For many recovered addicts, the lifelong goal is to maintain their sober living status. When it comes to addiction and other chronic diseases, there is no actual cure. Recovery doesn’t stop, but it can be deterred quite suddenly by relapse triggers.
Casual use may seem okay at first glance, but it can quickly turn into a substance dependency – then all the way back to addiction. Addiction specialists will say that any substance use is considered a relapse, which will typically need further and immediate treatment. Therefore, many recovered addicts won’t even get to the point of casual use because there won’t be time to develop a habit while being treated.
If you’re having problems maintaining your sober living status in Ohio – or know someone who is – contact Midwest Detox Center. Our residential addiction treatment program provides support when you feel your recovery is threatened. Call 833.647.0392 or reach out to our team online.
What Is Life After Addiction Treatment Like?
Life after addiction treatment often carries reminders of the toll taken on the body from substance abuse. In addition to many lingering physical and mental challenges, recovering addicts will also have memories of how their addictive behaviors affected their lives and relationships.
Some recovering addicts will need to deal with anxiety, depression, diabetes, liver disease, or heart disease for the rest of their lives. Some withdrawal symptoms – like anxiety, confusion, headaches, tremors, and more – may reappear even months after the detox process. While dealing with these discomforts, recovering addicts also need to live with the physical and emotional distance between them and their once important jobs, schools, friends, and family. That distance may still be present even after addiction treatment.
Should All Recovered Addicts Practice Sober Living?
Sober living is the endpoint of all substance addiction treatment programs offered by all treatment facilities because substance use disorders are chronic diseases. There is no cure and no way to go back to the casual use of the substance. For most recovering addicts, just being in the same room as the substance they were misusing is a relapse trigger.
Because relapses typically lead back to addictive behaviors, and not being sober causes relapses, all recovered addicts should practice sober living. Relapsing is common, but it doesn’t have to derail addiction recovery. Healing is a lifelong process.
What Happens When Recovered Addicts Start Going Back to Casual Use?
What is casual use? For some people, it could mean occasional substance use. For others, it could mean using a substance without feeling the need to do so. The truth is that it’s difficult to recognize when substance use turns into substance addiction – and people with substance use disorder may not realize they’ve relapsed until it’s too late.
No one ever starts out using drugs or alcohol intending to become an addict. Every person with a substance use disorder starts as a first-time and then occasional user. Their initial use was a voluntary and controllable decision. But, as time passes and substance use continues, a person can turn into a compulsive substance user. A change like this occurs because using addictive substances changes the structure and the function of the brain over time – which can result in compulsive and even uncontrollable substance use.
Put simply: A recovering addict won’t be able to maintain being a casual user. Without going to an addiction treatment center after relapsing, they will simply fall back into their addictive habits and go back to how they lived as a person with a substance use disorder.
Learn More About Midwest Detox Center’s Substance Abuse Treatment Programs
Looking for sober living support in Ohio? Contact Midwest Detox Center by calling 833.647.0392 or reaching out to our team online.
