Can a drug rehab professional/program do anything for someone who doesn’t see anything wrong/harmful about drug usage?
Seems like you go to rehab if you want to kick the habit. If you don’t see anything wrong but still want to kick the habit maybe it still works. But if you don’t want to quit why would you go to rehab?
Just a WAG, but I kinda doubt it. After all, if you see it as harmless or even beneficial, how are you going to be “rehabbed”? It’s like convincing a smoker that there is something wrong with him smoking. If he does not see it, you will never get him to quit smoking. I am an ex-smoker and trust me, you can really delude yourself.
I think what you will need is some education on the effects of the drugs first. I am sure you can find something on the Internet which can give some good data on the negative effects of whatever drugs you are talking about here. In terms of quitting smoking, I first had to get to the point where I was willing to look at the data and then I did my own research on it and decided it was time to stop, cold turkey.
Here’s a couple of suggestions from a quick search: Link1 Link2
People go to rehab without any real intention of quitting all the time. Lots of people rack up 20 or more rehab stays and I have met some that have over 100 under their belt. They do it for several reasons including satisfying someone else or the courts, getting medical care so they can live to use some more, or just because they feel like hell and want an enforced break. Lots of people, including hardened drug addicts like going to rehab believe it or not. It gives them a chance to take a break while getting a medically supervised detox if they need one and all the other care they want for a while.
That first site, at least, appears to be associated with Scientology, and can’t be trusted at all.
Of courser there are people who go to rehab and don’t want to quit, but I’d say they are few. The same way I know most people who want to lose weight are genuine in their desire to lose weight. But they fail on diets because they get into it and can’t see the benefit in losing weight versus the enjoyment of eating.
That doesn’t mean they don’t want to lose weight. No one sets out to be an obese person anymore than they set out to be a junkie. But it happens while you’re busy doing other things.
If someone doesn’t see his/her drinking is harming her, it’s most likely they are lying to themselves and know it. The thing is the harm they are doing to themselves doesn’t outweight the immediate gratification.
Life isn’t what you make it, you take what life dishes out to you and make the best out of it. And there are people, that quite frankly, just don’t have a heck of a lot to be happy about.
Add to this we are bombarded by messages that say, happiness is the lack of sadness. Which is ridiculous. Just because you’re not sad, or angry or on an even keel, doesn’t mean you’re happy. Happiness is a total seperate emotion. But people say if I can’t be happy at least I can stop the unhappiness. They are equating a lack of unhappiness with happiness, which isn’t so.
Rehab may help because get people off the drugs and they may see a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately sometimes there just is nothing good to go home to once you get off the drugs, so they go back.
Most folks who go into treatment are ambivalent about quitting, and most have some sort of “lever” which is encouraging them to go into treatment: Threatened job or marriage loss, legal consequences, loss of professional license, health issues, etc. Those sorts of feelings are no bar to succeeding in treatment.
However, a person who has no desire to quit, and no clear and present imminent dire consequences from failing to quit, will probably not succeed in treatment, nor even stay in it very long.
I agree with Qadgop: most people go to rehab because they are forced to. Either by legal authorities, or by their family or employer. And how they got into rehab seems to be irrelevant to the success or failure of the treatment program.
One of the first items on any rehab program is getting people to look truthfully at how their addiction is affecting their life. If their drug use is harmful, that should become clear to them.