One of the main reasons people go back to using is deception — not of the family, but of themselves. A person goes through rehabilitation while somewhere deep inside holding on to the hope of one day being able to use in a controlled way.
The paradox is that this very hope is often what gives a person the strength to get through the whole of rehabilitation. They take part in every therapeutic process and work in the groups — and at the same time wait inside for the moment when the theory can be tested in practice. That is why a relapse often comes not in the first weeks after leaving, but after six months or a year of sobriety.
The self-deception sounds ordinary and convincing: "I used to drink vodka, now I will try only wine", "I will spend a hundred hryvnia and that will be the last of it", "I will stay away from hard drugs, but cannabis is fine". In that state a person is not recovering — they are waiting.
The staff's task is to show a person their own self-deception and to get one simple point across: one drink or one injection brings back exactly the same use, with the same people and in the same amounts, and often larger.
The second part of that understanding is medical. People with chemical dependency all have the same illness, and under substances that alter consciousness the brain does not work as it should. The only thing that separates one person with an addiction from another is the length of their sobriety. Anyone can return to that state of madness, however long they have been clean — one test of whether it "does no harm" is enough.
Going back to the old places and to friends from the past, a person remembers only the appeal of using: how the drug gave euphoria, how alcohol dissolved troubles. A sick brain serves those memories up selectively and says nothing about the consequences.
The price of the test is high. Even if nothing happens the first time, each time after that takes back everything sobriety had protected: the job where the person had begun to prove themselves, the trust in the family that had been partly rebuilt, the whole social side of life. And sometimes life itself.
This is why, after rehabilitation, it matters to change your surroundings and to spend more time among people who have already walked the road of recovery. Their length of sobriety, their settled daily life and their stability motivate far more strongly than any advice.
Sobriety is first of all honesty: a full admission of powerlessness over the substance, and then the return of sound judgement. On those two conditions a person can live happily for many years with the illness of chemical dependency.
That is the understanding that has to settle in the mind of someone in recovery — in place of the illusion about one drink or one dose.
Six months of sobriety is a real achievement, but not a guarantee. If the hope of one day drinking "normally" is still there inside, the risk of relapse remains. That hope is exactly what rehabilitation works with.
Yes, it is one of the conditions for a lasting result. Old friends from the using days do not understand how fragile a new commitment to sobriety still is — and they are most often the reason relapses happen.
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Good afternoon, this comment is for parents and relatives who are experiencing family problems! My daughter went through rehabilitation at this center, and she's finally sober and happy. I was desperate and didn't know where to turn. Miraculously, I found out about this place. My daughter went there herself and completed the full course of rehabilitation. The center is open and there's no moral pressure. They treat us with love and care, and they've really helped me and many other parents understand their children better! I'm eternally grateful to you, you've changed our lives and done what others couldn't do!!!
I want to express my deepest gratitude: my friend has already been clean for a year. With the help of this Rehabilitation Center, he began to recover and is now getting his life back on track. Using the knowledge and skills he gained at the Istok Center, he is trying to resolve his current problems and worries and is even helping others do the same! Thank you for opening his eyes and giving him a choice about the life he wants to live. Thank you for that!
A very good center!!! Thanks to the staff and the director of the rehab center, I have completely changed my life after twenty years of severe drug use. My family and I are so grateful that there are people like you who can show us the right path and, most importantly, support us when we think we're lost. I recommend it to everyone!!! All you need is a sincere desire, and the rehab center staff will help you with the rest.
The consultation is free and anonymous. It is usually the family who call first rather than the person with the addiction — that is normal, and most recovery stories begin exactly there.
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