Relapse Disease

The subjects of relapse and disease are interesting ones when it comes to drug or alcohol addiction treatment. Relapse is not a result of an incurable disease; in fact, addiction is not an incurable disease at all as many would have you believe. Addiction is a condition which is brought about as the result of abuse drugs and alcohol. There are mental, emotional, and physical factors that all contribute to bringing about the condition. Relapse is a result of one or more unhandled factors in the addiction recovery process. The main categories of unhandled items causing relapse are Cravings (mental, emotional, and physical), unhandled guilt, and unhandled depression resulting from addiction. Once these points are fully handled so is the problem of relapse.

Drug addiction treatment to be effective needs to help and guide the individual in confronting and gaining the skills and abilities needed to resolve all areas of their lives – not merely ceasing their drug use which is only the beginning. Personal issues of nutrition and gaining a healthy balance need to be addressed. Issues of cravings, quilt, and depression resulting from addiction need confronted and relieved, legal issues often exist. Broken or strained relationships in the family and workplace need resolved. The issue of how the addict gets on with his life in a drug free and productive manner, and be happy and fulfilled doing so, can be one of the biggest issues of all. Addicts and alcoholics are often quite concerned about being miserable and suffering without the drugs or alcohol. Narconon Arrowhead is an empowering program that assists the individual in resolving each of these situations as well as others he or she may have. We don’t enforce or insist rather we help, guide, and assist the individual in finding their own unique answers that will work and more importantly continue to work for them. This helps insure a continuing drug free life as their solutions are theirs and not something dictated or enforced on them.

Narconon Arrowhead is not only a drug addiction rehab, but is also a drug abuse rehab. In reality these two are very similar with the main difference being degree of use. If we understand drug abuse as ‘the harmful and illegal non-medicinal use of drugs or alcohol’; and addiction as ‘a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs, alcohol or other similar substances despite social, mental, and physical consequences’ we see that the line between the two is small at best. Cravings, guilt, and depression resulting from drug or alcohol use are the common denominators between the two and ARE the points needing resolved if one is to achieve lasting sobriety from either abuse or addiction.

An estimated 200 million people internationally consume illegal drugs. Drug statistics in the United States for 2003 per National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows 19.5 million Americans were illicit drug users in the month prior to the survey. The most commonly abused drug in the U.S. is alcohol with alcohol related motor accidents being the second leading cause of teen death in the U.S. The most commonly used illicit drug is marijuana. According to the world drug report for 2005 from the United Nations about 4% of the world population abuses cannabis. In the U.S. drug statistics from the Center for Disease Control show 45%of high school students drink alcohol and 22% smoke pot.

Narconon Arrowhead is a drug rehab program in the fullest sense of the term. Rehabilitate means to restore to a former condition or state, while program refers to a series of steps to bring about an intended result. At Narconon Arrowhead we use a multi-phase approach to first end drug abuse and addiction while restoring mental and physical health and vigor with full detoxification of the body. We then go on to assist the individual in handling issues surrounding cravings, guilt and depression that led up to and then continued the abuse and addiction. Once past problems and issues have been resolved to the student’s satisfaction he is ready to move into learning tools and abilities to enable him to confront the present and to create the future he wants for himself, family, career, etc. While there are probably as many issues to confront as there are addicts and each has his own particular scene, the above is the rough outline for achieving a drug free productive life for our students, while addressing each individuals particular needs.