Addiction Treatment Program: Examples of Post Acute Withdrawal

In order to assist you in your successful recovery from a drug addiction or from alcoholism, experienced professionals at The Right Step will guide you through the information presented in sessions during the outpatient addiction treatment program.

This session will have been focusing on post-acute withdrawal, which is otherwise known as PAW. To help you best understand what PAW is and to develop a more thorough comprehension of how it can affect the life of a recovering addict or alcoholic, you will be provided with some stories and examples of people who have struggled with PAW, sometimes unknowingly.

Dangers of PAW

You will hear about Ray, who was a young, single, recovering alcoholic. He stopped drinking when he was 22 years old and was very excited about the possibilities that lay ahead of him in his sobriety. After his initial treatment he began restructuring his life around recovery. He was eager to make up for the time he had wasted during his years of drinking. He got a full-time job, enrolled in college, and committed himself to doing some volunteer work.

After a while he began to notice that he was having trouble with his schoolwork. He found himself confused about things that had at one time been easy for him to follow and figure out. He was having trouble taking care of his financial responsibilities and when people that cared about him tried to help him figure things out, he felt panicky and overwhelmed.

Thoughts rushed through his head, and he was unable to put them in order. He says, “When someone in the financial aid office at the college started talking to me about grant money, loan money, interest and forms that needed to be filled out, I was so confused and overwhelmed that I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Everything was going around in my head at once and I had to get away. I got up and left without filling out the financial aid form.”

In desperation, and out of fear that he would drink, Ray “ran.” Instead of evaluating what things in his life he needed to change and what he needed to hold onto, he gave up everything. He quit his job, dropped out of school, and stopped doing volunteer work. He gave up his apartment and moved in with a relative until he could “get himself together.” These actions created additional problems with which he found it increasingly difficult to cope.

Until he went to a counselor and learned some ways to manage his symptoms, Ray thought he was having a nervous breakdown, when in fact what he was experiencing was PAW.

In order to help individuals who are working diligently to improve their lives in addiction recovery to avoid experiencing such difficulties as Ray went through, supportive, qualified professionals are available at The Right Step to assist in educating those who are working to overcome a dependence on drugs and a dependence on alcohol with the information they need to have in order to cope with any number of struggles they may face in sobriety.

Addiction Treatment Locations

Residents of local Texas and New Mexico cities including Lufkin TX, Conroe TX, Nacogdoches TX, Fredericksburg TX, Kerrville TX and Killeen TX often receive treatment for their addiction to drugs or alcohol through the Intensive Outpatient Programs at one of 20 convenient Right Step locations.

Outpatient Alcohol Treatment and Outpatient Drug Treatment programs are offered in Austin TX, Baytown TX, Beaumont TX, Conroe TX, Dallas TX, Euless TX, The Woodlands TX, San Antonio TX, Plano TX, Houston TX, Ft. Bend TX, Pasadena TX, Wimberley TX, Albuquerque NM.

Residential Treatment centers in DFW, Houston and Austin are also provided for recovery from addiction disease, attracting individuals from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona and other areas of the United States to participate in recovery programs at The Right Step.