve the addicted population, such as Alpine Recovery Lodge, is to help those who are in the throes of addiction to shorten the timeline to initial remission and stable remission. Initial remission happens when clients enter rehab — three months or less of not using (a stay in inpatient rehab is usually 90 days). After this period, those recovering from addiction enter what is known as early remission, and when they get to the five-year mark, they are said to be in stable remission.
Some recovery programs put a lot of emphasis on time, encouraging people to keep track of how long they’ve been sober down to the day, and to restart the clock if they backslide. People in recovery often feel sad, angry and disappointed in themselves if they have to restart that clock. But we urge you to look at it a different way. It’s useful to know how long you have been sober, but what is important is not just how long you have been able to resist your drink or drug of choice — it’s what you have been doing when you’re not using. You’ve been earning money at a job, enjoying relationships with friends and family, getting healthier, possibly helping others in numerous ways — all things you couldn’t have done when you were using. Time isn’t marked just by a calendar — it’s marked by what you have done with all the days you were sober. If you are sober for six months and take a drink and restart the clock, those six months don’t disappear. They count for something. It’s all part of the timeline. And the sooner you start, the sooner you get to stable remission.
Statistics show that 10%-20% of people suffering from addiction seek help per year. Are you going to be in that group this year?
Alpine Recovery Lodge
