If you are struggling with drug addiction or alcohol addiction, then you are probably eager to put it behind you. How long will it be until you can comfortably say that you are no longer addicted, though? It depends a lot on who you are, your overall mental and physical health, and what substance has caused your addiction. Because of these many factors, it is not easy to say how long addiction will last.
Challenging & Controlling Addiction
It is important to acknowledge that addiction can be challenged in all situations. It does not need to be something that is constantly weighing down on you. With the assistance of a professional addiction rehab center, you can use different treatments and therapies to put your feet under you and get stronger in the face of addiction.
For some people, especially those with mild or new addictions, a single rehab program might be enough to allow them to completely set aside their addiction. It is not exactly accurate to say that addiction can be cured, even though it is considered a disease in medical contexts. Instead, its symptoms can be controlled and abated so much and so well after a time that it is almost as if it never occurred.
Understanding Permanent Addictions
Although it is always worth fighting addiction, there are cases when it can feel permanent or chronic. For example, many people with alcohol use disorder or alcohol addiction will admit that they never feel safe to drink alcohol again. They are aware that a single alcoholic beverage could be all that it takes to start them rapidly down an unsafe path of abuse and dependency again. This is why many alcohol rehab centers teach that the people they help are “always recovering alcoholics.” That is to say, the path to recovery must be permanent because the risk of relapse is permanent, too.
Yet, again, the damage and weight that an addiction causes do not need to feel permanent in any case. Even someone with the most severe alcohol addiction on medical records can eventually get to a place where they are completely in control of their decisions and no longer have to worry about sudden addiction cravings. In this way, it could be said that the risk of addiction in some cases might be permanent, but the symptoms of it are not.
You deserve a happy future that does not feel slowed down or jeopardized by addiction. Whether you have a mild or severe addiction to drugs or alcohol, Mount Sinai Wellness Center and our team of rehab professionals can help. Contact us at any time to learn more about our treatment options and recovery programs.
