Can a person stop using drugs without going to rehab? No, you can’t. Or rather, you shouldn’t. It’s still best to consult the experts on how to overcome your addiction instead of quitting cold turkey without going to rehab. To stop using drugs on your own without rehab is like trying to heal cancer with home remedies instead of hospitalization. It’s dangerous and mostly ineffective, especially when dealing with full-blown cases of addiction.
You can drink moderately or prevent addiction from happening without going to rehab, sure. However, once you’re addicted or hooked to a substance, it’s better to be safe than to be sorry and avail of rehab services.
Quitting Cold Turkey versus Quitting Through Addiction Rehab
Which type of rehab you should undergo depends largely on how severe your addiction is though. Quitting drugs cold turkey is not recommended, particularly when it comes to alcohol since it requires medical detox to deal with certain life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. It’s always best to go to rehab. Otherwise, don’t do drugs at all. It’s hard to “just say no” when you’ve already said “yes” to drugs. The worse your addiction is or gets, the more you need rehab.
Here are the pros and cons of quitting cold turkey with using drugs versus quitting drug use with the assistance of addiction rehab treatment.
| Methods of Drug Treatment | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Quitting drugs “cold turkey” without going to rehab |
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| Going to rehab to help quit drugs |
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Recognizing the Dangers of Self-Guided Recovery in Detoxification
You should recognize the dangers of self-guided drug and alcohol rehab so as to avoid embarking on such an dangerous endeavor. Attempting to stop using drugs without professional help can be life-threatening and not worth the money you’ll save from not going to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), or a drug rehab clinic in Thailand such as Clarity Rehab.
In fact, you should think of it this way—the money you could be spending on drugs is best used on drug rehab itself, since that’s a worthwhile investment risk with a positive upside. There’s also the concern of drug detoxification to keep note of.
- The Dangers of Cold Turkey Detox: Your body detoxifies itself of toxins or foreign bodies like recreational drugs typically on its own, through your sweat and urine as well as vomiting for emergency toxin evacuation (which is why you vomit when you’re drunk). It’s not recommended that you undergo a cold turkey detox since it can be quite life-threatening, particularly when it comes to alcoholics. The withdrawal symptoms after detox could kill you.
- Avail of Detox with Medical Monitoring: You should definitely avail of medical or hospital detoxification instead before undergoing actual residential rehab or AA. Don’t do a cold turkey detox in your insistence to not undergo clinic-based rehab. There’s nothing to gain from putting your health at serious risk even if your ultimate goal is to recover your sobriety and control your drug and alcohol cravings to better yourself. Do medical detox instead.
- What Medical Detox Entails: Medical detoxification at a hospital typically entails the presence of trained medical personnel who can monitor the progress of your detox 24/7. It’s a necessary precaution that ensures your withdrawal symptoms from having no drugs or alcohol in your system won’t lead to your death. After you’re in the clear in as little as a few days to two weeks, then you can begin rehab by either inpatient or outpatient treatment. There’s no home remedy for addiction.
- The Detox Process: The hardest part of quitting drugs typically happens in the first 48 hours or two days. Withdrawal side effects will be at their peak here, and can range from headaches and nausea to full-blown hallucinations and psychosis. These adverse effects can be irritating, painful, or outright deadly to you and your physical wellbeing. During such a time, self-guided recovery isn’t recommended. Don’t do self-guided recovery at all and have a guide to get you through. Don’t play doctor with your own condition.
Debunking Myths about Quitting Drugs without Rehab
It’s hard to depend on anecdotal evidence on how to quit drugs cold turkey. There’s simply more evidence and actual scientific studies that prove regimented rehab is better in dealing with addiction than quitting on your own or doing research on the Internet about the subject. Home remedies don’t work. Addiction is an ailment that you can’t overcome halfheartedly through self-help e-books.
To try and deal with being an alcoholic or meth addict without the assistance of doctors, psychiatrists, and counselors is akin to using fruit juices or natural healing techniques to deal with cancer or AIDS. Don’t take your chances. Enter yourself or a loved one that’s suffering from drug addiction in rehab today!
With that said, here are the reasons why rehab is better than quitting drugs cold turkey.
- The Dangers of The Internet and Fake News: “Quitting drugs without rehab” is the kind of claim that should be thrown along with “Cancer cures without chemotherapy” or “Natural immunotherapy for cancer”. It’s Internet-based fake news and misinformation in the same vein as the anti-vaccination and flat-earth movement. Inpatient and outpatient substance abuse rehabilitation are proven methods of drug treatment with years of studies to back them. Self-guided drug rehab most has anecdotal claims or evidence without citation. Go with the rehab service with actual scientific backing instead of miracle cures and self-help books from quacks.
- Starting Early: Another argument for self-guided drug addiction recovery that needs debunking is that starting early in quitting drugs doesn’t require rehab. You can do it on your own. That’s misleading. You can avoid doing drugs or moderate their usage so that you won’t develop an addiction. You don’t need rehab for those instances. However, once you’ve stopped drinking socially and have become an alcoholic, it’s highly discouraged that you take your rehab into your own hands. Avail of outpatient rehab to deal with light addiction and inpatient rehab to deal with moderate to severe addiction.
- Becoming Self-Aware: Self-guided rehab alleges that becoming self-aware goes a long way in preventing you from going autopilot with your behavior, particularly when it comes to developing drug addiction. It’s what you’re trained for when undergoing inpatient or outpatient rehab. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can learn self-awareness on your own when you’re already addicted. You still need rehab to teach you the ways of self-awareness through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or mindfulness meditation. Reading the Wikipedia articles of those two therapies isn’t equivalent to actually learning them from rehab!
- The Essence of Mindfulness: Rehab is better than quitting drugs without rehab because it properly guides you when it comes to practicing mindfulness and self-awareness. This brief article covering CBT and mindfulness meditation won’t be able to demonstrate how you can go about letting things go or letting things beyond your control to happen without affecting you negatively through stress and trauma. Many of the things we as humans go through life can lead to reactions that damage our psyche and body, which in turn can push us towards using drugs. Rehab can properly assist in helping you better cope or deal with such situations without resorting to drug use.
- Developing Discipline and Self-Control: This is another recommendation from self-help guides towards quitting drugs without rehab that’s easier said (or typed) than done. Most people wish to go about their day-to-day life in a reactive rather than proactive manner. This is a slippery slope because recreational drugs tend to trick the brain in disturbing ways, making it reward you for using drugs care of dopamine floods. It’s because of this brain trickery that you require rehab and the assistance of experts to develop the self-control needed to quit using drugs. No self-help guide on earth can sufficiently explain how to develop discipline in the face of a drug-addicted mind. Rehab is the key.
- Replacing Drug Use with Something Else: Here’s an inpatient rehab technique that has been appropriated by the self-guided rehab movement. The more you use drugs and become addicted, the more you abandon hobbies and endeavors that use to give you passion. Both real rehab and cold turkey rehab recommend that you form positive habits that encourage good behavior to replace your negative behavior. The reason why this recommendation rings more true with residential rehab than self-guided rehab is that the latter alleges that’s all you need to know to get over your addiction, while the former has multiple steps needed to help you get to that point where you can start having hobbies again.
- Expert-Guided Recovery: It’s better to treat even burgeoning addiction with rehab instead of self-guided rehab because you’re getting the assistance of experts. The same suggestions you can get from e-books telling you how to recover from addiction are readily available in inpatient clinics across the nation or globe. Treating addiction is not as simple as depending on a self-help book that you can follow at the comfort of your own home. Rather than depend on online instruction manuals like a self-guided diet, it’s better to have a rehab clinic custom-fit a treatment to your unique situation.
Top Tips for Rehab-Based Sobriety When Facing Addiction
There’s a reason why most inpatient clinics are found in the most secluded of places. It’s because when you’re addicted, you should leave or get away from the triggers or causes that drove you to become an addict in the first place. It can be as simple as boredom and peer pressure and as traumatizing as domestic issues or sexual abuse. Being addicted is being in a rut or chasing a high with no finish line in sight.
At any rate, here are the things you can depend on from rehab clinics when it comes to recovering from addiction that you cannot achieve through self-guided, cold turkey addiction treatment alone.
- Change Your Lifestyle and Avoid Your Triggers: Sometimes, your best bet is to leave the town you’re in and stop going to the same places you’ve been going as well as stop seeing the same people you always see by getting inpatient rehab abroad. Change can be gradual but when it comes to something as drastic as crystal meth or crack addiction, you might need some drastic measures and sudden change to jolt yourself back to sobriety. If the people who are close to you are real friends and family, they should trust you will come back in a year or so once you’re able to.
- Don’t Underestimate The Human Spirit: Human society and civilization rests on the shoulders of giants for sure. However, human cooperation and the unbreakable human spirit also did their part in making our species progress so much since the Stone Age. In turn, don’t underestimate yourself as an individual. You’re a product of 3.8 billion years of evolution. Act like it. Start small. Deal with things one day at a time. Attend all your AA meetings or complete all 3 months of inpatient rehab. Afterwards, get a menial job and support yourself. Take up something worthwhile. Go to a place where no one knows your name and restart your life. Do something about your addiction.
- Self-Motivation and Reliance on Yourself: Even though quitting cold turkey isn’t recommended to deal with addiction, that doesn’t mean you should rely on inpatient or outpatient rehab alone either. Rehab works best with your participation, self-motivation, and reliance on yourself. Telling yourself, “No, Dummy!” can go a long way in keeping you from taking drugs once rehab is over and you’re dealing with remnants of your cravings. Do something with your hands. Don’t abandon all hope or if you’re faced with rock bottom, motivate yourself by saying, “There’s no way to go but up.” You need to believe in yourself, especially if you get to the point where no one else would.
- Discipline Involves Forming Good Habits: Addiction is simply your brain changing its inner circuitry or neurons to develop a new pattern of action or behavior after using certain drugs for so long. Certain drugs have a direct side effect of fooling your brain into thinking that taking them is a great accomplishment. You should discipline yourself early on to develop good habits like dental and bodily hygiene, cleaning up your house, or going to work or school on time. However, do so after undergoing real rehab instead of self-help rehab. Actual rehab shows you how to develop discipline and coping mechanisms against the pernicious cravings and withdrawal symptoms of recovering addicts.
- Pick Between Outpatient and Inpatient Rehab: Most importantly, if you’re struggling with drug addiction or alcoholism, you should know that you can always change and move forward with either outpatient or inpatient rehab. Don’t hesitate to avail of them if you feel helpless and unable to quit on your own. Don’t let yourself become a slave to your cravings and vices. Light to moderate addiction can be dealt with through outpatient treatment while moderate to severe addiction might call for 3 months of intensive inpatient treatment.
The Bottom Line
The thing you need to understand about quitting cold turkey or disciplining yourself on your own—as opposed to depending on a clinic or 12-step meetings—is that it’s dangerous. It’s better to go rehab than to try and use a self-help book you’ve downloaded on the Internet to quit smoking, drugs, and alcohol. The main issue with addiction is sometimes you’re more predisposed to it compared to others.
Investing in drug cessation programs or rehab is to err on the side of caution so that you don’t fall off the slippery slope or downward spiral of substance abuse disorder because of bad influences in your DNA, your environment, or the drugs you’re using themselves. You can also avail of rehab tourism at Clarity Rehab in Thailand in order to significantly lower the prices of inpatient rehab if money is your main issue with getting much-needed addiction treatment help.
Addiction Rehabilitation Program at Clarity Rehab Thailand
It’s better to avoid becoming addicted than attempting to quit using drugs cold-turkey. You should also do ample research and observe due diligence in preventing drug addiction in the first place. If you have already developed a drug or alcohol addiction, please call the experts for help. Consult a doctor instead of self-diagnosing an addiction treatment for yourself.
Call, text, or email Clarity Luxury Rehab Thailand with their 24/7 hotline in order to contact their dedicated staff and crew for more info. They also feature dual diagnosis, individualized therapy, and counselors who are ex-addicts themselves. Call now!
