A substance use disorder isn’t always easy to spot. An addiction to drugs or alcohol often develops slowly over an extended period. This makes it easy to brush off concerns by saying that you just enjoy the taste of a good drink or like to party with your friends.
It’s a common misconception that addiction treatment is only effective when a person has reached rock bottom. It’s never too late to seek treatment, but waiting offers no benefit. At St. Joseph Institute for Addiction, we’ve found that the best time to enter our Pennsylvania residential substance abuse treatment program is as soon as you’ve identified the presence of a substance use disorder.
Rock Bottom Is Hard to Define
One of the problems with waiting until you hit rock bottom to seek treatment is that rock bottom moments aren’t easy to spot. What might constitute your rock bottom can be hard to define because the consequences of addiction are numerous. For example:
- Job loss
- Foreclosure or eviction
- Homelessness
- Bankruptcy
- Divorce
- Loss of child custody
- Family estrangement
- End of friendships
- Criminal charges related to drug use or impaired driving
You can tell yourself you’ll get treatment someday or try to justify your behavior by comparing yourself to others with more severe addictions. This only hides the truth. Denying the problem won’t make it go away.
Waiting Could Be Fatal
Substance abuse can lead to a number of serious and potentially fatal health problems, such as hepatitis or HIV from sharing needles and cirrhosis or other liver issues related to long-term alcohol abuse. A fatal overdose is also a real possibility, especially if you’re regularly mixing two or more drugs. For example, the CDC reports that almost 80% of fatal opioid overdoses involve another drug or alcohol, like another opioid, heroin, cocaine, prescription opioids, benzodiazepines, alcohol, psychostimulants, and antidepressants.
The effect of co-occurring mental health disorders must also be considered when evaluating the need for treatment. When someone suffers from addiction and depression, the risk of suicide increases dramatically. Psychology Today reports that as many as one in three people who die from suicide are under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their death, and 45% of people with untreated substance use disorders will attempt suicide at least once.
Addiction Is a Chronic Illness
Addiction is a chronic, progressive illness. It will not get better without treatment. Someone with an addiction can’t simply decide to quit, no matter how much willpower they think they have.
As with other chronic illnesses, addiction treatment is easier to manage when the problem is addressed in the early stages. Think of someone with Type 2 diabetes, which is another very common chronic illness. If the condition is diagnosed early and the person is committed to weight loss, exercise, and careful blood sugar monitoring, they might be able to control their diabetes without any medication. But, a later diagnosis and less attention to a healthy lifestyle can lead to the need for metformin or insulin injections. In some cases, the disease can lead to kidney failure, stroke, or limb amputation. Early diagnosis and treatment end up being vital factors in how disruptive the condition is in the person’s daily life.
The longer substance abuse is allowed to continue, the more changes will occur in the brain and body. Some of these changes can be reversed, but some can not. The longer you wait, the more likely it becomes that the damage caused by drug or alcohol use will be permanent.
Waiting Keeps You from Moving Forward
When your life is consumed by substance abuse, there’s no room for anything else. You miss out on hobbies, special interests, relationships, and career advancement. You even lose the ability to appreciate simple pleasures like a hot cup of coffee or a walk in the park on a beautiful summer day. All that matters is getting your next fix.
If you’re ready to take the first step towards building a better life for yourself, St. Joseph Institute for Addiction can help. Our holistic treatment program is personalized to fit individual needs and designed to heal the mind, body, and spirit. Clients receive a detailed assessment of their condition, followed by detox, individual counseling, group counseling, family therapy, and relapse prevention. With our help, you can build the life you truly deserve.
