What is drug addiction treatment?

The goal of treatment at Focus One is recovery.

 Not all treatment is the same.

When the focus of treatment is limited to the substance or behavior, relapse is almost surely to occur.

Relapse has become the norm and has come to be expected by many.  Even Alcoholics Anonymous, our #1 self-help support group, admits to an 88% relapse rate during the first year of abstinence.  Long-term abstinence rarely exists.  And when it does, it is often a constant daily struggle.  White-knuckling it through each day isn’t much fun and eventually leads to relapse.

Focus One believes that relapse is not a part of recovery.  Instead it is part of the problem.  Relapse is almost surely to occur when an individual doesn’t learn how to feel good without something or someone outside of themselves to make them feel better.  It also happens when an individual doesn’t learn how to have fun without alcohol and drugs.

When the focus of treatment is on feeling better about oneself, recovery without relapse is possible.

Relapse is what usually happens when recovery from life does not occur.

The focus of treatment must be on recovery from life rather than on the dependency itself.

Focus One believes that almost everyone is a candidate for treatment because almost everyone is a candidate to recover from life.

In order for treatment to work long term, recovery has to take place.  Individuals in treatment have to learn how to feel good about themselves.  They have to learn how to have fun in recovery.  They have to learn to change their thinking.  They have to learn to feel good about themselves without depending on something or someone outside of themselves to feel better.  This takes practice and changing old ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Recovery doesn’t take place until change occurs.