The Myth of “Going Off To Rehab”.

No myth is more pervasive than the idea that you “go off to rehab” where “they” will somehow fix your “alcoholism” and send you home to be forever “in recovery” but happily cured of your “disease”.

Nothing could be further from the truth, which helps explain the appalling 5% (at best) “success” rate of residential programs in the U.S., Canada, and Australia – and why we get clients from all three countries.
So what is the truth?

First, 85% of those of you seeking treatment are alcohol abusers, not alcohol dependent “alcoholics”. You may well need some help to effectively incorporate new choices into your life, but you don’t need residential programs.

(If you do want to escape for awhile, we’ll cheerfully work with you while you stay at a decent hotel or a five star resort, your choice. Either will be cheaper than the cushy jails that pass for rehab centers.)

Next, if you want to get over you alcohol abuse behaviors then you need to replace them with other more productive and enjoyable behaviors.

Third, if you going to stop self-medicating with alcohol, and not simply switch to self-medicating with food or “meetings”, then you need to relieve the conditions you medicate. Typically these are loneliness, boredom, anxiety, passivity, life changes, and so on.

Fourth, your life has to be better and happier without the alcohol abuse than it is with.  Otherwise, you’ll simply go back to your old faithful stand-by (as most people do within hours or days of being discharged from those cushy residential programs).

Finally, do you want a life or a label? Do you want to actually live your life or just acquire another excuse not to?

If you just want excuses, go to rehab. Almost any rehab.

If you want a life, give us a call.

“Did it work?”

That’s the most common question people get after going to any treatment program. Unhappily the usual answer is “No”.

A major problem lies with the question itself, which implies that “treatment” is something that’s done to you, or for you. It isn’t.

Leaving you alcohol abuse behind is something that can only be successfully done with you. In that regard it isn’t much different that going to the gym and hiring a trainer in order to lose weight and get in shape. That will only work if you actually show up, pay attentiuon, modify your diet, do the exercises, and lift the weights.

But we have all been subjected to 50 years of programs pretending that they can do it for you, or to you. They can’t.

No matter how spiffy and expensive their Malibu settings are, you still have to “lift the weights” if you want to change your behaviors.

As with training, what works for you has to take into account your abilities, history, preferences, interests, and desired outcomes. AND, the end result must give you a better day-to-day life than the one you have now.

Let’s face it, most people return to drinking after a stay in rehab because the “life” they’re offered after rehab is worse than the one they have drinking.

How about a better question?

“Is your life getting better?

If you want to answer that one with a resounding “YES!” then give us a call. That’s what we’ll help you create – your better life.

Links to Success

Smart Women and Alcohol Abuse

“How Can You Possibly Cure My Years of Alcohol Abuse in Just 5 Days?”

The Real “Steps” to Overcoming Alcohol Abuse

Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Sent My Brother Off To Rehab;