Treatment & counseling issues in re-entry & aftercare

TREATMENT AND COUNSELING ISSUES IN REENTRY AND AFTERCARE

Abdullah Baniyameen

baniyameen@aol.com

June 7, 2009

1. SEPARATION ISSUES:

• Dependency issue on the treatment environment,
• Attachment to people and place,
• Fear of failure.

2. DRUG CRAVING/URGES:

• Persistent even after months of sobriety,
• Triggered by people, places, and things or external and internal events in the recovering person’s life.

3. THE NEED FOR NEW SOCIAL NETWORK:

• Old social connections are often sources of risks for relapse,
• Learning to socialize in unfamiliar ways,
• The fear of being known as a recovering addict,
• Utilizing support groups, AA, NA, etc.

4. ADJUSTMENT TO DRUG-FREE ACTIVITIES AND NEW SOURCES OF SATISFACTION:

• Develop new hobbies or past times,
• Enjoying old forms of recreations e.g., movies, parties, etc., without using drugs,
• Learning a new set of social skills to make drug- free activities fun.

5. LEARNING HOW TO RESPOND SAFELY TO PAIN AND STRESS:

• Must learn to deal with everyday discomfort without the desire to find relief using psychoactive substances,
• Must recognize vulnerability to stress-pain reducing medications.

6. THE DESIRE FOR INTERPERSONAL INTIMACY:

• Initiating and learning how to sustain healthy relationships can take time,
• Old negative relationships often contribute to relapse and must be discarded,
• Any other meaningful past relationships are deeply damaged,
• Old associations between drugs and sex must be unlearned and new attitudes developed,
• Intimate relationship in early recovery stage can be distracting and stressful,
• Timing and maturity are critical factors if intimacy is to contribute rather than to sabotage recovery efforts,
• Learning new ways to cope with pain and manage stress effectively.

7. THE ACCESSIBILITY OF ALCOHOL, DRUGS, AND VARIOUS PRESSURES TO CONSUME IN OUR SOCIETY:

• Increasing the recovering addict’s feeling of self-efficacy to withstand temptation and be able to walk away from drugs,
• Learning how to respond appropriately, should a relapse occur to avoid a full-blown reactivation of drug use?

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