If you are suffering from the disease of addiction and you are reluctant to get help, you are not alone. The vast majority of people in active addiction do not feel that they need help, and of those who do want help, many believe that obstacles preventing them from seeking treatment are simply too large to be overcome. However much these obstacles prevent those in active addiction from becoming willing to seek help, they must be overcome for treatment to be possible. Two of the most powerful of these obstacles are denial and fear.
Denial
We addicts and alcoholics used and drank to change the way we felt and it worked—sometimes for a great many years. Eventually it stopped working so well or ceased working altogether, but by that time we had been using and drinking for so long that it had become inextricably intertwined with how we lived our lives. Even faced with some of the worst possible consequences of our using and drinking, we often were unable or unwilling to admit that we had a serious problem.
Breaking through this barrier of denial is a first step toward helping an actively addicted person recognize that they have a deadly disease and urgently need treatment for it. Hired Power can help by connecting your loved one with a caring and understanding member of our staff. That staff member will encourage the loved one toward understanding that recovery is indeed possible. Hired Power can then give Safe Passage to and from a treatment facility and thereafter provide a range of monitoring services that will help keep your loved ones accountable to their recovery.
Fear
Fear is often a monumental barrier to recovery for many sufferers of substance use disorder. Fear manifests itself in countless forms. Addicts fear being denied access their drug of choice. They fear the prospect of having to endure a long and painful detoxification. Some fear being “exposed” as an addict to colleagues at work; others fear taking time away from work or being apart from their families. For some, these fears have long served as the go-to reasons for why they believe recovery is not an option for them.
Although there is at least a kernel of reality in all of these fears, for sufferers of substance use disorder, these fears are raised to the level of catastrophes. Addicts often perceive the idea of recovery in black and white, thinking, “Either I keep using and experience some negative consequences, or I give up everything in my life and go into treatment.” The solution to this false dilemma is almost always, “I think I’ll keep using.”
Sometimes the only forces that can break through these fears are the love and compassion of someone who has already overcome them. Hired Power’s Personal Recovery Assistants each have a minimum of five years clean and sober and offer a wealth of experience with helping struggling addicts overcome their fears and get the treatment they so desperately need. Oftentimes an addict’s loved ones struggle for years trying to help the addict overcome these fears and enter treatment, but with little or no success. What family members have been unable to accomplish over many years a trained staff member of Hired Power can sometimes successfully achieve in just a few hours. The power of one alcoholic/addict helping another is extraordinary and it might be just what is needed help your loved begin to walk along the path of recovery.
Both denial and fear are powerful forces in the minds of people suffering from substance use disorder. Decades of drinking and/or using drugs to keep from feeling creates a dependence upon those substances, to the point where a life without them sounds infinitely more frightening than the consequences of their continued abuse. Denial and fear appear to be insurmountable barriers to recovery for many people experiencing active addiction.
Thankfully, they are not impossible to overcome. With the help of the caring professionals at Hired Power, sufferers of substance use disorder can overcome these obstacles and begin living a recovered life in which fear and denial no longer play such destructive roles. We can help your loved one find Safe Passage to treatment and provide monitoring services after treatment is completed. Along the way, our PRAs are there to help your loved ones make healthy decisions and stay accountable to their recovery.
Today is THE day, and Hired Power can help.
“Recovery is not simple abstinence. It’s about healing the brain, remembering how to feel, learning how to make good decisions, becoming the kind of person who can engage in healthy relationships, cultivating the willingness to accept help from others, daring to be honest, and opening up to doing.”
~ Debra Jay
If you and your family are in need of guidance and support, call Hired Power today. We are here to stand by you. Call: 1-800-910-9299.
