5 Stages of Addiction Recovery & How Long Do They Take?

Long-term addictions often do not allow the person to fully come to terms with these circumstances. alcoholic recovery stages Becoming sober may mean that a lot of these demons fly to the surface as if they just occurred.

This stage can last from six months to five years, depending on the severity of the addiction and the individual’s genes and experience. It takes a small minority of people six months of abstinence to reach the point where they don’t go back to their addictive behavior. However, for most people, a commitment of two to five years is necessary to truly break the habit and solidify change.

Maintenance Stage

Beachway can help navigate aftercare services to help maintain a life of sobriety. For those earlier in the progression towards addiction, recognizing the cycle of drinking and negative consequences can be helpful in getting the person out of the loop and into recovery. Once you have fully committed yourself to the treatment of your addiction, you are in the second stage of recovery, known as early abstinence. Gateway is one of the few providers that effectively integrates the medical and psychological aspects of treatment for a whole-person approach. We have more than 50 years of treatment expertise, and have treated more than a million patients in that time. We know what works and strive to formulate the most effective plan for each individual.

Someone who reaches it will feel they no longer need their old habits or lifestyle. The pain of alcohol use might even feel profoundly distant from who you are now.

Stage 5: Active Recovery and Maintenance

Alcoholics who have been drinking for one year or several decades can all have the opportunity to get clean and start living in a sober, healthier way. If you are eating well and taking care of your health otherwise, your body will be well on the way to repairing the damage that has been done by problem drinking. Long-term abstinence from alcohol allows the frontal lobe circuitry to recover, including generating new cell growth; this is the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving, decision making, and analysis. People who have abused alcohol for a longer period of time sustain significant damage to the circuit ways across different regions of the brain. For those later in the progression towards addiction, detoxing alone can be dangerous and it is recommended to detox under medical supervision. After detox, the treatment depends on the individual’s needs and any comorbidities that are present, like depression, anxiety or trauma. The focus of this stage of recovery is to maintain abstinence by avoiding a relapse.

Clients distinctly may remember the comfort of their substance past, yet forget just how bad the rest of their lives were and the seriousness of the consequences that loomed before they came into treatment. Often, in as little as a few months, institutional and reimbursement constraints limit access to ongoing care. People with addiction histories, however, remain vulnerable for much longer and continue to struggle with dependency. They need vigorous assistance maintaining behavioral changes throughout the middle, or action, stage of treatment. All possible sources of positive forces in a client’s life should be marshaled to help the client manage life’s challenges instead of turning to substances or other addictive behaviors.

Early-Stage Alcoholism (Prodromal)

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The recovering drinker feels a renewed sense of hope and self-esteem, develops realistic thinking patterns, and fosters stability in his or her relationships with friends and family. Many people will struggle with relapse and loop back through earlier stages. Jellinek theorizes that in this stage, people will prioritize maintaining a constant supply of alcohol and sacrifice social, occupational, and cognitive functioning. If the user does not seek help by this stage, they run a very high risk of drinking themselves to death. Contemplation can be an uncomfortable process, and feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness and desperation are common as people reach this crossroads in their addiction journey. By the time people reach the contemplation stage, they’ve begun to recognize they have a drinking problem and may want to get help, but they’re often on the fence about it. Engaging in subtle and sympathetic conversations and getting alcoholics to explore the pros and cons of their own behavior, for example, can help to lay the groundwork for the second stage of recovery.

Addiction Recovery Timeline: Understanding the 5 Stages

Alcohol and drug abuse treatment is a lifelong process that needs commitment. Remember, it takes time and effort to sustain any change, build momentum and lead a truly sober life. However, knowing a friendly and highly skilled counselor from Live Free will be at hand to help your recovery journey can ease the anxiety. If you or a loved one is struggling with substance abuse, addiction, or mental health disorder in New Hampshire, don’t hesitate to contact Live Free Recovery Services today. After making a thorough plan in the preparation stage, the person is finally ready to take action and follow the steps they’ve outlined.

• This new phase of research laid the groundwork for how we understand alcohol addiction today.
• They also continue to learn to cope with issues in their life without using drugs or alcohol.
• When attempting detox alone, it can be quite difficult, and sometimes, very dangerous.
• Are you interested in finding a 12-Step program that could help you beat your addiction?
• By studying various mental health and substance use disorder treatment plans, Prochaska, DiClemente and Norcross noted patterns that occur as people progress through a major behavioral shift.
• You can even find rehabilitation centers that have an organic and/or vegan menu to help their patients heal better.

During this time, you may face anger, depression, emotional swings and other difficult symptoms and experiences. Nonetheless, making it through this stage can also start to show you positive changes from recovery.

Stage 2: Early Abstinence

Cognitive capacity usually begins to return to normal in the middle stage of treatment. The frontal lobe activity in a person addicted to cocaine, for example, is dramatically different after approximately 4–6 months of nonuse.

• For some clients, chiefly those mandated into treatment by courts or employers, grave consequences inevitably ensue as a result of relapse.
• Individuals may waffle back and forth between wanting and not wanting to change.
• It is not uncommon for addicts to have a relapse when they first start addiction recovery.
• Self-care and self-understanding are both present in this treatment stage, but counseling is required to keep them on the right path.

Have a confidential, completely free conversation with a treatment provider about your financial options. Our compassionate admissions navigators are ready to help you or a loved one when you call our 24/7 addiction helpline. Be aware of what you’re likely to go through during each stage and address it as you go. Cori’s key responsibilities include supervising financial operations, and daily financial reporting and account management. Cori’s goal is to ensure all patient’s needs are met in an accurate and timely manner.

The Dangers of Mixing Ambien & Alcohol

The group leader has the delicate task of exposing the motives behind the outward compliance. Jeffrey Juergens earned his Bachelor’s and Juris Doctor from the University of Florida. Jeffrey’s desire to help others led him to focus on economic and social https://ecosoberhouse.com/ development and policy making. After graduation, he decided to pursue his passion of writing and editing. Jeffrey’s mission is to educate and inform the public on addiction issues and help those in need of treatment find the best option for them.

• As a person drinks more often, he or she starts to develop a tolerance to alcohol’s effects, meaning the brain grows accustomed to the presence of alcohol and the subjective effects seem diminished.
• At this stage, it’s normal to have second thoughts about giving up drugs or alcohol.
• Once detox is complete, people can begin work on the psychological, social and behavioral problems that accompany an alcohol addiction.
• 6 or more criteria denote a chronic alcohol use disorder, otherwise known as alcoholism.