Since rehab is the only viable way for an addiction sufferer to arrest their addiction, it is reasonable for people to wonder what percentage of the people who fall victim to drug addiction actually recover. It is an important thing to consider given the fact that the rate of recovery will many times serve as motivation or deterrent for some people to get treatment in the first place.
Before we mention any hard numbers, we want you as the reader to understand just how insidious some drug addictions can be. If someone tries to beat heroin addiction, they truly face an uphill battle. To get to a point they won’t experience relapses, they have to fully commit to treatment and stay diligent after their treatment for the rest of their life. That is a very difficult thing to do.
How difficult? It is also important to remember that recovery numbers will vary a great deal based on a number of factors such as:
- The drug being abused
- The length of the users addiction
- The gender and age of the addiction sufferer
- Where they live
- The social and financial status of the drug user
- The underlying reasons or triggers for the drug abuse
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, almost two-thirds of the people who get through treatment will relapse within one week of leaving rehab. Even more troubling is the fact that 85% of recovering addiction sufferers will experience a relapse within the first year of getting treatment. As you can see, recovery really is an uphill battle.
Over their lifetimes, about 60% of the people who become initially addicted to drugs will eventually stop using completely. While all of these numbers might seem a bit discouraging, you really need to focus on one thing.
That is yourself. You see, you could be one of the 33% of the people who don’t relapse in the first week. Furthermore, you could be one of the 15% that does not relapse within the first year. That would drastically increase the likelihood you would be among the 60% that does fully recover from their addiction. That is why you go to rehab. If you don’t, the chances of you will ever recover from your addiction are extremely low. All of this begs the question, why do people have such a difficult time with recovery. We will cover that in the next section.
Why is Recovery From Drug Addiction So Difficult?
Until you have been through the recovery process, you will find it near impossible to understand just how insidious drugs can be. There is a reason drug addiction is considered a disease that can never be cured. That reason has a lot to do with a person’s reasons to turn to drug abuse in the first place.
Let’s take a look at the two top reasons people relapse.
1. Inadequate Coping Skills
While in treatment, a lot of focus is directed at finding the root causes of each client’s addiction. The reason this is so important is that most drug addicts have triggers that cause them to seek refuge in substance abuse. People relapse when they leave rehab without a full understanding of why they have been abusing drugs in the first place. After abstinence of 30 to 60 days, the desire and the triggers that prompt drug abuse will still be living inside the addiction suffer. If they don’t have better coping skills leaving rehab, relapses are almost imminent.
2. Lack of Support
We all need moral and emotional support throughout our lives whether addicted to drugs or not. Given the serious nature of drug addiction, the need for support escalates. If family members and aftercare programs are not in place to help the recovering addict stay strong, they will struggle to stay clean. After all, they are living with a disease that won’t go away. The best any addict can hope for is the support and resources to keep their addiction issues at bay.
We don’t want the numbers to resolve you to doom. You can be one of the ones who recover from your addiction. It will require a lot of hard work on your part, but you can do it. It is something with which we would be willing to help. If you will allow up to help you find the road to recovery, we can get started with one phone call to us at 844-639-8371.