Anyone who is going to rehab for the first time is probably interested in experiencing drug treatment success.  This means not relapsing and staying clean and sober forever, right?  That is what most people want out of rehab and that is indeed an admirable goal.  Of course they will probably teach you the “day at a time” philosophy so that you can learn how to speak correctly about living in recovery and stay up on all the cliches and so on.

Yes I am being a big sarcastic there and the reason is because so many people fail to find success after drug treatment.  What typically happens is that they will stay clean for a few days or maybe a few weeks but the majority of people will be back to their drug of choice within 30 days or less.  By the one year mark after leaving treatment, nearly every single addict will have relapsed.  Sad but true.

So what can you do to insure your success?  What can you do to have a fighting chance against your addiction?

Well it is true that in the beginning you need to surrender.  At first, you need to let of control and stop struggling to control your drug intake and just let it all go.  You have to ask for help and you have to take direction.  This is not so much a huge effort on your part as it is a huge release.  Let go of everything and ask for help and do what they tell you to do.  This worked for me in early recovery and I actually lived in long term treatment for 20 months.  Now that sounds like a really big deal but there was actually quite a bit of freedom while living there, but there was also a lot of support.

Support is critical in early recovery, by the way.  You gotta have people around who can help you in recovery.  Other addicts and alcoholics.  If you don’t have this network then you will have a much tougher time staying clean.

So what happens as you remain clean and sober?  What happens when you pass the one year mark, the 2 year, the 3 years sober and beyond?  All this stuff I just mentioned becomes way less important.  Does that mean recovery gets easier?  Not really.  In fact, it remains a challenge throughout, but your strategy must change.

Now, the effort is on personal growth and pushing yourself to stay active.  Your best bet at this point is to keep working with others in recovery on a regular basis.  Nothing can give you a better insurance against relapse.