Category: Drug Rehab

What Does It Mean to Be Sober Curious

What Does It Mean to Be Sober Curious?

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live without alcohol, you’re sober curious. Whether you’re questioning why alcohol is everywhere and at every event, why people drink so much, or why so many people, perhaps even yourself, seem to have an all-or-nothing approach to drinking, sober curious is an approach that might work for you.

The basic premise is that you don’t have to quit alcohol to improve your approach to it. As someone who is sober curious, you question your approach to alcohol, you decide if you want to be sober in the moment or not, and you use judgement based on the situation rather than social pressure to make the decision for you, in that moment. You don’t have to quit alcohol to be sober curious. Instead, you have to approach your usage of alcohol mindfully.

If that sounds like something that might be interesting, keep reading.

Everyone Drinks, So I Should Too?

Today, an estimated 65% of the U.S. population over the age of 21 drinks. If you drop the age to 18, that drops to just 64%. Most people drink. And, if you raise it to people who sometimes drink socially, that number goes up to 85%. Often you show up at parties or social events and there’s nothing to do but drink. Sure, there are the occasional party games, but most rely on drunken camaraderie to even be fun. And, drinks for anyone not looking for alcohol can be as simplistic as an option of coke or diet coke. Everyone drinks, so you should too? Right? Questioning that premise is a large part of what being sober curious is about.

Do I want to drink right now?
Do I feel like having alcohol? Would I prefer a beverage without alcohol?
Do I have fun getting drunk? What if I just have one drink?
Are my friends fun when they are drunk? What if I’m sober at the same time?

Normally, people don’t ask any of these questions before drinking. They show up at an event, people are drinking, so they join in. But, you don’t have to. People might pressure you to drink if you’re not, but if they are, they’re not good friends.

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Taking a Break from Alcohol

Sober curious can also mean “trying out” sobriety, with the intention of it not being permanent. For example, many people use “Dry January” to experiment with sober curiosity. However, if you really want to try out being sober, you have to skip drinking for 3-6 months or even longer. Taking 6 months to a year to commit to not drinking will show you what you and your brain are like without alcohol. And, making the period that long will give you very good insight into how alcohol affects your judgement and whether or not you actually struggle with not drinking. If you don’t set a defined period and go for “I will stop drinking for a bit”, you’ll only get some of the insight.

Committing to staying sober for a period of 6-12 months means you’ll have to stay sober for that period and if you don’t, you’re likely struggling with alcohol use.
It takes 6+ months for most brains to recover from the effects of alcohol usage. This means you’ll be able to make the decision to continue staying sober or to start drinking again from a fresh slate of as recovered as you will be without spending 2 years sober.
Setting a defined period means you can check in with friends, you can join others in trying out sobriety, and you’ll have guidelines to your sobriety

Trying out being sober can be a great call if you find that you drink more or more often than you’d like. For example, if you drink every time you go out, drink to the point of blacking out, or frequently drink more than is recommended, trying out being sober may be a great call.

Intentionally Sober Outings

Sober curious is a concept that gives you the opportunity to experience events and meetups with a clear mind. For example, “Sober Curious” is a trend on Tinder because it allows people to experience a first date with a clear mind. Committing to not drinking for the first few days means you get to experience each other sober, to make sober judgement calls, and to experience each other without the euphoria caused by alcohol. That can be important for dating. But, it can also impact other types of social events. For example, you may want to intentionally decide to experience a work event with a clear mind. You may decide to do the same at a social event like a fundraiser or an auction or a wedding. Intentionally choosing to stay sober means you want to experience this event without alcohol, whether for the memories, the experience, or for your capability to contribute to that event.

Sober Curious is a term that comes from the 2018 book by Ruby Warrington, “Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, Limitless Presence, and Deep Connection Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol”. Her definition of sober curious was trying out sobriety with the intention of eventually being sober. That’s a very good approach. However, you don’t have to intend to or ever quit alcohol to be sober curious. You may simply want to know what it’s like, how it affects your life, how it changes your social outings, how it affects how you feel on the weekends, if it changes your sleep and your health, etc. Sober curious is about curiosity and wondering what being sober would be like.

And, once you’re curious, you should be able to try out being sober without pressure, without expectations, and while being able to set guidelines, goals, and expectations for yourself. And, even if you find out that life really is better sober, you don’t have to keep drinking completely. Cutting back to almost sobriety can be a great compromise. Drinking one or two drinks on the weekends is also a great approach. Plus, full sobriety can be as interesting as drinking – because there are plenty of interesting beverages you can try that don’t have alcohol.

If you’re sober curious, go ahead and try out what it’s like to not drink.

If you or your loved-one struggles from alcoholism or other substance abuse please contact us today and speak with one of our experienced and professional intake advisors about our detox, partial hospitalization, and residential treatment programs. 10 Acre Ranch also has specialty tracks like our pet friendly drug rehab and couples substance abuse treatment programs. We’re here to help you recover.

7 Benefits of Residential Treatment for Addiction Recovery

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7 Benefits of Residential Treatment for Addiction Recovery

With some 40.3 million Americans estimated to have a drug or alcohol use disorder, substance abuse treatment and addiction recovery are increasingly necessary. Yet, in 2020, just 4 million people sought out help, and nearly 50% of those only through self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. Despite that low treatment rate, behavioral addiction treatment is the most effective form of treatment. And, for anyone with a moderate to severe addiction residential care shows more promising results and better short-term outcomes for quitting and withdrawing from drugs and alcohol.

While many addiction treatment programs shifted to virtual and telehealth services due to the Covid19 pandemic, there are still many reasons why you’d want to attend residential treatment instead. That’s why some 70% of treatment centers still provide residential care. If you or a loved one is struggling with drug or alcohol abuse, treatment options vary. But, it’s always a good idea to get a recommendation from a counselor when deciding.

1. Detox Services

Detox involves the medical monitoring and management of withdrawal. You cannot have full detox services in a non-clinical environment. While, in some cases, you can go to a detox clinic for only the detox period, most services are part of residential care facilities. This allows the medical staff in question to monitor your health when you quit drugs and alcohol and also over the immediate 30-90 days after – where you’re most susceptible to delirium tremens, PAWS (Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome) and other long-term side-effects.

Detox services mean you get the benefit of medical experts managing your physical and mental health during withdrawal. This can include medication to reduce the impact of withdrawal symptoms. It can also include emotional and psychological support to deal with the anxiety and cravings that come up during withdrawal.

2. Ongoing Guidance

In outpatient care, most people get one touchpoint with a therapist and doctor per day – sometimes per week. Those touchpoints can help you to get over addiction by offering you the support you need. But, in residential care, you’re living around the nurses, counselors, and therapists taking care of you. They are constantly observing your behavior, your progress, your lack of it, and where you’re struggling. That additional access to care can make a big difference to anyone who’s struggling in treatment.

It can also mean you get updates to programs or to treatment faster in response to setbacks, to behavioral issues, etc. And, most importantly, it allows your medical caretakers to see how you’re doing all the time, which makes it harder to put on a false front of doing well just when you go into treatment. That can be important, especially for women, who often resort to simply lying about their wellbeing to their doctors.

And, that ongoing guidance means you have access to professional care when things get bad. If you’re having a bad night, cravings hit, or depression strikes, you can get support. That’s not something you can normally do outside of maybe having the option to call via phone in outpatient care. While it’s not necessary for everyone, it can be immensely helpful to many.

3. Letting Go of Stress

Stress is one of the major contributors to both addiction and relapse. Therefore, most people with an addiction can be expected to have major sources of stress in their life. Whether that’s family, work, trauma, or otherwise doesn’t matter. Attending outpatient treatment often means continuing to deal with that stress while getting help. And, that can create immense barriers to finding motivation, energy, and mental space to respond to treatment. For many people, coping mechanisms cannot be learned from a point of high stress.

That’s why many residential treatment centers take the approach of removing patients from their home environment completely. This reduces exposure to drugs and alcohol. It also reduces exposure to responsibilities, interpersonal relationship difficulties, commute, and work that might trigger that person. It allows you to build a base of coping mechanisms from the lowest stress environment possible. While no residential treatment center will be completely stress free, you will step outside of the stress caused at home, which can make a huge difference in treatment.

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4. Access to Peers

In outpatient groups, you get some access to peers. In most cases, you’ll have most of your meetings with a group class. In inpatient care, you’ll spend at least some time living with your peers. That means sharing a room, sharing community areas, playing games, doing sports, and otherwise actively engaging in treatment and care together. That can give you more insight into addiction, into the motivations of getting clean and sober, and can give you more social accountability to get and stay clean.

Re-socializing is often and important part of addiction recovery. Substance use disorders push people into isolation. Many people push those around them away, avoid people they care about, and build up walls around themselves to avoid feeling guilt, shame, or accountability. Reversing that pattern often means investing in others and starting with people who are unlikely to judge you – your peers – is extremely helpful.

5. Access to Complimentary Learning

In outpatient care, you normally get a few hours of treatment per day. This is often taken up by group and one-on-one treatment with occasional music or art groups. In residential treatment, you have to fill the full day. That means moving back and forth between behavioral health treatment, group therapy, and complimentary treatment like stress management, art and music, exercise therapy, and more. These aren’t necessary as part of treatment, but they can help you to build the skills to better cope with life, responsibilities, stress, and cravings when you leave treatment. Residential treatment has the time to offer that.

6. Privacy

For anyone concerned about their career, professional reputation, or personal reputation, going to outpatient treatment is often a bad idea. While there is some merit to being open and honest with your community and working to build a better version of yourself that way – that’s not always an option, especially for working professionals. Residential treatment is often remote or out of state, allowing you to attend treatment in complete anonymity.

7. Personalized Care

One of the largest benefits of residential treatment is that you get constant access to medical and psychological professionals. That close contact allows your caretakers to assess your wellbeing over the course of the program to deliver truly personalized care. And, depending on the facility, that might include changing up treatment, it might include offering motivational therapy, it might mean switching you on or off of medication assisted treatment. However, you will get updates to the treatment based on how you’re responding.

In addition, it also often means ongoing access to aftercare and sober living or even job placement, based on your condition when you leave the treatment facility. Your caretakers will get to know you and will be able to offer the insight and custom treatment you need to get the most out of your time in addiction recovery.

While residential treatment isn’t the right call for everyone, it can be a good choice for many. With reduced stress, options to get additional classes, and more points of contact with staff, and more personalization for programs, there are a lot of benefits.

Either way, getting into treatment is still the most important first step. Hopefully, you or your loved one can make a choice that works well for your needs.

If you or your loved-one struggles from substance abuse please contact us today to learn more about our detox and residential treatment programs. We’re here to help you recover.

7 Warning Signs of Alcoholism

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7 Warning Signs of Alcoholism

Alcohol use disorder, commonly as alcoholism, affects some 5.3 percent of the American population. That means 14.5 million Americans struggle with alcohol use disorder. At the same time, this disorder, which is characterized by seeking behavior, inability to quit, and uncontrollable drinking, results in over 95,000 deaths in the United States each year. While most of these are indirect, with alcohol resulting in road accidents, liver failure, and heart disease – others are direct, with an average of 6 people dying of alcohol poisoning every single day.

Alcohol is accepted, sometimes expected, and extremely common in social situations. It’s also an intoxicant which can cause addiction, mental health problems, and physical health problems. If you or a loved one is drinking too much, their life could depend on getting help. While the signs and symptoms of alcoholism can vary depending on the person, their health, their personality, weight, etc., alcohol is always bad for you and your health.

1. Tolerance Forces You to Drink More

Whether you’re drinking to have fun, drinking for stress relief, or drinking to be sociable, it’s important to pay attention to how much you have to drink. For example, if you find yourself having to drink more to achieve the same results, you might want to cut back. Tolerance happens when you have alcohol at a frequent enough pace that your body adjusts. If you keep having to escalate how much you drink to achieve a desired effect, you’re drinking too much. Of course, some tolerance is normal. Nearly everyone likely remembers the first time they had a beer and were tipsy. But, if you find yourself consistently adding more alcohol into drinks, you’re likely setting yourself up for addiction and physical health problems.

If you’re drinking regularly during the week, it’s probably a bad idea. Most adults should have more than half to a full beer a day depending on gender, age, and weight. If you’re drinking more than four servings of alcohol in as many hours, you’re binge drinking. And, if you’re doing so regularly, you’re definitely causing yourself health problems.

2. You Hide Alcohol Usage

Almost everyone in the United States drinks. It’s accepted, it’s common, and some people find it shocking when you don’t drink. So, if you find yourself hiding drinking, you’re probably drinking in ways outside the norm. That is always a bad sign for yourself and for your ability to put alcohol down.

For example, if you drink in the morning or during the day. If you drink and drive. Or, if you hide alcohol at work and drink to cope with stress there. You also likely have a problem if you find yourself engaging in behavior like refilling bottles, hiding bottles, or switching to cheaper brands of alcohol so you can continue affording your habit. The more you feel ashamed of drinking, the more likely it is that there is a very real reason for that – and the more likely it is you should reevaluate your drinking habits and consider quitting.

That also holds true if your loved one is hiding drinking. Drinking and then hiding the bottles is not part of normal alcohol use. That holds true whether it’s refilling bottles, so alcohol use goes unnoticed, if it’s hiding bottles behind a couch or another obstacle, or secretly purchasing alcohol and sneaking it into the house. This is not normal or healthy behavior and is almost always indicative of a problem.

3. You Can’t Quit

If you’ve tried and failed to quit, you have a problem. If you’ve considered quitting and keep putting it off, you probably have a problem. And, if you realize that your alcohol use is harmful to you or your relationships but keep finding excuses to keep drinking, you probably have a problem. Alcoholism normally means developing symptoms of substance seeking, compulsive drinking, and cravings. If you stop, you’ll find yourself picking up alcohol out of habit. You’ll experience cravings. Or you’ll keep finding reasons not to quit just yet – even if they’re trivial. E.g., you’ve’ been invited to an office party and you don’t want your coworkers to know you want to quit.

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4. You Drink More than Intended

1 in 6 Americans regularly binge drinks. That’s inherently unhealthy. However, if you frequently find yourself binge drinking when you didn’t intend to, you likely have a problem. This is best exemplified by the idea that you go into a bar or into drinking with the intention to have a few beers or drinks and then go home. You eventually do not and drink significantly more than intended. You might black out or have memory gaps. If you do this consistently when drinking, it’s a very big sign that you want to get help.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with occasionally drinking too much. But those incidents should be once or twice a year at most.

5. You’re Preoccupied with Drinking

It’s normal to occasionally look forward to going out drinking with friends. But the alcohol should never be the primary attraction of doing so. If you spend significant amounts of time planning to drink, thinking about drinking, or craving alcohol, it likely means you have a problem. Normally, people will spend some attention on alcohol, especially if they are into craft or other special alcohol, and then will enjoy it, typically with friends. If you’re set on drinking, no matter what it is, that is a completely different story. For example, if you skip meals so you can drink more without impacting your diet or so that you get drunk faster. If you spend significantly more on alcohol than intended. Or, if you drive out of your way to acquire alcohol.

People with alcohol use disorders spend time thinking about alcohol when stressed, when at work, when in social situations, etc. People without alcohol use disorders will rarely think about alcohol during these situations.

6. You Allow Alcohol to Harm Your Life

Drinking is a social activity, and it should be a way to have fun or to relax when used correctly. If you find yourself drinking to the point where you’re experiencing negative consequences, that is unlikely to be the case. For example, if you drink to the point of having a hangover that impacts performance at work. If you drink at work or before driving. If you drink to the point where family and friends are upset at you. If drinking causes your mood to change, which impacts your relationship with family members.

Eventually, if you realize alcohol is negatively affecting your life and you continue drinking anyway, you have a problem.

7. You Experience Withdrawal Symptoms

If you fee hungover, sick, or down when you don’t drink, it’s likely withdrawal symptoms. People who drink regularly often confuse these symptoms with a hangover. Then, they drink more alcohol too quickly for symptoms to escalate or for them to notice the symptoms don’t go away. But, if you consistently experience general malaise, cold and flu symptoms, tremors, and anxiety when you don’t drink for any period of time – you have a problem. These symptoms require medical evaluation and often medically supervised alcohol detox. In fact, if there is a case in which you find it unusual that you don’t drink for any period of time, you likely have a problem.

Millions of Americans struggle with alcohol use disorder. Millions more abuse alcohol regularly. If you’re struggling, there is help and it is accessible, covered by insurance, and available in formats designed to fit into your lifestyle. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism ruin lives, they ruin your health, and they create risks for you and your family. Getting help works – allowing you to get treatment for underlying problems, to build coping mechanisms, and to build a better and healthier life for yourself.

If you or your loved-one struggles from alcohol abuse please contact us today and speak with one of our experienced and professional intake advisors. Our alcohol treatment programs are modern and effective. We’re here to help you recover.

Are my Parents Responsible for My Addiction?

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Whatever your age, if you’re asking, “Are my parents responsible for my addiction”, the short answer is “No”.

Setting Healthy Boundaries with an Addict

photo of a sad young woman thinking of relationships problems sitting on sofa with offended husband

If your loved one is addicted to drugs or alcohol, they will make life harder for you. Addiction changes who people are, how they act, and what their priorities are.

7 Signs of Denial in an Addict

photo of depressed man with alcoholism problem sitting in dark rehab center

7 Signs of Denial in an Addict

Today, an estimated 18.5 million Americans struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, yet, in 2019, just 20.4% of us ever got help. That’s often because of factors like denial, in which we literally lie to ourselves about whether we have a problem and whether we can quit on our own. Most of us associate addiction with significant personal shame and personal failure. While that isn’t true, addiction is a mental health disorder that some of us are more vulnerable to than others, we feel that way anyway. As a result, we lie to ourselves, convincing ourselves that we drink or use because of specific reasons, and we could easily regain control “if we wanted to”.

Denial is also incredibly normal. Most addicts are more prone to denial than they are to acknowledging that they have a problem. And, that’s important, because acknowledgement is one of the first steps to getting help. You can’t go to rehab and get treatment if you’re not yet ready to go “I have a problem and I want to get better”.

If you or a loved one is struggling with substance use, chances are, they are in denial. These 7 signs of denial in an addict will get you started on how to recognize and respond to that denial.

1. “I can quit anytime I want”

If your loved one constantly acts as though they can stop at any point in time, but doesn’t, they are likely in denial. Phrases like:

“I can quit anytime I want”

“I’ll quit next week”

“I’ll think about if I want to and if I want to I will”

Are all fine if they are followed by quitting or a reduction in alcohol intake. But, when they are empty bluster and the person does not decrease alcohol, does not attempt to quit, and continues on as they are, it’s likely a case of denial. Here, they are using a mental tactic to avoid acknowledging to themselves that they can’t quit. And, chances are, deep down, they’re afraid that they can’t. So, if they say it out loud or try to for real, they will have to acknowledge that they can’t.

This is especially common when substance use started out small and got to be a big thing over a period of time. E.g., someone abusing sleeping pills, someone drinking, or an occasional habit of recreational drugs like cannabis became a daily thing. They can easily pretend they’re still in a state from several months or even years ago, when they were in control and they could quit. Acknowledging that that is no longer the case is painful and most people will avoid it at all costs unless forced to face it.

2. “It’s Not That Bad”

“So? I’m not doing heroin”, “It’s just a glass of vodka after work”, “I don’t even drink as much as X person” are all phrases you might here when someone is trying to minimize the extent of their problem. Chances are, they might not realize how much they drink or use themselves. That’s especially true when they get into sneaking habits. For example, they have a bottle of whiskey on the table, they start drinking too much of it, they start filling it up to hide how much they’re drinking, and before long, they can’t even keep track of how much they’re drinking themselves.

This is most common with prescription medication, because people take one and then another, and hide the results – and don’t notice how much they’ve gone through until the prescription is out. Then, they get more and the cycle starts over again. If they’ve gone doctor shopping and have more than one doctor, they’ll even pretend that they’re not using that much, they just need more because their original prescription doesn’t cover their needs.

This sort of denial is especially insidious because they’ll likely have no idea how much it is they’re actually taking. That can be difficult to deal with, because you’ll have to force them to realize how much they’re drinking or using as part of the discussion.

3. “I didn’t drink/use anything”

Outright lying is something that few of us expect as a denial tactic, but it is. This is exacerbated by the fact that substance use affects memory. Someone using might not have any actual memory of drinking or using on that date. They might be acting self-righteous because they actually believe you’re accusing them falsely.

Here, you’ll most commonly get lies about how much someone drank. E.g., “I only had two beers”, when they came home and blacked out.

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4. “I need to relax”

If someone is validating their substance use through excuses, they are likely in denial. Here, you’ll often see things like:

“I need a drink after work, commute and my boss are so stressful”
“Just until I get a new job, I’ll quit after, I promise”
“I’m in pain, I’ll stop when this prescription is out”
“I can’t function without it, I’ll finish this big task at work and then I’ll quit”

People who have experienced a traumatic incident, such as a car accident or death in the family, are very likely to lean on this type of denial. It means shifting the reason for using substances to an external event. The problem is, the goal post is almost always moved.

5. “If you wouldn’t nag”

People who blame others for their substance use disorders are normally trying to evade personal responsibility and personally feeling bad. They can weaponize that to anger against others, essentially blaming the other for causing their need for substance use.

“Dealing with a baby is so stressful, I can’t manage without the valium”
“If you wouldn’t nag”
“If my boss would quit riding me all day”
“Carolyne broke up with me I need this”

This sort of blame can range from the relatively understandable to simply accusing someone else of causing problems. It’s always a bad sign, because reasons for drinking are always internal. If someone is looking externally, they’re looking for someone to blame so they don’t have to be accountable themselves.

6. “And who’s fault is that?”

If someone turns conversations around and blames others or manipulates you into changing the subject when you bring up drugs and alcohol, they are in denial. Drug and alcohol addicts often use manipulation to cover their addiction, both to others and to themselves. For example, if they redirect the conversation, change the topic, or twist the conversation around to be about you or your behavior. This is a strong sign that they are evading the topic, and usually that means to themselves as well.

7. Hiding Substance Use

The most telling sign that someone is in denial is when they hide signs of substance abuse. For example, if they tuck bottles into the bottom of the trash. If they hide pill packages. If they use pills from a container other than the one you see them taking daily prescriptions from. If they’re using illicit drugs, it’s understandable they’d hide that as well, but anyone taking an illicit drug also has a problem as well.

Denial is common in addicts, because most of us don’t want to admit that we have a problem. We want to be healthy, in control, and able to stop whenever we want. But, addiction catches everyone unaware. There’s no shame in acknowledging that you have a mental health disorder and no shame in getting help. The first step to getting help is recognizing the problem and reaching out.

If you or your loved-one struggles from substance abuse please contact us today and speak with one of our experienced and professional intake advisors. We’re here to help you recover.