Transitioning From a Rehab in India to Normal Life

Rehab is a place where you can stay if you are suffering from an illness such as addiction. This is something that helps you on the road to recovery, especially in the earlier stages of your treatment. Rehab provides you comfort and safety and allows you to take a step back, which might be difficult when living in the outside world all by yourself. As well as this, it allows you to cope with your situation in life so that after leaving the facility, you could face everyday challenges easily and live life with positivity!

Moving on from rehab can be liberating and rewarding, but it must be done in a manner that will also cause many changes to come out of every day.

The challenges associated with remaining abstinent after you leave a rehab centre in India are similar to those faced before one enters it. For this reason, it's important to realize certain challenges that come up after leaving can be anticipated - and therefore managed.

The move from a supported environment back to normal living can feel overwhelming or even like too much work. Upon leaving rehab in India, you may find yourself thrown into situations that spark the thought of reverting back to old habits. For example, returning to your old neighborhood and old routines, seeing family members and friends that used to be part of your world before you sought treatment for addictions, or being confronted with emotions that you haven't felt in a while can all make life outside recovery seem tempting again if it's something new or uncomfortable.

When getting out of alcohol rehab in India, there are things you can do to avoid or manage these temptations. For example:

Find a solid support system. Surround yourself with sober people who are there for you during your challenges and that can help you find solutions to any problems that come up during this challenging transformation.

Modify your environment. Try to avoid places that might spark feelings of interest toward drug use or remain in places that provoke a sense of security. Removing any potentially harmful objects is often a great way to begin this process as well! Just like you, we know there's nothing more important than feeling safe and secure and nothing can seem like more of a threat to one's safety than being surrounded by paraphernalia related to drugs.

Set goals for the future. When you set goals for the future, it will be much easier to manage your desires when they arise. That's what it means to form a vision in our lives and that's something that's vital we do as human beings if we want to successfully live out an emotionally healthy, happy, and successful life expectancy. As such, having a sense of why you want to stay sober and all the benefits it will bring to your life will make all of your decisions much clearer and keep the temptations at bay while keeping you more focused on achieving those things in life that are most important to us all.

It’s important to follow up with your care. If you’ve scheduled follow-up appointments with your rehab center or a doctor, stick to these appointments. You may feel tempted to skip them, but remember that it’s much easier to avoid temptations when you are receiving assistance from health professionals.

Every morning, look at five things that you’re grateful for in your life. For reflection, a gratitude journal can help remind us of all the things that we should be thankful for and can also inspire us to find ways to incorporate what we're grateful for into our daily lives in new and different ways.

Studies have shown that journaling your feelings helps you to express emotions with less fear of criticism. Journaling has furthermore been associated with reduced depression and grief reactions, as well as improved health outcomes like reduced stress and improved immune function. If you write down your thoughts in a journal, it becomes easier to put the things that are bothering you into words and even use this opportunity to understand them better or make meaning out of them which is only beneficial for the mind, body, and soul! [1]

Think about forming some new, healthy habits to replace the less favorable ones. According to a study published in The European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes more than two months before a new habit becomes stable and automatic - so choose a new, positive behavior you enjoy and stick with it. [2]

One way to begin to repair things after you stop a habit like drugs, for example, is to fill your time with new things that can act as replacements for whatever it was you were doing previously. It’s important to not dwell on the past but rather think about what you really want from yourself and how your life could be better in the future when all is said and done.

No matter where you live, there are positive outlets that provide community and support during your life after rehab. Surround yourself with encouraging individuals by joining a support group, attending counseling sessions, and participating in meet-up activities. You can also participate in many types of continuing care, such as individual therapy, check-ups, 12-step meetings, or alternative support groups.

Twelve-step groups are the most popular types of support groups for addicts. They stress abstinence and use a set of 12 steps to help people recovering from addictions and/or other disorders, work on their personal development, and develop communications with other members. Members take responsibility for their own recovery, share their experiences and learn from others, as well as build up a relationship with a higher power while working with an assigned sponsor who is an experienced member in long-term recovery. [3]

People who are new at recovery may not be ready to deal with as challenging of temptations. They are vulnerable and not equipped to handle going to events with alcohol or parties in general. They will have a hard time dealing with temptations, given that they have yet to find the replacement habits that serve as stand-ins for their old ones.

Teaching clients these simple rules, help them understand that recovery is not complicated or beyond their control. It is based on a few simple rules that are easy to remember: 1) change your life; 2) be completely honest; 3) ask for help; 4) practice self-care; and 5) don’t bend the rules. [4]

However, if you’re placed in a situation where encountering some type of drinking is unavoidable (for example at your best friend's holiday party or on a trip abroad), there are a few steps you can take to make the situation easier to manage.

Hang around family, friends, and peers you can trust. Also, carry a non-alcoholic beverage in hand to keep your senses occupied which helps you avoid potentially compromising circumstances. Lastly, leave simply if you feel uncomfortable or tempted.

Having a stable yet sober environment to reside in is an important component of addiction recovery. In environments where alcohol or drugs are present, cravings may arise and it can be difficult to resist use. Those who wish to seek a safe and supportive environment after treatment may benefit from sober living homes. Sober living homes prohibit the use of drugs and alcohol, which allows those in recovery to live with others facing similar challenges as they transition from their treatment plan into independent living away from other environments that might trigger dire consequences due to drug relapses. The goal for individuals living in these residences is to help them build the resources so that they can transition into independently leading a substance-free lifestyle. [5]

Remaining sober allows you to reap many health benefits, including improved liver and heart function, enhanced performance in daily physical activities, and better-quality sleep. However, remaining sober goes beyond the physical benefits. Other reasons to stay sober include greater memory capacity (the decision-making area of your brain is more active when you're sober) and more money in your bank account (less spending on drugs means more cash for other things).

Recovering from drug or alcohol addiction may be one of the most difficult things you’ll ever have to do. It won’t be an easy and seamless process but it can also provide you with newfound strength when you overcome the things you thought might never happen to you. Achieving sobriety is no small feat, but it can open up doors that might not have been possible if you hadn’t broken away from negative habits in your past!

A journey only begins with a single step, so it's important not to put too much pressure on yourself when you're tempted by old habits. If you're considering going back to a top rehabilitation centre in India or needing some help staying clean after rehab, contact us right away so we can go over the many options available to you and find the one that is most suitable for your specific needs.

1. 1. Journaling as an Aid to Recovery. American addiction centers recovery.org. Retrieved on 30 March 2022 from- https://recovery.org/pro/articles/journaling-as-an-aid-to-recovery/
2. 2. Lally P, van Jaarsveld C H M, Potts H W W and Wardle J. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. Eur J Soc Psychol 2010; 40: 998-1009. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.674
3. 3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2008). An Introduction to Mutual Support Groups for Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Substance Abuse in Brief Fact Sheet, 5(1).
4. 4. Melemis SM. Relapse Prevention and the Five Rules of Recovery. Yale J Biol Med. 2015;88(3):325-332. Published 2015 Sep 3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553654/
5. 5. National Association of Recovery Residences. (2012). A Primer on Recovery Residences: FAQs from the National Association of Recovery Residences. https://narronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Primer-on-Recovery-Residences-09-20-2012a.pdf

Dr. Niharika Singh received her MBBS degree from Kurukshetra University, following which she went on to complete MD Psychiatry from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore. During her residency program, she pursued her thesis on psychosocial factors and the personality profiles of early and late-onset alcohol dependence syndrome. With a view to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the field of mental health, she then continued to train regularly with premier institutes such as Harvard Medical School - McLean Hospital (USA) in Mind-Body Medicine, Beck Institute (USA) in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, NIMHANS (Bangalore) in Addiction Psychiatry, Behaviour Medicine, Clinical Neurophysiology and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation and has completed Fellowship in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation from Duke University (USA). After post-graduation, she decided to pursue her passion for writing and has a mission to inform the public about addiction issues. Her primary goal is to help those in need of treatment find the best option for them.

Gauri Kapoor embarked on her journey into sobriety 7 years ago, which led her to her current career path as a Certified Professional Addiction Recovery Coach in Delhi, India. She works closely with facilities that provide residential addiction treatment such as 12-Step programs and other nonprofits to help individuals deal with their addiction.