San Antonio Addiction Specialists Can Help Build a Judgement-Free Treatment Plan

Fear can be just as poisonous as addiction itself. Fear can bend you to peer pressure, even when you would rather say “no.” Fear can keep you using, even when you want to be well, because you’re afraid that life will be too overwhelming—or too underwhelming—if you were to stop. And fear can prevent you, as it does so many others, from speaking out and seeking help because you dread being judged for your choices. Perhaps you’re already judging yourself.

But addiction is not shameful. It is a disease of the mind and of the body, and recovery requires you to heal both with the support of trained treatment specialists who understand and can help you to address addiction stigma and your fears around it. Our San Antonio addiction specialists are here to help, not to judge.

Fear as a Barrier to Addiction Treatment

As with addiction itself, the first step to overcoming a fear is to acknowledge that it exists—and that it has become a problem. Fear of judgment is a common obstacle for many people: it may keep them from seeking a job they want, asking out a romantic interest, or putting their art out into the world. In this case, it is a roadblock barring your path to recovery and a better life.

Most likely, your fear is rooted in a prior or current experience with addiction stigma. Typically, this judgment comes from one of three main sources:

Society

While advocacy and awareness efforts have improved the public view of addiction in recent years, negative addiction stereotypes continue to pervade the media. News coverage of addiction trends and one-dimensional film portrayals of addicted characters may, understandably, make you fearful about “coming out” and seeking help. You may worry that you will experience prejudice, even persecution, if you do.

Friends and Family

Perhaps you’ve heard your friends dismissively discuss a case of someone overdosing or listened to your mother complain one too many times about a distant cousin with a drug problem who “deserves” whatever trouble comes his way. It’s all too easy to adopt your loved one’s attitudes as your own or to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone feels the same way as your friends and family do—even including clinicians.

Yourself

As always, we are often our own worst critics. You may feel that you are a failure for not being able to quit on your own or for falling into addiction in the first place. You may be disappointed, even angry, with yourself for “allowing” addiction to rob you of your full potential, personally or professionally. Worst of all, you may feel you deserve to suffer or to be judged.

All of these fears are understandable and are very common among individuals struggling with addiction. However, these fears are based on falsehoods. Addiction is not a crime or a personal failure; it is a mental and physical affliction that requires medical attention—same as any other illness. Over 20 million people struggle with a substance use disorder, and not one of them “deserves” to be addicted or is undeserving of treatment.

Healing from Addiction in a Judgment-Free Environment

For an addiction treatment program to be effective, it must be comprehensive. It must address mental as well as physical healing, and that includes helping you to understand and overcome the mental blocks of fear and stigma.

As such, the right addiction specialists will ensure that your treatment environment and experience are judgment-free. Addiction clinicians are specially trained to not only treat but also to understand addiction and its underlying causes. Good clinicians care about their clients, and quality treatment centers offer a safe, inclusive space in which to begin the path to recovery. If either of these elements is missing from your care, it’s time to look at other treatment options.

One simple truth—which your clinicians should already know and be actively helping you to accept—is that you are not your addiction. You are a person who has experienced something very difficult to live with, and you have taken a brave step forward in accepting that you may need help in order to heal and become well again. Treatment should, therefore, focus not on what you have done in the past but on who you are now—and what you can do differently to build a better life for yourself in the years to come.

San Antonio Addiction Specialists Are Here to Help

At New Choices Treatment Centers, our San Antonio addiction specialists all have over five years of experience in treating substance use disorders. We prioritize comfort as well as clinical support, and we are dedicated to providing the best possible recovery experience—both during the initial treatment phase and beyond.

New clients begin with a full introductory assessment, wherein we discuss who you are as a person—medically as well as personally. We separate your past from your present potential and craft an individualized treatment program around the future you are seeking to create. It is hope, after all, that makes healing possible in the first place.