Addiction Recovery: Action Steps Part II

In part one I wrote about the first step – asking for and seeking help. I’ll assume the person seeking help comes into outpatient treatment, but the actions are similar regardless if a person goes into formal treatment or not. The next step is formulating a plan.

A lot goes into formulating a plan. A person needs to fully accept where they’re at before they can plan where they’re going. Too many people want to start at a point that’s advanced and skip over the basics. Most people starting in recovery talk way beyond their actual progress. Looking at ourselves and accepting uncomfortable facts is difficult, but it’s necessary to make true change. There’s the temptation to minimize, to make believe that the problem is not so serious, or that it won’t take a lot to deal with it. Most people don’t want to appear weak and needy, so they act as if they have things under control, requiring only a few adjustments here and there, just a tune up. It’s a mistake to rush recovery and gloss over mental and emotional wounds, relationship problems, etc. It’s also a mistake to think that just because you’ve been frightened by the consequences of addiction and don’t currently want to drink or use your drug of choice that all is fine. A lot of people are okay in the beginning because the memory’s fresh. When memory fades, though, the desire to drink or use can return with a vengeance.

A person suffering from addiction has to first totally accept their condition and what it means. We see addicts try to drink or use drugs normally over and over. Once they’ve been sober/straight for awhile, they tell themselves it simply got out of hand, that they aren’t really addicts, that they can handle it with more diligence. The person starts drinking/using and in a little while they’re hooked again and off to the races. So, after asking for and seeking help, the person must accept who and what they are and realize they can change, but only if they take actions to recover. I’ve worked in this field off and on for over thirty years, and I’ve yet to see a person who meets the criteria for addiction go back to normal, social drinking or drug use. There are many researchers who claim there are people with alcohol and drug problems who can return to normal drinking, but I suspect they’re confusing people who temporarily abuse alcohol or some other drug because of divorce, death to a loved one, college freedom, or some other cause, with a person who’s an addict. People who work in the field of addiction are painfully aware of the results when addicts start drinking/using again. Yes, there are people who temporarily abuse alcohol or some other drug and then get past the temporary cause of their abusive drinking/using, but the signs and symptoms are much different from the person diagnosed with an addiction disorder.

I’ve gone on and on about acceptance of the problem, but it’s vital to all following steps. Unless a person fully accepts the reality of addiction, they aren’t likely to follow a recovery plan. I stress to people that it’s all about Recovery Management — developing a plan and managing the plan to create and sustain recovery. A person serious about recovery must learn about addiction and commit to recovery. A plan for recovery entails acknowledging what will lead to relapse, and listing the actions necessary to deal with everything on the list — old drinking/using buddies, anger management, dealing with anxiety, relationship problems, occupational problems, lack of education, legal problems, developing a nutrition plan, an exercise plan, and so on. If a person doesn’t first take the actions necessary to fully understand addiction, then they won’t see the need to develop a treatment plan and to dedicate themselves to recovery management. If you’re diagnosed with cancer, you’d certainly want to understand everything possible about the cancer and what to do to treat it. It’s the same with addiction. Next I’ll go into the nuts and bolts of recovery management.