Outpatient treatment...
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Nashville
Posts: 326
Outpatient treatment...
So I've been doing intense outpatient treatment for substance abuse for about two and a half weeks now, and I really feel like it's not doing anything whatsoever to help. The ONLY way it's helping is by giving me somewhere to be early in the mornings to where I'm less tempted to drink the night beforehand. Has anyone that's ever done IOP felt similar?
Canine Welfare Advocate
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 10,962
Have you been sober the whole time you've been IOP? If so, that's something. If you've been reading around the forum you should have seen where people struggle to string a couple of days together. So any sober time is a sign something is working.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 292
I attended an outpatient program that consisted of two weeks of daily 6 hour sessions, which included a daily AA meeting, then 8 weeks of 3 hour session 3 times per week. I feel like the real benefit was the accountability it provided..to the therapist, the other patients, and to the ever present urinalysis testing which meant I was never tempted to sneak a drink. I had been to inpatient the four weeks before that, so the IOP was sort of a supplement to that. On its own, I don't now how much of a difference the IOP would have made.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 322
When I was weighing in-patient, out-patient, etc. I thought about it long and hard. Since I didn't need detox, I figured all that in/out treatment was going to do was provide intense counseling, 1-on-1 and group therapy, and then shake my hand, turn me loose, and advise me to hook up with a local AA group. And it was going to be expensive even with insurance. So.........I decided to just go straight to my local AA group. It's close to my mom's (where I have been staying) and it's free. I have been going twice a day for the past 21 days and I get real value out of it. I've been sober 25 days without any cravings, feelings of deprivation, or even physical/emotional issues. And I am a professional alcoholic with 42 years of hard drinking experience. It's working for me, but I am being very open-minded about it. I find myself teachable.
Just some thoughts. I you're doing something that you feel isn't working or you're not benefiting from it, do something different.
Just some thoughts. I you're doing something that you feel isn't working or you're not benefiting from it, do something different.
NA Member - Atheist
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Middletown CT USA
Posts: 770
I just got back from speaking at my old outpatient.
I really didn't realize the benefit it had at the time. Likewise, I really didn't "feel" the benefit from attending NA every day and doing what they suggested. Oddly enough, over time I started to notice the benefits of those things.
I was not happy at my outpatient. But, it gave me three hours a day, three days a week where I was safe. everything they told me makes sense now, but at the time it didn't. I look back upon it fondly now. Two of us are still clean 4 years later.
Addicts like instant gratification. Recovery and the things that help it along just don't work like that. I learned that I was in no way qualified to judge if something was working for me in terms of my recovery, because I wanted magical instant recovery, and I made my judgements based upon that warped view of reality.
I really didn't realize the benefit it had at the time. Likewise, I really didn't "feel" the benefit from attending NA every day and doing what they suggested. Oddly enough, over time I started to notice the benefits of those things.
I was not happy at my outpatient. But, it gave me three hours a day, three days a week where I was safe. everything they told me makes sense now, but at the time it didn't. I look back upon it fondly now. Two of us are still clean 4 years later.
Addicts like instant gratification. Recovery and the things that help it along just don't work like that. I learned that I was in no way qualified to judge if something was working for me in terms of my recovery, because I wanted magical instant recovery, and I made my judgements based upon that warped view of reality.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
Ya know, it was never about where or what I was at any particular moment in early sobriety, but about what I was becoming, or about that which I had faith in becoming. There were things that I just didn't like to do in order get sober, and that did not provide any obvious or immediate benefit to me at the time (or so I thought), but I did them anyway.
Getting sober may be more about perspective than anything else. I dragged myself, just barely, to detox when I could no longer function on my own. Then I went through 28-day, inpatient rehab, something I very much needed. I had no place else to go, and I was whatever is beyond exhausted. When I went to IOP treatment for three months, I didn't like it, but I needed a place to be, three hours from Monday to Friday, and one hour on Saturdays, where there was potential for me to learn something. More important, it was a place where I couldn't drink, and might just experience temporary relief from my intense and daily cravings. Though I may have wanted to do so on many of those days, I knew in my heart that sitting at home alone wouldn't have worked for me.
That was followed by another nine months of regular OP treatment, in addition to one-on-one counseling with one of the therapists at the facility, also completely voluntary. In both IOP and OP, I was spend a couple of hours or more at the library each day it was open. I'd then go home, have something to eat, and then head to an AA meeting. On many days, I went to more than one meeting. I found a sponsor, and I worked the program, meaning, I went through the AA Big Book and the Twelve Steps with my sponsor. I wasn't trying to set a world record for treatment. The fact is, beginning with detox a few months before detox, I had no place else to go.
After my year was up at the facility, I did many of the same things I did while I was in treatment, replacing addiction treatment with a psychotherapist, and I continued on with a psychiatrist for medication. I'd suffered from major depressive disorder for more than sixteen years at that point, and I knew enough to know that I couldn't risk another episode, not the way I experience them. I pretty much maintained that unintended schedule for another year until I started working again in my field.
No one likes to be in addiction treatment of any kind. If you're not there because the legal system will put you in prison if you don't go, then you're there because you were on the brink of destroying yourself, and/or destroying important relationships and responsibilities in your life.
We're not supposed to like treatment. That's why it's called "treatment." My sense is that we have a natural resistance to "treatment" of any kind, and that statements like "(Name your treatment) isn't for me, isn't working or did not work for me" is more a natural resistance to doing what's necessary in order to heal than any specific treatment. To submit to treatment is essentially the beginning of giving up perhaps the most important thing in our lives, our own identities, and our way of being.
A large portion of people choose things that allow them to get sober in the privacy of their homes for similar reasons, and I wish them well. For me, getting sober was never a DIY project. My bias is that we get screwed up -- and screw up other people -- in relationships with other people, and that we also heal in the same way, one of the foundations of psychotherapy. It's not the experience, age, education or training of the therapist; it's the relationship that heals. Or, in some cases, that makes things worse.
If you ask me what was the "key" to my recovery, I couldn't tell you except to say I got sober because I did all the things I did. Maybe I would have been fine with less treatment or another kind of treatment, maybe I would have been fine with fewer meetings, with not getting a sponsor, or without AA completely. I'll never know. I didn't care at the time, and I've since only been grateful that I was able to find my way. I essentially didn't need to know very much at all; what I needed was to believe that there was a better way for me.
Speaking of perspective, I never did learn anything substantive in IOP and OP about addictions that I didn't already know. I was a drunk through my mid-twenties, and then stayed sober for twenty five years. During that time, I did both treatment and research in addictions, and I had my own personal experiences to draw on. But it never was about a lack of knowledge to me. What changed was not the quality or the amount of what I knew; it was an unscheduled change in perspective about what I'd learned in my life that made the difference. As I've described in different ways on SR, it was essentially the process itself that brought me to a better place.
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. Albert Einstein
Getting sober may be more about perspective than anything else. I dragged myself, just barely, to detox when I could no longer function on my own. Then I went through 28-day, inpatient rehab, something I very much needed. I had no place else to go, and I was whatever is beyond exhausted. When I went to IOP treatment for three months, I didn't like it, but I needed a place to be, three hours from Monday to Friday, and one hour on Saturdays, where there was potential for me to learn something. More important, it was a place where I couldn't drink, and might just experience temporary relief from my intense and daily cravings. Though I may have wanted to do so on many of those days, I knew in my heart that sitting at home alone wouldn't have worked for me.
That was followed by another nine months of regular OP treatment, in addition to one-on-one counseling with one of the therapists at the facility, also completely voluntary. In both IOP and OP, I was spend a couple of hours or more at the library each day it was open. I'd then go home, have something to eat, and then head to an AA meeting. On many days, I went to more than one meeting. I found a sponsor, and I worked the program, meaning, I went through the AA Big Book and the Twelve Steps with my sponsor. I wasn't trying to set a world record for treatment. The fact is, beginning with detox a few months before detox, I had no place else to go.
After my year was up at the facility, I did many of the same things I did while I was in treatment, replacing addiction treatment with a psychotherapist, and I continued on with a psychiatrist for medication. I'd suffered from major depressive disorder for more than sixteen years at that point, and I knew enough to know that I couldn't risk another episode, not the way I experience them. I pretty much maintained that unintended schedule for another year until I started working again in my field.
No one likes to be in addiction treatment of any kind. If you're not there because the legal system will put you in prison if you don't go, then you're there because you were on the brink of destroying yourself, and/or destroying important relationships and responsibilities in your life.
We're not supposed to like treatment. That's why it's called "treatment." My sense is that we have a natural resistance to "treatment" of any kind, and that statements like "(Name your treatment) isn't for me, isn't working or did not work for me" is more a natural resistance to doing what's necessary in order to heal than any specific treatment. To submit to treatment is essentially the beginning of giving up perhaps the most important thing in our lives, our own identities, and our way of being.
A large portion of people choose things that allow them to get sober in the privacy of their homes for similar reasons, and I wish them well. For me, getting sober was never a DIY project. My bias is that we get screwed up -- and screw up other people -- in relationships with other people, and that we also heal in the same way, one of the foundations of psychotherapy. It's not the experience, age, education or training of the therapist; it's the relationship that heals. Or, in some cases, that makes things worse.
If you ask me what was the "key" to my recovery, I couldn't tell you except to say I got sober because I did all the things I did. Maybe I would have been fine with less treatment or another kind of treatment, maybe I would have been fine with fewer meetings, with not getting a sponsor, or without AA completely. I'll never know. I didn't care at the time, and I've since only been grateful that I was able to find my way. I essentially didn't need to know very much at all; what I needed was to believe that there was a better way for me.
Speaking of perspective, I never did learn anything substantive in IOP and OP about addictions that I didn't already know. I was a drunk through my mid-twenties, and then stayed sober for twenty five years. During that time, I did both treatment and research in addictions, and I had my own personal experiences to draw on. But it never was about a lack of knowledge to me. What changed was not the quality or the amount of what I knew; it was an unscheduled change in perspective about what I'd learned in my life that made the difference. As I've described in different ways on SR, it was essentially the process itself that brought me to a better place.
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. Albert Einstein
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,476
Maybe you will be able to shift your perspective to see the IOP as one of the tools you use to help you with your recovery. Try to add some other things to your recovery that you think might help you.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
Originally Posted by IvanMike 
I just got back from speaking at my old outpatient.
I really didn't realize the benefit it had at the time. Likewise, I really didn't "feel" the benefit from attending NA every day and doing what they suggested. Oddly enough, over time I started to notice the benefits of those things.
I was not happy at my outpatient. But, it gave me three hours a day, three days a week where I was safe. everything they told me makes sense now, but at the time it didn't. I look back upon it fondly now. Two of us are still clean 4 years later.
Addicts like instant gratification. Recovery and the things that help it along just don't work like that. I learned that I was in no way qualified to judge if something was working for me in terms of my recovery, because I wanted magical instant recovery, and I made my judgements based upon that warped view of reality.
I really didn't realize the benefit it had at the time. Likewise, I really didn't "feel" the benefit from attending NA every day and doing what they suggested. Oddly enough, over time I started to notice the benefits of those things.
I was not happy at my outpatient. But, it gave me three hours a day, three days a week where I was safe. everything they told me makes sense now, but at the time it didn't. I look back upon it fondly now. Two of us are still clean 4 years later.
Addicts like instant gratification. Recovery and the things that help it along just don't work like that. I learned that I was in no way qualified to judge if something was working for me in terms of my recovery, because I wanted magical instant recovery, and I made my judgements based upon that warped view of reality.
Why use two hundred words when a thousand will do?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Nashville
Posts: 326
Thanks for the input.
I've never been to IOP before this, so I didn't know what to expect. For some reason, I expected more. It consists of just several group therapy sessions with two substance abuse psychiatrists sitting in with us. That's all... I never even get a one on one session with either of them.. it's just all group therapy. I just figured it would be more... intense...
And I'm not complaining about treatment. I just don't want to waste my precious mornings/time doing something that makes me feel frustrated every time I walk out the door. I chose to do this voluntarily because I am tired of living this way, I just figured it'd be helping more. The only way it's helped is by relieving me of the temptation to drink late at night after work because I know I have somewhere to be in the morning.
Besides the IOP, I AM seeing a therapist once a week and of course, staying close to SR.
I don't know. I've just been frustrated and disappointed with the IOP and honestly feel like I am wasting my time when I could be spending my mornings getting rested for work or meditating or going to meetings.
I've never been to IOP before this, so I didn't know what to expect. For some reason, I expected more. It consists of just several group therapy sessions with two substance abuse psychiatrists sitting in with us. That's all... I never even get a one on one session with either of them.. it's just all group therapy. I just figured it would be more... intense...
And I'm not complaining about treatment. I just don't want to waste my precious mornings/time doing something that makes me feel frustrated every time I walk out the door. I chose to do this voluntarily because I am tired of living this way, I just figured it'd be helping more. The only way it's helped is by relieving me of the temptation to drink late at night after work because I know I have somewhere to be in the morning.
Besides the IOP, I AM seeing a therapist once a week and of course, staying close to SR.
I don't know. I've just been frustrated and disappointed with the IOP and honestly feel like I am wasting my time when I could be spending my mornings getting rested for work or meditating or going to meetings.
A Day at a Time
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 6,435
The primary problem I had with IOP and AA for that matter is they wanted me to totally and forever quit drinking and drugging. Also they didn't have a quick fix. I just wanted to get over this addiction thing and get on with my life.
I learned over time that my ideas weren't working so maybe I should start listening to someone else's
I learned over time that my ideas weren't working so maybe I should start listening to someone else's
Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Posts: 15,236
The first 2 weeks in recovery was not
voluntary. It took a court order to send
me into a rehab facility where upon
completing those 2 weeks I was told if
I returned home to my every day environment,
I would surely return to drinking.
Alcohol was my drug of choice.
I was to be forwarded to a halfway
house further away from my home
and family, in which I begged to
remain where I was and would do
all that I could to finish the program
before my release.
They agreed and I stuck to my agreement
and completed 28 days instay rehab with
a 6 week aftercare outpatient tact on
which I also completed.
Those first few months and even tho
I wasn't putting anymore poison in my
system and remained sober, I was still
wet behind the ears so to speak. I was
still an infant in recovery and just as
a baby grows, i had to learn to crawl
before I could walk.
I was fed a lot of important information
and facts about addiction and its affects
on me and those around me and given
a program of recovery as a guide line
to incorporate in all areas of my life.
It took many one days at a time sober,
listening, learning, absorbing and applying
all this information to my daily life to
eventually begin seeing small miracles
happening and to be grateful for them.
I often heard to not leave before the
miracles of recovery happen and to
me that gave me hope. I wanted what
so many before me achieved in recovery
that I hung on for dear life and YES, those
promises, those small miracles began
to happen in my life.
My recovery journey began on
August 11, 1990, some 26 many
one days sober ago to get me where
I am today. Healthy, happy, honest
with continued maintenance each
day living upon my strong, sober,
foundation built over the yrs.
My hope for you just like the hope
passed on to me yrs ago, would be
to not leave before the miracle in
recovery happens to you.
My passion to live a sober life
marches on with each passing
sober day and so can yours.
voluntary. It took a court order to send
me into a rehab facility where upon
completing those 2 weeks I was told if
I returned home to my every day environment,
I would surely return to drinking.
Alcohol was my drug of choice.
I was to be forwarded to a halfway
house further away from my home
and family, in which I begged to
remain where I was and would do
all that I could to finish the program
before my release.
They agreed and I stuck to my agreement
and completed 28 days instay rehab with
a 6 week aftercare outpatient tact on
which I also completed.
Those first few months and even tho
I wasn't putting anymore poison in my
system and remained sober, I was still
wet behind the ears so to speak. I was
still an infant in recovery and just as
a baby grows, i had to learn to crawl
before I could walk.
I was fed a lot of important information
and facts about addiction and its affects
on me and those around me and given
a program of recovery as a guide line
to incorporate in all areas of my life.
It took many one days at a time sober,
listening, learning, absorbing and applying
all this information to my daily life to
eventually begin seeing small miracles
happening and to be grateful for them.
I often heard to not leave before the
miracles of recovery happen and to
me that gave me hope. I wanted what
so many before me achieved in recovery
that I hung on for dear life and YES, those
promises, those small miracles began
to happen in my life.
My recovery journey began on
August 11, 1990, some 26 many
one days sober ago to get me where
I am today. Healthy, happy, honest
with continued maintenance each
day living upon my strong, sober,
foundation built over the yrs.
My hope for you just like the hope
passed on to me yrs ago, would be
to not leave before the miracle in
recovery happens to you.
My passion to live a sober life
marches on with each passing
sober day and so can yours.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
Originally Posted by EndGameNYC
We're not supposed to like treatment. That's why it's called "treatment." My sense is that we have a natural resistance to "treatment" of any kind, and that statements like "(Name your treatment) isn't for me, isn't working or did not work for me" is more a natural resistance to doing what's necessary in order to heal than any specific treatment. To submit to treatment is essentially the beginning of giving up perhaps the most important thing in our lives, our own identities, and our way of being.
but between day one and 3 months, 2 things happened.
1) i didnt drink or use drugs.
2) i honestly and sincerely laughed! not every day, but i remember laughing!
THEN
when i was diagnosed stage 3c melanoma 13 months in. theres were treatments- one of which being a very serious chemo that i had to be admitted into the hospital to get the treatment.
the treatment made me feel physically worse than i had EVER felt in my life- take 6 months of hangovers and put them into 1 day- that would have felt good.
then there was the mental and emotional stress the chemo brought on.
nope, i didnt feel or see any results of the treatment for the 3 weeks i went through it. but afterwards, the results showed. POSITIVE RESULTS!!
and i healed.
cajunprincess, if youre like the majority here, youve been polluted for quite a few years. its going to take T.I.M.E to FEEL the change.
T.I.M.E. = Things I Must Earn.
and im sure everyone here will second that its well worth it.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 379
Originally Posted by tomsteve
wow! ghat is friggin awesome! so true for me treating my alcoholism. nope, i didnt see or feel anything different after even 2 months of my treatment- 4 aa meetings a week,reading the big book, and working the steps. i didnt see or feel anything really until 3 months.
but between day one and 3 months, 2 things happened.
1) i didnt drink or use drugs.
2) i honestly and sincerely laughed! not every day, but i remember laughing!
THEN
when i was diagnosed stage 3c melanoma 13 months in. theres were treatments- one of which being a very serious chemo that i had to be admitted into the hospital to get the treatment.
the treatment made me feel physically worse than i had EVER felt in my life- take 6 months of hangovers and put them into 1 day- that would have felt good.
then there was the mental and emotional stress the chemo brought on.
nope, i didnt feel or see any results of the treatment for the 3 weeks i went through it. but afterwards, the results showed. POSITIVE RESULTS!!
and i healed.
cajunprincess, if youre like the majority here, youve been polluted for quite a few years. its going to take T.I.M.E to FEEL the change.
T.I.M.E. = Things I Must Earn.
and im sure everyone here will second that its well worth it.
but between day one and 3 months, 2 things happened.
1) i didnt drink or use drugs.
2) i honestly and sincerely laughed! not every day, but i remember laughing!
THEN
when i was diagnosed stage 3c melanoma 13 months in. theres were treatments- one of which being a very serious chemo that i had to be admitted into the hospital to get the treatment.
the treatment made me feel physically worse than i had EVER felt in my life- take 6 months of hangovers and put them into 1 day- that would have felt good.
then there was the mental and emotional stress the chemo brought on.
nope, i didnt feel or see any results of the treatment for the 3 weeks i went through it. but afterwards, the results showed. POSITIVE RESULTS!!
and i healed.
cajunprincess, if youre like the majority here, youve been polluted for quite a few years. its going to take T.I.M.E to FEEL the change.
T.I.M.E. = Things I Must Earn.
and im sure everyone here will second that its well worth it.
Love the TIME acronym too= Things I Must Earn. That is an AHA for me!
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 379
Originally Posted by aasharon90
The first 2 weeks in recovery was not
voluntary. It took a court order to send
me into a rehab facility where upon
completing those 2 weeks I was told if
I returned home to my every day environment,
I would surely return to drinking.
Alcohol was my drug of choice.
I was to be forwarded to a halfway
house further away from my home
and family, in which I begged to
remain where I was and would do
all that I could to finish the program
before my release.
They agreed and I stuck to my agreement
and completed 28 days instay rehab with
a 6 week aftercare outpatient tact on
which I also completed.
Those first few months and even tho
I wasn't putting anymore poison in my
system and remained sober, I was still
wet behind the ears so to speak. I was
still an infant in recovery and just as
a baby grows, i had to learn to crawl
before I could walk.
I was fed a lot of important information
and facts about addiction and its affects
on me and those around me and given
a program of recovery as a guide line
to incorporate in all areas of my life.
It took many one days at a time sober,
listening, learning, absorbing and applying
all this information to my daily life to
eventually begin seeing small miracles
happening and to be grateful for them.
I often heard to not leave before the
miracles of recovery happen and to
me that gave me hope. I wanted what
so many before me achieved in recovery
that I hung on for dear life and YES, those
promises, those small miracles began
to happen in my life.
My recovery journey began on
August 11, 1990, some 26 many
one days sober ago to get me where
I am today. Healthy, happy, honest
with continued maintenance each
day living upon my strong, sober,
foundation built over the yrs.
My hope for you just like the hope
passed on to me yrs ago, would be
to not leave before the miracle in
recovery happens to you.
My passion to live a sober life
marches on with each passing
sober day and so can yours.
voluntary. It took a court order to send
me into a rehab facility where upon
completing those 2 weeks I was told if
I returned home to my every day environment,
I would surely return to drinking.
Alcohol was my drug of choice.
I was to be forwarded to a halfway
house further away from my home
and family, in which I begged to
remain where I was and would do
all that I could to finish the program
before my release.
They agreed and I stuck to my agreement
and completed 28 days instay rehab with
a 6 week aftercare outpatient tact on
which I also completed.
Those first few months and even tho
I wasn't putting anymore poison in my
system and remained sober, I was still
wet behind the ears so to speak. I was
still an infant in recovery and just as
a baby grows, i had to learn to crawl
before I could walk.
I was fed a lot of important information
and facts about addiction and its affects
on me and those around me and given
a program of recovery as a guide line
to incorporate in all areas of my life.
It took many one days at a time sober,
listening, learning, absorbing and applying
all this information to my daily life to
eventually begin seeing small miracles
happening and to be grateful for them.
I often heard to not leave before the
miracles of recovery happen and to
me that gave me hope. I wanted what
so many before me achieved in recovery
that I hung on for dear life and YES, those
promises, those small miracles began
to happen in my life.
My recovery journey began on
August 11, 1990, some 26 many
one days sober ago to get me where
I am today. Healthy, happy, honest
with continued maintenance each
day living upon my strong, sober,
foundation built over the yrs.
My hope for you just like the hope
passed on to me yrs ago, would be
to not leave before the miracle in
recovery happens to you.
My passion to live a sober life
marches on with each passing
sober day and so can yours.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 709
Originally Posted by EndGameNYC
We're not supposed to like treatment. That's why it's called "treatment."
I considered outpatient and visited the facility. I decided against it for a couple reasons: 1. It was 12 Step based and I don't care for that approach, and 2. I knew I'd probably stop at the Winn Dixie on the way home and pick up a bottle of wine.
If it's all AA meetings and such, I can see why it wouldn't seem worthwhile. You can go to those free, and at a more convenient time.
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