Why Long-Term Addiction Rehab Produces Better Outcomes

a man from a long term rehab center looking at the camera

Why Long-Term Addiction Rehab Produces Better Outcomes

a man from a long term rehab center looking at the cameraFor most people, rehab means a 28-30-day stint in a recovery clinic. That standard care often feels like a long time for many of us, especially when we have to take time off of work, away from childcare, and away from other life responsibilities and goals. At the same time, modern medicine and research increasingly shows that 30 days is not enough to offer the full term of support and care that most people need. For that reason, long-term addiction rehab, or rehab that extends up to 6 months, is increasingly available. Here, long-term addiction rehab facilities often adjust the treatment model to the patient. This means that you receive care for as long as your doctor and provider thinks you need it.

The 30-day treatment model still offers convenience and an alternative to those who can’t afford a longer term of care. However, continuing with outpatient treatment after an inpatient stay is still recommended. There are many reasons why long-term addiction rehab produces better outcomes than the traditional model. If you’re considering investing in longer care for you or your loved one, it’s important to understand why, and what the differences are. 

Based on Biological Recovery

Most people are aware that recovering from the physical impacts of addiction can take a very long time. Few of us are aware of just how long. For example, the early impacts of addiction on the reward system typically fade within 30-90 days depending on the individual. After 30-90 days of treatment, your brain will be at a semi-permanent state of “recovery” for the next 12-24 months. From there, you’ll continue to heal, but more slowly.

For many people, it does take 1-2 years before your brain resembles a “control” subject of someone who hasn’t been addicted to drugs or alcohol. For example, it typically takes about 14 months for your brain to show levels of dopamine transporters at levels similar to those of persons who have never been addicted. Brain imaging from persons who were abstinent after alcoholism also showed that the longer individuals were abstinent, the better brain recovery was. For example, individuals who were abstinent for 10 months were significantly more likely to show normal volumes in areas of the brain related to executive control, salience, and emotional processing than individuals who were sober for 1 month.

On the other hand, your brain may never fully recover from addiction. The earlier you start using or drinking, the more permanent changes will be. For example, adolescents who heavily drink are likely to never have a brain that functions the same as a control subject who never had an addiction. Still, that just means you’ll need more ongoing support, rather than that you can’t live without drugs or alcohol.

Essentially, your body takes a long time to recover from addiction. Spending one month in rehab can help you to overcome the worst of cravings. For many others, that process takes up to 90 days. From there, you’ll still have a long uphill battle as your brain slowly returns to normal.

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Benefits of Long-Term Drug Rehab

people during group therapy a long term rehab centerLong-term drug rehab is typically delivered in one of several ways, depending on your resources and time. These include:

  • A longer stay of 90+ days in a rehab facility where you’ll receive full support and ongoing care in a facility, followed by aftercare when you leave
  • A 30-day stay in residential treatment followed by 6+ months of outpatient treatment
  • A 30-day stay in residential treatment followed by a stay in a sober home and 6+ months of outpatient treatment

Here, you’ll normally get a therapy and counseling schedule that’s very similar to what you’d get in a shorter-term rehab. However, it will extend for longer. You’ll also get additional tracks of long-term self-care, physical health, mental recovery, social recovery, etc., to help you rehabilitate back into your life, rather than just helping with the immediate pressing issue of the substance use disorder.

Building Structure – The longer your stint in rehab, the more time you’ll have to build the structure and habits that allow you to live in a healthy way. For example, most people are aware of the “24 days to build a habit” maxim. Few of us are aware that in reality that scales from 14-90+ days. The longer you have to repeat habits like daily exercise, cleaning, self-care, meals, etc., the more you’ll be able to make those routines a normal part of your life, without extra effort. Therefore, spending more time in rehab means you’ll have more time to make structure a normal part of your life. You’ll also have more time to benefit from structure set up by someone else, so you don’t have to worry about or think about things like ensuring you’re eating well, that you’re getting enough exercise, etc. You’ll get the healthy lifestyle while having the headspace to focus on your recovery, managing your mental health, and working through counseling and therapy.

Ongoing Care –Traditional rehab means you get a few weeks of detox followed by a few weeks of intensive therapy and care. With long-term rehab, you get detox and then as much ongoing therapy as you need. This means that your program is completely scaled to meet your needs to help you work through pressing issues as they come up and then to continue to help you build healthy coping skills, healthy life skills, social skills, etc.

A Focus on Life Rehabilitation – Long-term drug rehab means you can shift the focus of mental healthcare away from triage and focusing on immediate issues like cravings and addiction and towards helping you build the skills for a healthy and happy life. That means skills to cope with cravings, time management, emotional regulation, learning to build healthy and fulfilling social relationships, introducing self-care, learning to manage mental health, etc. That will, eventually, mean you’re set up to be much more stable and healthy when you do go back to your life.

Support as Long as You Need It – If you’re staying in rehab as long as you need it, you can get the care you need. That means continuing each part of your track until you’re actually ready to graduate. That means you can focus on recovering from and dealing with cravings for as long as you need. When you’re ready to move on from that, you can do so. You can spend as much time as you need to learn how to manage stress, emotional regulation, and anything else that comes up during the course of your treatment. That will, eventually, give you a much better baseline to deal with and manage yourself and your life. Recovery at your own pace also means you can get treatment for years on an outpatient basis, and you don’t have to stop going to care until you’re ready to do so.

Aftercare – It doesn’t matter how long treatment is, you should always get aftercare. That means options to restart treatment and to have checkups, ongoing sessions with counselors, and meetups with your peers. Long-term addiction rehab typically provides that as a standard part of treatment, meaning you know that when you graduate from care, you’ll have follow-up sessions to ensure you’re still doing well, you’ll have opportunities to reconnect with people, and you’ll have opportunities to give back where you want to.

Long-term addiction rehab is an investment because it takes more of your time and for longer. However, it provides you with a baseline to build a healthy life, to get treatment at your own pace, and to stay in care for as long as you need it. It’s not the right solution for everyone, but for many people, it means you’re opting into long-term support and structure, so you get what you need to stay clean and sober.

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 alcohol rehabdetox, 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.

The 7 Most Commonly Abused Drugs in College

alcohol, drugs, pills on a wooden background

The 7 Most Commonly Abused Drugs in College

alcohol, drugs, pills on a wooden backgroundFor many college students, going to college is the first point in life when they have to be alone, self-sufficient, and responsible for themselves. That also means that for many, college is a time of self-exploration, creating and setting boundaries, and dealing with high levels of stress at the same time. As a result, nearly all college students will experiment with drugs at some point. For most, that means trying cannabis or even trying something like Ritalin. And, for many, it ends there. For others, that goes on to become a long-term problem.

College students drink and use drugs for a lot of reasons. Those include peer pressure, with students in sororities more likely to drink and binge drink and also more likely to have alcohol abuse problems later in life. They also include for stress management, with many college students using drugs to “self medicate” stress, to sleep despite stress, or to reduce anxiety. Others use “study drugs” like Ritalin to try to boost exam results. As a result, more than 22% of college students regularly use drugs and another 55% regularly drink, and heavily.

The following data covers the 7 most commonly used drugs in colleges.

Marijuana

Marijuana or Cannabis is one of the most commonly abused drugs in the United States. That’s partially driven by the fact that many people don’t see it as harmful. In other cases, it’s because students use it to self-medicate and reduce stress. At the same time, in 2016, 20% of full time college students used cannabis regularly. In 2021, 11% of college students reported using cannabis daily, up from 6% in 2011. This means that cannabis is more popular in colleges than ever, with more and more students using it every single day. Cannabis is most-often used to control anxiety and to de-stress. However, some students also use specific strains as a study drug, although this is less common.

In addition, while cannabis has a low abuse profile compared to some drugs like opioids, it’s still highly addictive, with an estimated 1 in 4 daily users suffering from addiction. 

Ritalin

Ritalin is so well-known as a study drug that it’s sometimes more associated with college students and abuse than with ADHD treatment. Today, somewhere between 5 and 30% of all college students have used or are currently using the drug. This prescription stimulant is intended to reduce the symptoms of ADHD and ADD. However, college students use it to increase alertness, to improve focus, and to stay awake during study, lectures, and tests.

While not highly addictive, Ritalin is illegal to use outside of a prescription. It can also cause heart irregularities and may increase risk of heart attack. And, when mixed with alcohol and other drugs, Ritalin can significantly increase the risks of overdose.

Adderall

Adderall is another prescription stimulant that’s rapidly becoming more and more popular among college students as a study drug. This means that students are very likely to use it in the same capacity as Ritalin, as they are a very similar drug. Adderall lasts for either 6 hours or 14 hours, which means it’s more likely to still be active when students start drinking or using other drugs. In addition, college students are 3% more likely to use Adderall when age matched to non-college student populations.

Adderall is also illegal to use without a prescription. However, the risks are virtually identical to Ritalin.

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Hallucinogenic

MDMA, LSD, ecstasy, and other hallucinogenic drugs remain extremely popular on campuses across the United States. Often, this means these drugs are taken as party drugs. However, microdosing is also increasingly popular, as students take tiny doses of the drug to boost performance, reduce stress, or create subtle psychedelic effects. Most students think of microdosing as safer than taking a full dose, but over the course of the day, often build up higher levels of hallucinogenic in their system than by taking a single dose at once.

While the addiction profile for hallucinogenic is low, these drugs are still dangerous. Many have a risk of causing psychosis, months-long symptoms, and extreme reactions like vomiting that can be life-threatening. As a result, ER-related visits have gone up by close to 4.7% since 2011.

college students and cocaineCocaine

Cocaine was the fourth most commonly used drug on college campuses in 2017. In one study, 4% of full-time college students used cocaine. In others, cocaine is shown to be much more common, with as many as 13% of students in some universities using it. Cocaine is primarily used as a party drug, which is popular for being relatively safe and for wearing off quickly. However, cocaine still exposes users to significant risks including hypertension, mental health disorders, hyperactive disorder, heart problems, increases in paranoia, and increases in anxiety. As a result, students use the drug thinking it’s a relatively harmless party drug but end up facing significant side-effects and cravings at the same time as high stress and peer pressure.

Opioids

Today, an estimated half a million college-aged adults have an opioid use disorder. This means that 1.2% of all people in this age group are addicted to opioids, with many more using them. Changes in how opioids are prescribed to young people have also resulted in increasing reliance on street drugs like heroin and fentanyl, including mixes of fentanyl and Adderall, which pose significantly high risks of overdose. Opioids are primarily used as a party drug or self-medicating drug, with people using them to destress, to feel better, and to escape from the stress of college life. At the same time, these drugs pose a significant risk of addiction as well as of physical and mental health complications.

Alcohol

Alcohol is the single most abused drug on college campuses. While not traditionally though of as a drug, this intoxicating substance is abused by more than 55% of all college students. In fact, 39% of college students report binge drinking. Men in sororities are most vulnerable, with increased risk of binge drinking, substance use disorder, and later life substance use disorder. Alcohol creates risks of addiction, mental health problems, and physical health problems. For many students, it also makes it harder to study, harder to focus and stay alert in class, and harder to have the mental energy for study.

This means that alcohol abuse can significantly sabotage study and your ability to feel good around college. It can also mean making impulsive decisions like drinking too much, not doing homework, and staying up too late, which makes the rest of study harder.

Getting Help

If you or a loved one is struggling with drugs or alcohol, it’s important to reach out and get help. Today, most college campuses offer resources for students who need help. For example, you can often get therapy, work towards enrollment in a rehabilitation program, and get therapy right from campus. However, it’s also important to talk to your doctor, to figure out the underlying causes behind substance abuse, and to work towards building coping mechanisms and skills that will allow you to navigate college without turning to drugs and alcohol. For many college students that means going to therapy, getting longer-term treatment and support, and ensuring that you have a good support network in place, even when going off on your own to a college.

I Found Out I’m Dating an Addict – What Should I Do?

couple having trust issue because of drug addiction

I Found Out I’m Dating an Addict - What Should I Do?

couple having trust issue because of drug addictionFor most of us, the picture of an addict brings up someone who doesn’t function, who perhaps doesn’t have a home, and who doesn’t have a job. So, learning that people in your life, including people you are dating, are struggling with addiction can be a massive shock.

Addiction is a normal part of life for 48.7 million Americans. That means that 17.3% of the population, or nearly 1 in 5 Americans, has an “addiction”. It’s perfectly normal to work with, date, and be intimate with people who have drug and alcohol addictions.

At the same time, figuring out what to do with that knowledge is a harder step. Do you break up with them? Do you try to get them into treatment? Is it your responsibility to take care of them? Should you be creating as much distance as you can? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers, but you can take a lot of steps that take both yourself and your partner into account.

Stay Safe

The first thing you should keep in mind is that people facing addictions can be unpredictable. If you aren’t sure how your partner is going to react, you should be careful. You should also take steps to ensure you’re taking care of your own mental health. That means:

  • Making space for yourself and your feelings
  • Not turning into a caretaker
  • Not making yourself uncomfortable for the sake of your partner
  • Not agreeing to lie or hide substance abuse for your partner
  • Taking time and space out when things get stressful
  • Breaking up if you feel uncomfortable dating an addict
  • Seeking out therapy and trauma therapy and thereby recognizing that this is a traumatic experience for you

If you find yourself over extending, taking on all of the responsibilities in the relationship, or constantly being unhappy because of your partner, it’s okay to break up. Even if you love them, you shouldn’t be ruining your life for someone else.

It’s also important to keep in mind that addiction changes people. Once someone goes to therapy and gets help, they are going to be a different person. Holding out for getting someone you used to know back or expecting that your partner is the same before and after therapy is only going to result in self-harm.

Understand Your Boundaries and Capabilities

a couple resolving issues togetherYou’ll have to set boundaries with your partner, decide if you want to stay with them, and decide if you can even be fair to them in a relationship. Before you do, you should figure out answers to questions like:

  • What are you comfortable with around drug and alcohol use?
  • Can you approach substance abuse from a perspective of nonjudgement? E.g., seeing it as a disorder and something that needs medical treatment?
  • Can you take an approach of harm reduction (my partner will use x substance so the important thing is that they use it as safely as possible until they can get treatment)
  • Decide how much addiction and the resulting behaviors make you uncomfortable

That can mean realizing that you see addiction as a shameful personal choice and that you can’t change that, and therefore can’t date this person. It can also mean realizing you don’t have the mental health or the stability to deal with someone who will be an emotional rollercoaster who needs a lot of extra support and care. It may mean realizing that you invest too much into caring for people and it’s not healthy for you. It may also mean realizing you have to set very good boundaries that may mean seeing your partner less or even breaking up with them.

Whatever that leads to, it’s important that you go at it from a perspective of understanding yourself and what you need and then figuring out how that works with what your partner needs in that time.

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a female talking to her boyfriend about his addictionTalk to Your Loved One

It’s important to talk to your loved one and set boundaries and expectations. That won’t be easy. It may also involve confronting your loved one with their addiction. That can be difficult, and it can end up being a very emotional and even confrontational conversation. At the same time, you need that conversation to decide what to do.

  • Set boundaries and state what you can take and why. Try to be gentle but be firm and clear about your needs. Set hard boundaries where you can follow up on them. E.g., if you say “I need you to not come home completely drunk” you have to be able to follow up and step out of the situation if your partner comes home completely drunk. Good boundaries look like “I need X to be able to be comfortable and happy”. E.g., “I need to have a partner I can rely on, and that means I need you to follow through on promises when you make them, if you can’t do that, I will stop accepting promises from you”.
  • Set communication guidelines. That can mean siting down and talking, sharing when your partner is off using or drinking, avoiding heated conversations, avoiding name-calling, etc.
  • Share any steps you are taking to protect yourself. E.g., “I won’t share finances with you”, or “I don’t feel you can be reliable with chores so I won’t share them with you or live with you”.
  • Try to be clear about what your wants for the future are, ask those from your partner, and try to create a plan for the future.
  • Try to stay calm. People who are addicted to substances can be avoidant, violent, moody, and irritable. They can respond to what seem like perfectly reasonable statements by being completely unreasonable. It’s important that you

Sitting down to have a discussion will help you both understand what to expect from the other. However, it’s important to keep in mind that addiction can make honesty around that difficult. You might find that you set clear expectations with your partner and they don’t follow up or act as though the conversation was never had.

Seek Out Help

man getting into treatmentTaking time to understand addiction, how it works and what help looks like is important if you want to stay with your partner. Even if you’re casually dating, you’ll want to know what addiction is and what treatment looks like. That means taking time to learn about addiction, to learn about treatment options, and to try to talk to your partner about them.

At the same time, it’s not your responsibility to get your partner into treatment. You also can’t make them make better choices or get help. You can offer to help, you can be supportive, and you can be nonjudgemental, but you can’t make them motivated to get clean or sober.

You’ll also want to consider getting help for yourself. Living with or dating someone with a substance use disorder can be highly traumatic. It’s not easy to invest in someone who can’t invest fully in you. Seeking out therapy, attending groups like Al-Anon, and otherwise working towards ensuring you have space for your own mental health will be important if you stay dating your partner.

Addiction is a behavioral disorder that legally qualifies as a temporary disability. The person you’re dating is very sick. You don’t have to stay with them, you don’t have to take responsibility, and you should make sure you take care of your own mental health and wellbeing if you stay with them. Dating an addict can be difficult and traumatic, however, there are no right answers except to try to approach the situation with nonjudgement, to make sure you’re taking care of yourself as well, and to ask for help for yourself and your partner wherever you can.

7 Traits of an Addictive Personality

a man with an addictive personality

7 Traits of an Addictive Personality

a man with an addictive personalityIf you’re struggling with a substance use disorder then you’ve heard the term “addictive personality” in the past. For many of us, that can lead to immediate clicks, that sounds like me. But, what is an addictive personality disorder? What does it look like in actuality? And is there a difference between an addict and someone with an addictive personality disorder?

In short, an addictive personality is boiled down into “someone who is prone to substance abuse”, because they are very likely to very quickly become hooked on a behavioral stimulation like gaming, internet, a new crush, a substance, or anything else that makes them feel good. It’s also important to keep in mind that addictive personalities are hypothetical, they haven’t been proven to exist. Instead, we use the term as a convenient way to refer to a collection of traits that are likely to increase the risk of addiction. In medical terminology, these traits are referred to as “vulnerabilities” and never as “an addictive personality”. Therefore, you’ll have to switch language when talking to your therapist or counselor. However, for yourself and for your friends, the “addictive personality” name can be an extremely useful way to talk about personality traits that can increase your vulnerability to addictions of almost any kind.

1. Impulsivity

Impulsive people are more likely to use and abuse substances. That’s one reason why many people who self-define as having an addictive personality actually have attention disorders like ADD or ADHD. If you’re impulsive, you’re more likely to do things without thinking. You’re more likely to do stuff for fun. You’re more likely to chase sensations and feelings without thinking about their repercussions or long-term impacts. The less you are able to control your attention span, the more likely you are to lose track of how much time you spend with that thing, which also leads to reckless and heavy use.

So, if you’re impulsive, you’re more likely to take risks. That can be easy to see risks like running across the highway. It can also be risks like taking drugs, drinking before getting in a car, or to use substances to cope with stress. It doesn’t mean you will become an addict. However, it does mean that your chance of exposure to risk factors, like using drugs and alcohol, realizing how much you’re using, and how much you seek out chemical pleasure will be increased.

2. Seeking Behavior

People who exhibit seeking behavior, especially sensation seeking, are more likely to struggle with substance abuse and substance use problems. You can also see sensation seeking in parts of life that don’t involve substances. For example, people who need outlets like going out, who like to smash things when angry, who love food or soda, who like sleeping in but staying up late, who engross themselves in games, etc. The more you are the type to seek out fast and instant gratification, the more you are at risk of substance abuse. That sounds like a lot of people right? That’s because most people fall into this category, although some more than others. Instead, finding slower gratification is a learned trait and often one you’ll want to work on even if you think you have an addictive personality.

3. Trouble Fitting In

a woman feeling anxious because of many peopleThe more trouble you have fitting in, the more you’ll likely fall under the “addictive personality” umbrella. This means people who don’t easily communicate with others, who don’t make friends easily, who don’t fit in with the popular crowd, who aren’t like everyone else. That can mean a lot of things but often means that people with mental health disorders, people on the LGTQI++ spectrum, and people with behavioral problems are significantly more likely to have an addictive personality. For example, some traits that point to likelihood of addictive personality include:

  • Social alienation or not being part of a group
  • Feelings of loneliness even in a group
  • Few or no close friends
  • Trouble with the law
  • Poor relationships with parents
  • Poor relationships with social morals and values

Each of these contributes to the need to find pleasure and satisfaction in things outside of normal social contact and relationships. It also means you’re less likely to respect social norms that say you shouldn’t use drugs or alcohol. And, it means you’re more likely to want or need a release or an escape because nothing else is making you feel good. In its earliest form that often results in internet and video game abuse but may also result in alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and addiction.

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Seven Traits of an Addictive Personality4.  Stress

Everyone experiences stress but we all manage it in different ways. For some of us, how we manage stress puts us at risk of addiction. Healthy coping mechanisms for stress mean finding a way to ground, to find positive things, and to let go of stress. Unhealthy coping mechanisms for stress often mean finding ways to distract yourself and escape. That often results in over consumption of media, using substances to relax, and otherwise ignoring the issues. If you fall into the latter category, it is one of the traits of an “addictive personality”. However, everyone does suffer from stress. Learning how to manage and cope with stress in a healthy fashion should be a normal and healthy part of being an adult. It’s important that you look into getting help and learning how to do so, because otherwise it will always be a risk factor for addiction.

5. Mental Health Disorders

Having a mental health disorder can now significantly increase your risk of behavioral addiction. People with disorders ranging from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to depression and PTSD will all exhibit similar symptoms of relying on sensation seeking and escapism to cope with problems. That’s often because you are sick and it means that you are using your resources on other things. Reaching out and getting therapy and help to learn healthy coping mechanisms will improve how you’re able to cope with and manage your disorder so that it’s less likely to put you at risk of an addiction. However, having a mental health disorder increases your vulnerability to substance use disorder and other behavioral addictions by over 200%. It’s a significant and impactful part of your life and can contribute to what is known as “addictive personality disorder”.

6. Chronic Illness

If you suffer from chronic or long-term pain, you’re more likely to want to rely on sensation seeking and escapism to feel better. You’re also less able to have the willpower and self-control to do otherwise, because like with mental health problems, chronic illness typically means that you are spending your energy elsewhere. Therefore, chronic illness will significantly increase your vulnerability to addiction. Chronic illness can also be majorly isolating in that it prevents you from doing a lot of things with friends and peers and reduces your energy levels. At the same time, it will make you more lonely and less self-sufficient, because you’ll be less able to do things on your own and therefore cut out of doing things on your own as well. That can greatly increase your vulnerability to substance use disorders – meaning that it’s important to seek out professional help and learn management techniques and get support if you want to stay as healthy as possible.

7. Mood Issues

If you frequently find that your mood is low, that you don’t feel good, that you crash, or that you’re exhausted, you’re probably more at risk to addiction and substance abuse than the general population. Here it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not normal to experience sudden mood swings, sudden strong emotions, or to go from one emotion to the next. Learning healthy coping mechanisms and emotional regulation will help you to improve your life. However, having these kinds of mood issues will increase your risk of substance use disorder and are one of the key traits of what people call “addictive personality”.

Eventually, addictive personality is a term that is used to refer to a series of traits that increase your vulnerability to sensation seeking and substance abuse. Both of those increase your risk of substance use disorder. In any case, it’s important to work towards healthy coping mechanisms and towards improving your life. The danger of calling something part of your personality is that you may decide you can’t do anything about it when often you can take steps to learn healthy ways to deal with your emotions, your impulses, your mood, and your social life. Eventually, that will help you to stay clean and sober, while improving your quality of life.

Benefits of Faith-Based Recovery Treatment

Faith-Based Recovery Treatment at 10 Acre Ranch

Benefits of Faith-Based Recovery Treatment

Faith-Based Recovery Treatment at 10 Acre RanchIf you’re moving into recovery, you’ll have a choice of faith and non-faith-based recovery centers. This means you’ll have to make a choice between what kind of recovery center you choose. And, if you want God to be a part of your recovery and your return to health, you’ll have to actively choose that – now, or in the future. Today, some 73% of all recovery centers in the United States use a faith-based approach. Some of those do so fairly lightly, with access to 12-step groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. Others directly integrate service, prayer, and talking to God into treatment. So you’ll have options even inside of faith based recovery.

While you can choose whatever you want, there are plenty of reasons you’ll want to look into faith-based recovery.

Evidence-Based Treatment

Most non-faith-based treatment programs try to advertise based on the fact that they are evidence-based. However, faith-based treatment also uses evidence-based treatment including medication as part of treatment. The difference is that faith-based care adds spirituality, prayer, and faith on top of your treatment, so you get that extra level of care and support. It’s not instead of the evidence-based treatment, it’s in addition to it. That means you don’t lose anything by choosing faith-based treatment and instead get to incorporate spirituality and work on healing at an even deeper level.

Talking to God from Day One

Most people find that faith is an important part of their recovery and their life. Getting to talk to God gives you insight into who you are, who you want to be, and where you’re going. It gives us motivation, peace, calm, and acknowledgement of the fact that we are loved. Incorporating that into your treatment from day one means that you will benefit from that from day one. Many of us in recovery are resistant to God and to faith. Yet, the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll be able to acknowledge God and His presence in your life. For many people, that becomes a powerful reason to choose a better path.

Finding Motivation

Faith-based recovery treatment puts the focus on you, your future, your spirituality, and your relationship with God. It’s not asking you to get better for physical goals. It’s asking you to evaluate yourself in God’s eyes and to take steps to work on that. It’s asking for self-evaluation, honesty, and acknowledgement that although you have strayed you can always take steps to re-find the path and to welcome God into your heart. For many of us, that’s more powerful of a motivator than any amount of information about how we will be healthier, better able to hold a job, or that we’ll live longer. Of course, your family and your friends should still play a role, they are part of you. But getting to honestly acknowledge who you are and how you feel about yourself and honestly acknowledge where you need help is an important part of recovery for many people.

Experiencing Gratitude

A large element of finding yourself in recovery is realizing that you can appreciate the little things, that you can realize you can be happy with things that don’t matter, and that you can experience joy at things. It means switching focus away from and things that happen and towards good things that happen. That attitude of gratitude will help you to find positivity and joy in your daily life. And, faith actively asks you to look for it, it gives you tools to look for it, and it helps you to look for it by sharing it with others. It’s hard not to find things to be grateful and thankful for when you’re sitting down with a group every day to share the good things that happened, to talk about them, and to help each other recognize them. That act of practicing gratitude can be immensely helpful to feeling better about yourself, your life, and where you’re going. And that’s important for rebuilding your self-esteem, your confidence in yourself, and your knowledge that you don’t need drugs or alcohol.

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Getting Guidelines and Guidance

Faith-Based Recovery Treatment at 10 Acre RanchOne of the hardest things about recovery is that we’re expected to find ourselves. We’re expected to find a new path. We’re expected to find motivation, gratitude, things to love. We’re expected to rebuild our sense of self and our sense of responsibility – after drugs and alcohol took those things away. Faith gives you a framework, a structure, a moral guideline to work from. It gives you steps to follow, people to talk to, help with your goals, people to lean on. The simple act of having real guidelines around your recovery can be an immense step in helping you to make it into recovery and stay there. Having guidelines on what it means to be a good person, where to go when you’re struggling, who to talk to when you need help, where to ask for help and how to do it can all be lifesaving. Most importantly, that’s not just directly talking to God but also to your pastor, to your congregation, and to your peers. You have people who are following the same guidelines as you and many of them are experienced enough to offer guidance, assistance, and care while you get there.

Understanding You’re Not Alone

Struggling with a substance use disorder alienates you from everyone. It disengages you from your body, from your social life, from your relationships, and from everything you love. It can make you feel entirely alone. Moving into a group of your peers, a group of people who have been to the same lows you have, can help with losing that feeling. But getting to talk to God, getting to feel loved, and getting to feel like you are part of the greater whole of your congregation will do so much more. You’ll have someone to talk to whenever you need to, you’ll have someone to have obligations to whenever you need them, you’ll have someone to be accountable for, and you’ll have a friend who will be there with you however you progress through recovery. For many people, that realization is one of the most important aspects of choosing a faith-based treatment center. You’re not alone because God is always there with you – no matter what.

Getting Help

Most treatment centers offer some form of faith-based recovery. However, many of them offer simple 12-step additions to their treatment. If you want a more in-depth faith-based program you’ll have to look for it. Often, that will mean choosing a program that offers a Christian approach to addiction treatment alongside cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling, and group support. That means you get the best of both worlds, with medical treatment and support and full emotional and spiritual support from your new congregation.

Choosing to move into a faith-based program means you’ll get help and you’ll talk to God from day one of your treatment. The people around you will be as invested as you are. And, that’s an important part of getting help and taking steps to improve your life. Good luck with your treatment and your recovery.

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 alcohol rehabdetox, 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.

What are Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders?

Diagnosing FASD

What are Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders?

What are Fetal Alcohol Spectrum DisordersFetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders or FASDs are a group of conditions that occur in people who were exposed to alcohol before birth. Typically, that happens when a pregnant person drinks. It can result in physical development disorders, learning development disorders, and behavioral disorders, and often a mix of all three. All of these disorders are also lifelong, including physical development, coordination, learning ability, problems with hearing and sight, and much more.

Today, almost 1 in 1,000 children in the United States are born with some level of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. In children 7-9 years old, it’s prevalent in 1 in 3,000. And, in all children of a school age in the United States, it’s 6-9 out of every 1,000 children, depending on region, location, and poverty levels.

What Causes Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is caused by exposure to alcohol before birth. This normally means the mother drinks during the pregnancy. In addition, higher rates of alcohol consumption lead to higher risks of FASDs or to worsening symptoms. At the same time, some 13.5% of pregnant adults in the United States report current drinking. Some 5.2% reported binge drinking during the last 30 days. This means that 52 in 1000 children are at high risk of developing FASDs because of exposure to alcohol before birth and 135 in 1,000 are at risk.

Alcohol use required to result in an FASD diagnosis is also lower than many people would think. For example, having consumed 16 beers over the course of 30 days during a pregnancy or more than 2 alcoholic beverages in a single sitting is enough to meet qualifications for FASD during diagnosis after birth.

Signs and Symptoms of FASDs

Diagnosing a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can be extremely difficult. There’s no blood test or conclusive way to say that a baby has been born with FASDs. However, there are some physical symptoms that can be extremely obvious in strong cases. In addition, many of the symptoms overlap with other disorders, which can make it difficult to give a conclusive diagnosis.

However, symptoms include:

  • female doctor discussing FASD symptoms to male patientCentral nervous symptom problems
  • Small head size
  • Abnormal facial features, such as a smooth ridge between the nose and upper lip
  • Lower than average height
  • Lower than average weight
  • Prenatal alcohol exposure
  • Poor coordination
  • Hyperactivity
  • Poor memory
  • Difficulty in school
  • Learning disabilities
  • Speech or language delays
  • Intellectual disabilities
  • Poor reasoning
  • Sleeping problems
  • Sucking problems
  • Organ problems
  • Bone problems

Unfortunately, many of these symptoms can overlap with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, and physical disorders like William’s Syndrome. Therefore, it can be difficult to conclusively say that your child has FASD, although your doctor may give this diagnosis even without proof of consuming alcohol while pregnant.

All of these symptoms are lifelong. Adults will need special care and attention for the rest of their lives.

Get Your Questions Answered

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Diagnosing FASDDiagnosing FASD

FASD is typically diagnosed before the age of 6. It’s rarely diagnosed as an infant. However, if an infant shows extreme physical deformities, they may be diagnosed very early. Later in life, FASD is typically diagnosed into one of four categories, with many children receiving all multiple diagnoses:

  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – This diagnoses means that the individual has a mix of all problems. This includes mild facial feature distortions, mild growth problems, and mild central nervous system problems (poor coordination and motor controls). They can have problems with learning, memory, attention span, vision, hearing, and behavior. Often this results in difficulty socializing and means having a hard time in school and learning and later with work.
  • Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders – Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders mean that the individual has significant difficulties with learning, especially math. They might have attention with memory, attention, judgement, impulse control, and learning in general. They may also be intellectually disabled.
  • Alcohol-Related Birth Defects – These include problems with the heart, kidneys, hearing, or with the bones.
  • Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure – This diagnosis means that the child has problems with thinking and memory, behavior, and day-to-day living. This can result in problems like difficulty with planning, easily forgetting things, irritability, difficulty shifting attention from one task to another, problems dressing, problems playing with others, and tantrums or mood issues.

If you have an child and you think they’re struggling with development or behavior, it’s important to take them to a doctor. Most states have early intervention programs, where you can raise issues of past alcohol use and alcohol use during pregnancy. However, your doctor will still likely review for other problems such as birth defects, autism, ADHD, and William’s Syndrome before offering a diagnosis.

It’s Never Safe to Drink While Pregnant

There is no safe time to drink while pregnant. In addition, there’s no safe amount to drink. While higher levels of alcohol increase the risk of FASDs in infants, any amount of alcohol can result in symptoms. Therefore, if you are pregnant or could be pregnant and intend to carry the child to term, it is important to stop drinking alcohol. However, even if you’ve been drinking (even heavily) over the first four to six weeks of pregnancy, before realizing you’re pregnant, it’s still important to stop drinking and that can prevent damage.

Studies show that having just two drinks in a single sitting while pregnant can result in lifelong harm for an infant. That happens because alcohol crosses the blood brain barrier in the infant and interferes with development, which can cause significant problems later in life. In addition, with no treatment, only mitigation measures, there is no way to reverse the damage after it’s been done.

Getting Help

If you’re planning or expecting to be pregnant or are already pregnant, it’s critical to stop drinking and immediately. Even if you’ve already been drinking while pregnant, stopping now can prevent or minimize harm done. Today, over 20 million Americans struggle with alcohol abuse and quitting on the spot often isn’t an option. Behavioral disorders mean that relapse is very likely. In addition, most people drink to cope with emotional turbulences, high stress, and mental health problems. Pregnancy is highly likely to exacerbate all of those issues. For that reason, women with alcohol use disorders are recommended to seek out medication assisted treatment for the duration of pregnancy. Medication will reduce cravings and the effects of alcohol, making it easier for you to stay sober to protect the health of your infant. In addition, you should seek out treatment for mental health and emotional support during pregnancy, even if you’re not getting help with alcohol use disorder and learning skills to help you cope with things without alcohol.

Often, having children will make many of the problems behind alcohol use disorder worse. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to seek out treatment, to learn coping strategies, and to get as much help as you can while pregnant. Quitting alcohol can be extremely difficult. Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone and there are people to help at every step of the way.

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 alcohol rehabdetox, 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.