Heroin relapse is a problem that plagues many people with addiction, even after they go through the process of drug rehabilitation. As a result, the heroin addiction recovery rate is often heavily debated among medical professionals. Fully understanding this aspect of your treatment is a critical way of ensuring that you don’t run into any complications during care.
Relapse Rates May Seem High
Statistics on the heroin addiction recovery rate were hard to find. Many rehab centers don’t publish these facts or simply don’t have them. This problem occurs for a few reasons. Often, people complete rehab and never do aftercare again. As a result, their treatment specialists can’t gauge how well they recovered. And if they don’t have this information, they cannot present it to the public.
However, various studies have examined this rate over the years. And, on the face of it, they don’t seem too promising. For example, the Irish Medical Journal reported that relapse occurs in about two-thirds of those who complete treatment. Put in a broader perspective, that would be 66 people out of 100 who fell back into heroin abuse. Such statistics may make rehab seem ineffective.
That said, heroin addiction – and any other type of substance abuse – is often not a disease that we can treat in one go. Just think of other medical conditions and their treatment. When a person goes through cancer therapy, their tumors may come back in a relapse. Is this relapse considered a moral failure or an issue with treatment? No, and the same is true of rehab. Relapses can be transformed into a recovery tool when they do occur.
How to Use Relapses to Fight Addiction
People going through rehab treatment need to accept the fact that a relapse may occur. They must also avoid judging themselves too hard if they do relapse. Radical acceptance is an excellent step to take here. Instead of beating yourself up about the relapse, accept what has happened. You can then take a look at the situation objectively following these simple steps:
- Figure out why relapse happened: Ask yourself what compelled you to use heroin again
- Walk through the steps in reverse: Go through the process that led up to your relapse
- Reach out to others: Talk to sobriety partners to get help when you relapse
- Attend an aftercare center: Receive detox and other care to regain your sobriety
- Examine the whole situation: Pull yourself back from what happened and find out what you learned
While you should avoid relapses, those fighting heroin addiction can use them to their advantage when they do happen. By taking the time to understand the roots of your relapse, you can better understand your addiction. And you can then go back to a rehab center with a renewed sense of purpose. But is there any other way to improve the heroin addiction recovery rate?
Ways to Make the Heroin Recovery Rate Better
Five standard rules that help to make addiction recovery easier include how you should:
- Change your life: Don’t go through the motions but truly change yourself for the better
- Practice complete honesty: Be willing to open up about yourself to others
- Get some help: Relapses most often occur when people don’t ask for help when needed
- Take care of yourself: Eat properly, exercise, and relax whenever possible
- Stay strict with yourself: Never bend the rules about using and, instead, always say no
Those going through rehab can use these guidelines to stay healthy and avoid relapse. Though this process won’t be easy, it is possible when people take their care and recovery seriously. Therefore, it is critical to reach out to professionals to get help when you need it to improve your heroin addiction recovery rate.
Let Yourself Recover
If you’re worried about your heroin addiction recovery rate, please contact us at The Right Step today. Our professionals have years of experience working in this field. They can provide multiple programs and treatments, including inpatient, outpatient, and aftercare methodologies. By working with these experts, it is possible to regain your lost sobriety. So please call 17135283709 after you verify your insurance to learn more about how we can help you stay healthy.
