What to (Mentally) Leave at Home During Rehabilitation

Are you wondering what to leave at home when entering a rehabilitation program?

If you’re about to begin an inpatient recovery program and are looking for a recommended packing list and an overview of the items that are prohibited, check out the Aviary’s resources for What to Bring to Residential Treatment.

The following items in this article however, are suggestions for what mental baggage to leave at home when receiving inpatient or outpatient treatment. A significant part of the recovery process involves letting go of what ties you to substance abuse. This is not always going to be an easy task.

What to Leave at Home During Recovery

1. A Negative Attitude. When undergoing any difficult task, a negative attitude can do nothing but hurt you. The recovery process is not easy, but in the long run, it is worth it when compared to the pain of substance abuse. Especially at the beginning of treatment and with detoxification, there will be a learning phase and growing pains—a situation that only those who have experienced it can truly understand. Having self-deprecating patterns of thought are a natural response when we fail or are struggling, but know that you are not alone in this and that positive thinking can truly make a difference.
2. Social, School, and Work Stressors. Use your time at treatment as a time to take a step away from the schedules, stimulations, and stressors of life. Being able to leave these energy-zapping items at home will be beneficial to your recovery for two reasons. One: it will give you the mental and emotional capacity to entirely focus on your health and what your body is needing from you. Two: gaining the perspective to look objectively at your life will be essential when discussing your addiction with your treatment team.
3. Extrinsic Motivations. Any and every kind of motivation is useful when committing to the recovery journey. For lasting sobriety, however, it is important to consider why it is that you have agreed to begin treatment. If your motivators are extrinsic (e.g., the approval of others), then your recovery could become a temperamental destination as it relies on something that you really have no control over. Extrinsic motivations may also mask the underlying causes of the illness of addiction and manifest in substitute addictions.

Only you will know if you are lugging these things around in your mind, so it is up to you whether or not you want to leave them at home or bring them with you as you embark upon your recovery journey.