One of the common misconceptions is that people with addictions simply struggle with willpower. This means that if they suddenly muster up enough willpower they can finally break free of their addiction. Neuroscience tells us a different story. Often people turn to substances to cope with uncomfortable emotions, trauma, and other life challenges. Over time, they become addicted because they need more and more of the substances to get the same happy feelings. Recovery then becomes biological and psychological, and can only happen if the environment is right. While people don’t need more willpower, they do need the right spaces to promote healing and help them overcome addiction.
Controlled Environments Break the Addiction Cycle
One of the first stops many addicts make on their road to recovery is to spend time in a rehab facility. By leaving their familiar environments they can break through some of their conditioned responses, go through detox, and even start working through the emotional wounds they’ve been soothing with their addiction.
People in Houston, for example, might look for a drug rehab in Dallas or go out of state completely to get addiction treatment in Colorado or Nevada. These locations disrupt their normal routines and put them in healing environments where they can focus on getting better. These facilities offer structured schedules which can give people better sleep. These predictable routines can also help lower any decision fatigue they might feel as they go through the recovery process.
Getting Transitional Support, Not a Motivational Speech
Sometimes, people don’t need to be isolated away for a time. Instead, they might seek out an intensive outpatient program that offers more flexibility to continue working and staying connected to life, while getting treatment in the evenings and/or weekends. These programs don’t give motivational speeches, but they do provide the necessary support for those who want to overcome drug and alcohol addiction.
An IOP can offer many different solutions to help meet each individual’s needs. This might look like family therapy, group support, and even mindfulness practices. Some people need intense lifestyle training and fitness programs as well. By going to an IOP, people can even get support for aftercare that can help them for years to come. Recovering from addiction can be a lifelong process and it means getting support at each stage of the process.
Neuroplasticity Helps Rewire the Brain
You know the saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? It turns out that this isn’t true. Humans have an innate ability to rewire brain circuits. During recovery, the brain starts to form new pathways that weren’t there before. This means that the dopamine systems start to rebalance, decision making gradually improves, and even habit loops start to get disrupted. Over time, as these new habits become integrated into their lifestyle, people start to think and behave differently naturally.
The brain even helps people better regulate their emotions and reduce the stress response in the body. When people are addicted, the substances hijack all of these systems creating unhealthy dependence on drugs or alcohol. This forms specific pathways that make it nearly impossible to simply have enough willpower to overcome. Many people feel trapped in addiction and don’t realize that with the right help and support, their brain will change in healthy ways over time.
Familiar Places Create Familiar Habits
Our environments are linked to our memories. We are connected to where we live and who we spend our time with. This means that trying to break free of addiction in the same spaces where you experience the addiction can be extremely difficult. That’s why many people do extended stays at rehab facilities or even move away. They want to get into a new environment so that they can focus on healing.
Also, because the brain saves energy by doing repetitive things, recovery can be exhausting. The brain needs time to make new pathways that make it easier to work through recovery. It can take a while for people to take the first step toward change, but when they do, they’ll find that it becomes easier over time and they can revisit familiar people and places without being triggered.
Trying to muster up enough willpower to overcome addiction isn’t the right approach. Instead, helping people change their environment and get into the right treatment program can be just the foundation they need to help their brains build new pathways and heal.
