In a drug detox program, weaning your body off a drug(s) is only one part of the process. The rest is learning to understand the nature of your addiction. This is often essential to prevent you from returning to your old habits when you leave the treatment facility. Similar comments apply to alcohol detox programs. Here are three of the key skills you will learn.
How to manage your life to avoid relapsing
The easiest way to get out of trouble is to avoid getting into it in the first place. This means that, when a drug detox program ends, you should do your best to avoid getting into situations where you’re tempted to take drugs again. Of course, for you to do this, you need to understand what these situations are.
That’s why part of a drug detox program will involve you looking at your past. You’ll be asked to think about what set you down the path of taking drugs. You’ll also be asked to think carefully about what kept you taking them. This analysis serves two important purposes.
First, it allows you to reconcile yourself with your past. This may involve the need for counseling. Second, it creates guidelines for your future. This process will often make it possible for you to identify situations where you might find yourself tempted to take drugs. Your first line of defense against relapsing is to avoid these situations completely.
How to manage your emotions
The better you can manage your emotions yourself, the less likely it is that you’re going to end up turning to drugs for support. However, if you relapse, it’s not the end of the world. You can go back into a drug detox program. Obviously, you should aim to avoid this if at all possible.
You can expect to be taught relaxation techniques. In fact, you may have to try out several different relaxation techniques to discover which one(s) work best for you. Essentially, your aim should be to keep yourself as calm as possible as much of the time as possible.
You may also need to learn or relearn confidence and assertiveness. In the real world, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be able to avoid challenging situations completely. You will therefore need to learn how to get out of them as quickly as possible. That can mean dealing with social pressure or peer pressure, so you’ll need the skills to handle this.
How to communicate with others
There are basically two aspects to this. Firstly, you need to know how to reach out for further help if you need it. Never see this as failure. See it as an investment in your continued success.
Secondly, you need to learn how to communicate with other people. Depending on your situation, this may take a lot of work. For example, you may need to put in some serious effort to regain trust you’ve lost through your behavior.
On a broader level, you may have to improve your general communication skills so you can interact with people effectively. This may be a prerequisite to getting a (new) job. It will certainly be needed for you to have a meaningful social life.
