Inpatient Rehab Regulations

Alcoholism and drug abuse are serious diseases with serious ramifications for life, and entering a drug or alcohol rehabilitation facility to treat those diseases can be quite frightening. Mandated regulations can be comforting to an addict entering treatment; many addicts feel out of control in their lives and finding a measure of control in accomplishing day to day tasks can help make the recovery process a success. Following the rules also lets the you focus on what's important -- learning how to make choices that support a sober lifestyle.

Learn the Rules

• At first, it may seem as though you're being confronted with a bunch of arbitrary rules just to make your life more difficult. While these rules can seem overly strict, participating in recovery takes dedication, discipline and a sincere desire to succeed. Patients who are going through detoxification and withdrawal will often chafe at the regulations that are enforced, but many come to understand and be comforted by the familiarity of having rules to follow. Learning the rules and being willing to follow them is a small step toward developing the discipline that you are going to need as a recovering addict. All of the rules are geared toward helping you achieve and maintain your sobriety.

Attend all your classes and be on time

• This is an important step in your recovery, one that is designed to do several things: to make sure that you have access to all of the important information that you need for your recovery, and to create an environment in which you can confront the pain of your addiction, past actions, and the ramifications of your addiction on your family and friends. If you don't process, you don't recover. It is the center's job to provide you with a safe place in those classes where you can understand the pain you're feeling and move beyond it, as well as gaining the necessary tools to get your life together.

Keep everything confidential

• Another critical facet of recovery is privacy; not just yours, but everyone's. In keeping with providing a safe place for people to talk about their past, things they have done and what they hope to do, it is imperative that you do not reveal what happens in your group to anyone at the center or on the outside. You want your privacy respected; it is important that you respect others' privacy as well. If you break confidentiality, the other patients are going to feel that their safe place has been violated, and that can affect the success of not only their recovery, but yours.

Walk away from romantic relationships or sexual encounters

• Treatment is about getting better; it's not a dating service. Due to the heightened state of emotion that goes along with being in rehab, it is quite common for patients to engage in sexual or romantic encounters. The reason that it is mandatory that you stay away from such occurrences is that you are in a state of transition; everything in your life is up in the air right now. Throwing romance into the mix can serve as a major distraction from recovery for both of you. While it might feel like a relief to distract yourself, even for a moment, remember that you are here to recover from a disease, and that it takes serious focus.

Keep it clean

• While in rehab, you will be assigned daily chores that you must perform. One of them is keeping your room clean and your bed made. It may seem silly, but it is actually an important part of the treatment. Rehab is about bringing order to your chaotic life, and making sure that you are disciplined enough to complete simple daily tasks is a contributor to your overall success. If your life was not chaotic, you wouldn't be in treatment, so make your bed and fold your laundry, because it's also about developing discipline and a sense of pride for yourself for a job well done. If you can keep your room clean here, you will help you keep your life clean when you have graduated treatment.