Introduction: Why people are delaying going into rehab.
You are not alone in delaying going into rehab. There are many reasons as to why alcoholics and addicts might not enter treatment for their addictions. I can honestly say, if I did not, I would be dead, or dying a slow and painful death. I would not be married to my wonderful wife of 17 years, heck I would never have had my 10 year old son to begin with. Treatment gave me a chance and a new way of thinking, and a new way of life. God guided me and I listened.
Denial: They feel they do not need treatment.
For years people told me I had a problem and I just didn’t listen but deep down inside I knew I did. I just would not admit it, and I was not only lying to people who loved me, I was lying to myself. I ended up going to family counseling and then AA meetings but I wasn’t 100% invested. Maybe I was just going to satisfy my wife, maybe I was going to satisfy the counselor. Maybe I still thought I could still drink occasionally someday?
Not 100 % ready: They are not ready to stop drinking.
I believe you have to be 100 % ready, not 99% . 100%. End of discussion. In 2008, I went to therapy, family counseling and AA meetings before I went to China. I think I was probably 95% ready. As soon as I had the time, as soon as I got on the airplane away from my wife I started drinking and then spent the entire summer drinking. She told me on the phone that once I got home I needed to enter treatment and stop forever or we were done. I went back to AA meetings and everything was good until I had time on my hands. The same thing happened as soon as I got on the plane, I started drinking. I thought I could get away with it and my wife wouldn’t know. She always knew. This is when I hit my rock bottom and completely understood that I was powerless over alcohol and drugs and that I needed help. I was 100% done at this point.
Money: They do not have health coverage or cannot afford the costs.
When I walked into the treatment center and the counselor that greeted me asked me “what lengths I would go to to drink and use, any?” I said “yes” and said “then what lengths would you go to to get help to get treatment to get your life back on track and learn a better way of living?” I said “ANY”. He then “sign up”, and I said “well I don’t know how much this costs. I don’t know if I can afford it and he said “what’s your life for it?” “ Put a dollar value on it and even if it was a million dollars, is your life worth $1,000,000?” and I said yes “he said then sign up, you want your life back?” “Money shouldn’t be a factor in your decision, it’s your life.” That put things in perspective for me.
The Running Without the Devil Transformation Fund aims to help addicts to get the treatment they need. Find more information and sign up here.
I believe you have to be 100 % ready, not 99% . 100%. End of discussion.
Henry Ward
Negative Stigma
They worry about the negative effect treatment will have on job or school or even social life moving forward. … Initially I was delaying going into rehab because I didn’t want anybody to know, including my family. I told my mother and a couple close friends that I was entering treatment. I would tell the rest of my friends or anyone that asked why I was not drinking that I was on medication and I couldn’t drink. This was true because my stomach was so messed up, but after a month of the medication I no longer had that excuse. I didn’t feel like it was anybody’s business. I figured this would be something that was a private family matter. Couple years later I decided that even though I was ashamed of my behavior and some of the things I did and the damage that I caused, at the end of the day I didn’t want to be the way I was, which was an alcoholic. It is a disease and I had it badly. I didn’t want work to know because I thought people would look at me funny or they would criticize me on everything because I was a screwup, when really I just had a chemical dependency problem did I could not control or stop until I got treatment, and I completely understood that one drink was too many and 100 was not enough, and that I was powerless over alcohol and drugs.
They feel overwhelmed:
They do not know where to go for help. I feel like people don’t know where to start. They can search on the internet for a place and it’s not like your test driving a car or getting a hotel room you’re entering into a treatment center and it’s scary; there’s a lot of unknown and fear of what could happen or what will happen.
Bottom line is that there are a million excuses not to get treatment or help. Treatment saved my life and can save others. There is no price you can put on your life and should not be a factor entering treatment.
Are you interested to learn more about my journey? You can purchase my book, Running Without the Devil here.
