How the NA 12 Steps Can Help You Break Free From Addiction’s Hold
Anyone who’s gone through detox only to find him or herself back using drugs knows how addiction’s effects can linger on after stopping drug use. Once addiction takes hold, it’s not uncommon for addicts to go through multiple rounds of detox treatment before seeing any real results.
Once you step back into the world drug-free, dealing with addiction’s hold over your thoughts, emotions and behaviors offers the only means for staying drug-free for any length of time. This is where the NA 12 Steps can help.
If you need help finding 12 Step program treatment, call our toll-free helpline at 800-781-0748 (Who Answers?) .
Addiction’s Influence
Whether your drug of choice is heroin, cocaine or prescription drugs, addictive substances all interact with the brain in harmful ways. Over time, the brain develops both a physical and psychological dependence on the drug’s effects, according to the University of Utah.
Drug detox only treats the physical dependence. This means, some form of “post-detox” treatment or direction is needed in order for a person to overcome addiction’s effects and maintain continued abstinence.
The NA 12 Steps offers a long-term approach for helping you break free from addiction’s hold once and for all.
The NA 12 Steps Approach
Identifying Addiction’s Effects
Much of the problem with trying to abstain from further drug use stems from not knowing how addiction works. In effect, the drug’s effects have become “the” primary motivation in a person’s daily life, even after drug use stops, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
This means, there’s no real reason to get excited or feel connected to other areas of life, such as relationships, career or planning for the future. The NA 12 Step approach not only helps you identify where addiction’s effects show up in your daily life, but also helps you reconnect with the areas of your life that matter most.
Developing a Higher Power Source
The Higher Power referred to in NA 12 Steps plays a pivotal role in helping a person break free of addiction’s hold on his or her mind. While many may assume this Higher Power is a religious-based component, it’s actually a means for helping you reconnect with your own personal values and expectations for your life.
In effect, developing a Higher Power source means connecting with whatever inspires you to be the person you want to be.
Developing a Healthy Mindset
More than anything else, a person’s mindset in terms of of his or her priorities, motivations and beliefs sets the course for his or her life’s direction. The addiction mindset is focused on getting drugs and getting “high.”
A healthy, drug-free mindset is focused on doing what’s necessary to maintain continued abstinence no matter how difficult it may be. The overall purpose of NA 12 Steps works to help you develop a mindset that’s motivated towards change and focused on living a drug-free life.
For more information on the 12 Step treatment approach, call our helpline at 800-781-0748 (Who Answers?) to speak with one of our addiction specialists.