Patient’s #1 Priority

A patient of any disease has priorities. For some, It is urgent, for example, a brain surgery. And in others, things can wait, like in dental work. So, being a disease, addiction also calls for a priority list. It would be common sense to assume the addict’s recovery would be at the top of his priorities; since everything he has or does depends on his mental workings: social life, finances, physical life, all these are targeted by this disease. 

So, Why do people not put it as their No.1 priority? It is because of two reasons:

1. They assume it is not as dangerous as doctors are saying.

2.They do not understand that this disease is a kind of contagious disease which also makes the patient’s family ill. After all, it is a genetic illness.

It’s because of these two major reasons that families end up causing irreversible damage to themselves and their patients.

Why should we consider it a top priority?

That’s simple: This illness is affecting our brain, which processes everything we do. We can’t survive without a perfectly functioning brain. In addition to that, It turns the liver into just fiber tissue. If these two organs don’t work, every part of the patient’s life would collapse. 

When we are a little into the treatment, we start to feel better and think we can remove this illness from top priority. Maybe we are thinking about moving to Canada, or we want to get a PHD or Want to get married; All these reasons are excuses that our brain is making for it to start using substances again. This is called denial. If this isn’t understood and stopped, the patient has a relapse. A patient can die at any time due to overdose, thus relapses are very risky.

Thus, We have to keep recovery as the top priority. Once we have made all the arrangements in our life so that it will not affect our treatment, we can move on to anything.

How to sustain treatment as top priority?

1. Be consistent in follow ups

2. Learn to say ‘No’ to events or happenings that can be a risk to your recovery

3. Stay on schedule. routine. stay focused.

4. Work on your character flaws

5. Help other addicts in recovery

These are some ways in which you can sustain treatment as your top priority. And this is the only way you can walk for success.

To reach your goals in addiction recovery, every single goal is needed to be accomplished. The drug treatment in Punjab specially takes care of these minor steps not to break the routine and supports a candidate to reach milestones further on.  To understand these things it is better to consult a Psychiatrist who will diagnose the cause of the problem and treat it accordingly.