Drug Rehab Programs Must Address Mind, Body and Spirit.

Anyone who believes that addiction to any substance can be overcome by simple willpower has obviously never been an addict. Addiction is not simply a disease psychological disease or a spiritual affliction. Many drug rehab programs focus only the psychological aspects of addiction. They believe that by handling the addict’s mind, the addiction can be cured.

The facts, however, are simple: addiction affects the mind, the body, and the spirit. All three must be addressed in order to overcome addiction. If the mind is the only thing addressed in a drug rehab program, there is still the physical and spiritual afflictions caused by addiction.

Spirituality is fine. But when addicts are told to turn their power over to a force outside themselves – and that this is a necessary step in combating their addiction the addict is given an outlet to keep from confronting his problems. Therefore, the addict’s mind and body still suffer. So the likelihood of recovery is minimal.

Any drug rehab programs that fail to address the mind, the body, and the spirit will fail. Which is why it’s not surprising that so many drug rehab programs have such low success rates. 12-Step programs focus on the mind and the spirit by addressing addiction as a disease. They persuade the addict that they are powerless over their addiction, and will never be totally cured.

Other programs focus entirely on the mental. They say that therapy addressing the reasons why an addict turned to drugs can cure the addiction. Still other programs simply believe that after a few days of detoxification, the addict’s body is recovered. None of these methods, although helpful in the short term, provide a long-lasting solution to addiction.

A successful drug rehab program understands that the mental, spiritual, and physical aspects must be completely handled in order for the addict to overcome addiction.

In order to handle the mental aspect, the drug rehab program must provide a safe environment where the addict can deal with the issues that led him or her to drugs in the first place. The addict must have the freedom to work on changing thinking patterns. That way, when faced with challenging issues in the future, the addict will have new and productive ways of dealing with life.

Physically, the drug rehab program must provide a detoxification program. The body must be thoroughly cleansed and rejuvenated into a body that is not affected by drug residues that remain in the body. A drug rehab program that does not offer a full detoxification program will probably not work. The addict will continue to be triggered or negatively affected by the residues left in the body.

Spiritually, an effective drug rehab program must allow for the fact that each individual addict has their own spiritual path. One should not be forced to convert to a religion or other philosophical way of thinking. Rather, the drug rehab program must allow the drug addict to follow his own opinion and belief system about spirituality, even if they believe in nothing at all.

This is the only way that the drug addict will ever have the power to completely overcome his addiction. His mind will be healed. His body will be cleansed. His spirit will be realized. And his addiction will be left in the past.

About the Author:
John Frank does research in the drug treatment field and has helped several individuals and families, including his own brother, find the right program and overcome addiction.