Treatment is quite the shared experience. Everyone who comes to treatment has reached some low point of suffering and struggle in their lives and made the decision to seek help to change things around. During treatment emotions are raw, energy is volatile, and there is an unprecedented amount of vulnerability surrounding every moment of the day. Recovering from drug and alcohol addiction among other men who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction is an experience like no other. Nobody on the planet can know what it is like to go to treatment and seek recovery than those who do. Bonding with others is typically immediate and intense due to the openness everyone is sharing in order to heal.
Friendships made in treatment can last a lifetime, but unfortunately, addiction tends to claim many lives through overdose or by inspiring isolation. After treatment, if men do not enter a transitional living, sober living, or step-down treatment program at a lower level of care, they are at risk of isolating. Going from a high intensity, recovery-focused environment to a solo, normal, social-focused environment can be jarring, to say the least. In the rooms of treatment, it becomes easy for men to relate to one another on many different levels. Outside of treatment, where men aren’t “forced” to be in each other’s company, live together, or go through group therapy, experiential therapy, and other activity together, relating to others can become a challenge again. Men can quickly feel lonely, even abandoned, and slip into old ways of thinking which tell them they are somehow apart from the world, rather than a part of the world. This slippery slope of negative thinking transforms into pain, longing, and self-sabotage. The voice of addiction soon replaces the voice of recovery. Rather than a man telling himself “you have no reason to pick up a drink or a drug” a man can start telling himself “look at all these reasons you have to pick up a drink or a drug”.
Tree House Recovery of Portland, Oregon is a men’s addiction treatment center that teaches our clients how to roll with life’s punches and use the tools they’ve learned throughout the treatment process to stay on top of anything life throws at them. Call (503) 850-2474 to see how we can help you today.
