Overcoming an opiate addiction isn’t easy. Many people think about quitting for quite a long time, or try quitting on their own multiple times, before they actually pick up the phone and call a medication-assisted treatment program. You have to be ready for change if you want to be successful in your recovery.
Steps To Consider For
opiate addiction Recovery
Here are seven precursors of change based on the work of Dr. Fred Hanna, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado and a faculty associate at Johns Hopkins University. Read each one and consider whether you’re ready for opiate addiction treatment.
- A sense of necessity. Is your life going to hell in hand basket? Maybe you’ve lost your job, your spouse is threatening divorce, or you’re going to jail. Maybe you’ve OD’d and you worry that your next trip to the hospital will be your last one. You have to believe that change is necessary.
- Recognition of your problem. If you didn’t think you had an addiction problem, you wouldn’t be reading this.
- A commitment to a better life. Think about the ways your addiction affects your life and be committed to finding a better way.
- A willingness to undergo discomfort. Quitting won’t be easy. If you’ve been to a traditional treatment program you may be among the 80 percent who have failed. Enrolling in a medication-assisted treatment program can make all the difference in the world.
- The will to change. Too many people make excuses to continue using opiates. They say they know people who are way worse off. But if you believe that you’ve reached the point of no return, you will embrace the changes that are coming.
- Hope that you can change. If you don’t have a vision of your future self living a clean life, then you probably aren’t ready yet. To make your hope come true you have to believe in it. Maybe your clean self won’t be exactly what you envision right now, but it’s a start.
- A support network. Nobody can beat addiction alone. You can’t push your family and friends away and tell them that since you got yourself into this, you’ll get yourself out. You need the help of your loved ones.
Here are seven precursors of change based on the work of Dr. Fred Hanna, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado and a faculty associate at Johns Hopkins University. Read each one and consider whether you’re ready for opiate addiction treatment.
- A sense of necessity. Is your life going to hell in hand basket? Maybe you’ve lost your job, your spouse is threatening divorce, or you’re going to jail. Maybe you’ve OD’d and you worry that your next trip to the hospital will be your last one. You have to believe that change is necessary.
- Recognition of your problem. If you didn’t think you had an addiction problem, you wouldn’t be reading this.
- A commitment to a better life. Think about the ways your addiction affects your life and be committed to finding a better way.
- A willingness to undergo discomfort. Quitting won’t be easy. If you’ve been to a traditional treatment program you may be among the 80 percent who have failed. Enrolling in a medication-assisted treatment program can make all the difference in the world.
- The will to change. Too many people make excuses to continue using opiates. They say they know people who are way worse off. But if you believe that you’ve reached the point of no return, you will embrace the changes that are coming.
- Hope that you can change. If you don’t have a vision of your future self living a clean life, then you probably aren’t ready yet. To make your hope come true you have to believe in it. Maybe your clean self won’t be exactly what you envision right now, but it’s a start.
- A support network. Nobody can beat addiction alone. You can’t push your family and friends away and tell them that since you got yourself into this, you’ll get yourself out. You need the help of your loved ones.
