- Hello, and welcome to the "Roadmap for Recovery,"
a family education video produced by the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration.
Whether you're a person in recovery
or supporting someone who is in recovery,
we are pleased to have you here.
The journey to recovery is not an easy one,
but some of the problems encountered are predictable.
Many people have successfully made this journey
and have contributed their stories to this video.
We hope this program helps show the way
to a new, enriched life.
Recovery may be seen as following a predictable route,
like a roadmap, through a series of four recovery stages.
Most people experience physical and emotional changes
during each stage.
Treatment programs like the Matrix model provide
skills and tools to anticipate and counter the issues
that might derail a person's recovery.
This does not mean that every person or family member
will experience recovery in the same way,
but being aware of the issues in each stage can prepare you
for what to expect during and after treatment.
- Once I became willing to get into recovery,
to really be serious about treatment,
it was critical to have my family's support.
But it took a long time to get there.
I had to go through the process that everyone has to go through
in terms of getting beyond the denial and admitting
that I had a problem.
And until I was able to do that,
until I was able to go through that process--
and that process for me took several years.
It was not an overnight process.
- Every person's recovery process is unique,
but generally speaking, in the Matrix model,
recovery is divided into four stages--
Recovery begins when a person stops using drugs or alcohol.
Withdrawal symptoms that people experience depend on the person,
what substance was used, for how long it was used,
and how it was used-- the route of ingestion.
These symptoms last for different lengths of time.
There are physical and psychological symptoms
of withdrawal.
Physical symptoms can include cravings, depression, anxiety,
low energy, irritability,
exhaustion, insomnia, paranoia, memory problems,
and intense hunger.
- The first few days, I was very tired.
I was exhausted, because I had been running the streets 24/7.
I did a lot of sleeping,
a lot of eating, a lot of resting.
- I felt very anxious and irritable.
I felt tired. Because I was tired.
I had, you know, I had done quite a job
at really draining my body,
you know, of the necessary and important kind of nutrients
that it needed.
So for me, detox was kind of an exhausting process.
- My body was wondering what the hell was goin' on
when I was in early recovery and tryin' to stop.
The withdrawal wasn't quite as bad,
but it was such that I recall
not feeling whole, not feeling healthy,
and wanting to be healthy.
- There's also emotional withdrawal,
which is amplified by chemical changes in the brain.
People who had used stimulants can feel very depressed,
even suicidal, during this period.
A person in early recovery may feel
that life is out of control.
Emotions are raw.
It's like being on an emotional roller coaster.
- I didn't feel anything. I was just numb.
I remember being really irritable,
being mad I was there.
And not being able to speak well.
Like it was just hard to form a sentence.
It was just too much trouble.
I had just gotten really sloppy by that point.
I just couldn't get my thoughts together well.
So I just kind of waited it out.
I tried to just stay quiet and stay under the radar
and hope I'd feel better.
Um, eventually, I got a little less irritable.
I started to wake up. Because it really was a fog.