Why Now Is the Time to Get Outpatient Suboxone Drug Rehab Help Instead of Waiting Out the Holidays
With the holidays approaching, it can be easy to get caught up in the busyness of the season, buying gifts, spending time with loved ones and getting into the holiday spirit. For someone recovering from chronic opiate addiction, this time of year can throw some real curve balls when it comes to the emotions, pressures and expectations that the holiday season brings. Under these conditions, putting off getting needed treatment help can be a recipe for disaster.
Suboxone ranks second only to methadone as the most commonly used medication treatment for opiate addiction. Suboxone drug rehab can be administered on a residential or outpatient basis depending on where a person is at in the recovery process. When taken on an outpatient basis, Suboxone’s therapeutic benefits work wonders in terms of helping you manage the ups and downs of the holiday season.
Holiday Pressures
While the holidays represent a special and oftentimes, cherished time of year, the pressures involved with preparations, meeting family obligations along with the usual work and family responsibilities can make for a stressful time. According to Stanford University, family traditions and expectations surrounding the holidays can also be a source of pressure. These pressures may take the form of:
- Making it a happy joyous time
- Ensuring everything is perfect
- The importance of cherishing family
- Buying the perfect gifts for loved ones
While holiday pressures in some form are to be expected, they can nonetheless become a reason to increase opiate drug-using behaviors.
Opiate Addiction Effects
Holiday pressures and stress can increase drug cravings.
Using opiates on a long-term, frequent basis causes considerable disruption within the brain’s chemical system. With each drug dose, opiates force neurotransmitter-producing brain cells to flood the brain with dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.
Over time, these effects warp the brain’s reward system, the area that defines a person’s belief systems, motivations and day-to-day priorities. Once addiction sets in, everything a person does, feels and cares about is related to getting and using drugs in one way or another. In effect, using opiates to take the “edge” off the holiday rush only works to strengthen addiction’s hold over your life.
Opiate Addiction Aftereffects
Even after a person stops using opiates, the drug’s aftereffects make it extremely difficult to maintain abstinence for any length of time due to changes in the brain’s chemical make-up. So if you’ve recently completed opiate detox or have stopped using on your own, opiate addiction aftereffects combined with holiday pressure places you at a high risk of relapse.
According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, Suboxone drug rehab programs use Suboxone as a type of medication therapy that helps restore a normal chemical balance in the brain. Suboxone drug rehab also provides much needed behavioral treatment interventions to help undo the addiction’s aftereffects on your thinking and behaviors. With oSuboxone drug rehab, you can be treated on an outpatient basis, so treatment schedules can work around your daily activities.
The Need for Suboxone Drug Rehab
While waiting out the holidays may offer up more time to spend with friends and family, the worsening effects of opiates on your thinking and emotions will likely diminish any enjoyment had. Also at issue is the continuing damage opiates exert on the brain’s chemical system.
If you or someone you know struggles with chronic opiate addiction and are considering Suboxone drug rehab, please feel free to call our toll-free helpline at 888-646-0865 (Who Answers?) for more information. Our phone counselors can also provide you with information on treatment programs in your area.
