Originally Posted by anvilhead

rehab is just a place to get out of the rain and dry off for a bit....it's NOT the answer, the solution, the cure. except for being isolated from the real world, you can pretty much get the same recovery info from AA or NA meetings.....you get as much OUT of recovery as you are willing to put IN.....

it takes what it takes. my husband did 3 different treatments over his 20 year using parade....he never walked out of the doors of rehab CURED, but his body and mind did get a chance to clean up and he did make the effort to stay clean for a few months at a time........back in '87 i was in a pretty bad place with drinking, and after a particularly awful night i got up the next morning, showered, and hit a noon AA meeting.......and stayed clean and sober for almost 8 years. in a row. til my life got boring as hell, and i felt like a autotron, a human doing instead of a human being, and my meeting attendance fell by the wayside and drinking again with my old drinking buddy (the one i'd had that awful night with so long ago) seemed like a reasonable idea.......

AA doesn't fail people. Rehab doesn't fail people. God doesn't......addiction is pure and simple a HUGE monster with many heads, cut one off, two more grow back......it takes an equally HUGE amount of effort by THE ADDICT to even gain neutral ground.........and the effort must be sustained, over a lifetime.