Am I Ready for Addiction Treatment?

Seeking addiction treatment can seem like a big step. Going to rehab can feel like you are making a commitment to quit for the rest of your life. “I am going to treatment because I know I am an addict and I cannot use responsibly ever again”. This can be true for many people, but it takes a while to get this kind of clarity. For the person coming to treatment, thoughts like this build more barriers rather than help. Often, it is easier to ignore a problem than face the consequences.

Being unsure about the issue is normal. If you are coming to addiction treatment, you know SOMETHING is going on that you want to change. At our center in Miami, you work to discover EXACTLY what it is and what YOU want to do about it. This process happens during every client’s treatment. These are the answers that you will find. They are not answers that you need BEFORE you start the process.

If during the treatment, you discover that your issue is not drugs or alcohol that is fine. We will help you work on what it is that you find as the issue. If during the treatment, you discover that you don’t want or benefit from drug or alcohol rehab that is fine. You can stop treatment at any time. This is true of every addiction treatment center from Miami to Toronto. An adult can only be held against their will in jail. Addiction treatment is not jail.

A normal stage in the process of change is Contemplation. It is a very important step. Before Contemplation, a person is unwilling to even acknowledge there may be an issue. They have no thoughts of possibly stopping. This is a dangerous place to be for addicts and non-addicts alike. To quote Ayn Rand, “You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.” A person can justify eating McDonald’s daily if they order a diet coke, but their justification does not protect them from the consequences of their actions.

Contemplation is important because it is where a person comes in contact with reality again. In Contemplation, a person examines their current behavior patterns and start considering the benefit/risk of change. They will often feel torn. They want to eat their cake and have it too. They want to live in Miami but not have to deal with the traffic. They want to be able to drink alcoholically and not get another DUI. The goal of Contemplation is not to convince a person what they are doing or believe is wrong. As a counselor, the goal in Contemplation is to help the client weigh the pros and cons for behavior change. If a person attempts to change and has NOT done this process, they are attempting change for others (a recipe for disaster).

Am I ready for treatment? If you think you may possibly have an issue and are willing to see if your life can be better, then YES you are.