Addiction is treated in many ways: an addiction specialist and therapy, aversion "coding" procedures, a locked door at home. None of it achieves much while the person has no wish to recover. Here is what actually works, and why.
The first approach that works is Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. People share their experience, and in the first months of sobriety you need to go every day. There is no deep work on past mistakes to begin with: the first goal is to stay sober for 90 days, and only after that does the work on yourself start.
The difficulty lies elsewhere: the temptation to relapse is very strong, and everyday obligations do not go away. Work, family, habits. Finding the time for meetings on your own is hard, and easy to put off — after all, the person knows one "reliable" way of dealing with exhaustion.
In the centre a person joins those same therapeutic groups, but stays in them around the clock. The need to take care of the basics — money, food, a roof over one's head — falls away.
Coming through a hangover and withdrawal in a caring environment, among people in the same position, is far gentler than doing it at home. The first two weeks are what we call quarantine: the person can eat more (while using, that need is usually forgotten), rest up and get warm, even if sleep has not yet come back.
During this time they get to know other people with an addiction, and that is when it sinks in that addiction really can be treated, if you want it to be. Acceptance of the illness and of one's present state follows, and with it the wish to be well.
A centre is not simply a restricted space. It is round-the-clock attention from the staff and from the residents themselves to how a newcomer is doing, and an understanding of what the person is going through. There is always someone there to listen.
The rules of the centre limit contact with the outside world, to keep the person away from people who do not understand the problem and from the triggers that can push them back into using. At first this almost always meets with resistance.
Those same rules gradually bring back skills that have withered: keeping things clean, looking after one's appearance and health, caring for someone else. In a group it comes more easily — there are dozens of people alongside you, and every day each of them shows by their own example what working on yourself looks like, how people change, and that there is hope it will work out.
Counting first a month of sobriety, then three, then six, a person builds a new set of values. Everything the substance had replaced during the using years comes back into their life and begins to bring pleasure again. The setting, the rules and the community of the centre protect this common sense while it is still new and fragile.
That is exactly the aim of the whole rehabilitation: to restore the common sense that was lost, to build new social skills, to develop a spiritual side and to teach the person to live differently. Leaving the centre, they understand the value of sobriety — and that what was lost comes back with it, while new possibilities open up. There is only one condition.
They can be, and for many people they help. But in the first months of sobriety you have to go every day, while at home the job, the family and access to the substance all remain. A centre removes exactly these obstacles.
Because isolation without work on the way a person thinks treats nothing: the moment the door opens, all of it comes back. And at home they go through the worst of the physical withdrawal with nobody keeping an eye on them.
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I, Andrey, am now a former drug addict. My entire family struggled with this disease for a long time, but it kept coming back, and I started using again. I completed a rehabilitation course at the ISTOK Center. The center offered classes on specialized rehabilitation methods for addicts. The management and staff were positive and responsive, and everything contributed to my treatment and recovery. The center has a home-like atmosphere. Everything is thought out and calculated so that the addict can truly reflect on their problem and make the right choice, quitting alcohol and drugs. I recommend the ISTOK Center to anyone facing addiction and wanting to change their life for the better by making the right choice. Thank you again for your hard and necessary work and for instilling faith in people.
My name is Sergey, I live in Kharkiv, and I'm 39 years old. Alcohol abuse has been a long-standing problem for me. Recently, I've also become addicted to drugs. I couldn't quit on my own, not the first time, not even the hundredth time. Unfortunately, changing my life for the better was beyond my power. Based on reviews and advice from a friend who had already gone through a similar journey, I learned about the Istok rehabilitation center. The Istok rehabilitation center has restored me to a normal, active, social, and positive life! It has excellent conditions, knowledgeable staff, and the most professional and qualified addiction specialists and psychologists. Here I learned that alcohol addiction is a terrible disease, but by following certain rules, you can live a full life and never return to this addiction. With the help of this center, I returned to my family and work. Thank you so much for my life!
Hello. I'm Marina, 28 years old, and I live in Kyiv. I've had problems with drug use for a long time. I tried to quit, but all my attempts were unsuccessful. Finally, I decided to seek help, and I received genuine, professional, high-quality help, with care and support at the Istok Rehabilitation Center. This center is a godsend for alcohol and drug addicts. Excellent living conditions, qualified staff, and psychologists specializing in addiction. I was told that addiction is incurable, but it's possible to live happily with it; you just need to adopt new principles. Thanks to this center, I overcame all my problems. This is the center you should trust...
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