If you are struggling with alcoholism or addiction, is it possible to stop drinking or using without treatment? The answer is yes. Thousands of people overcome alcohol or drug dependency each year without treatment – either inpatient treatment or treatment such as therapy that doesn’t include entering a treatment center.

Can you overcome your addiction without treatment?  It’s possible, but obviously, not everyone who wants to is able to. Factors for you will include your desire to overcome the addiction, how serious the addiction is, how long you’ve been addicted, what methods you use to overcome it and what support you have in pursuing sobriety or an end to drug addiction.

This Rehabilitation Guide guide takes a look at overcoming addiction with and without treatment.

Your Willingness to Overcome the Addiction

No issue will play a larger role than your desire and the willpower you are committed to applying to the process of overcoming addiction. Do you want to quit badly enough to give up the friends you drink and use with?  Are you willing to move to a new location to start over?  Are you willing to attend recovery meetings or start associating with organizations or people that will assist you in recovering?  And when it comes right down to it, are you willing to say “no” as often as necessary to drugs or alcohol while saying “yes” to healthier means of coping with the challenges of life?

The Duration and Depth of your Addiction

Those who have used and abused for a long time – more than 10 years – can have a more difficult time recovering without treatment. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but if you have been using for a long time, and fail on your own, then seeking addiction treatment might be the lifeline you need to grasp for recovery.

Saying Yes While Saying No

As alluded to above, saying no to addiction without changing the larger issues in your life is very difficult. Those who recover on their own – and those who stay sober and drug-free after treatment – are those who make healthy changes to their entire lifestyle. Simply put, they develop a new life for themselves in which drug use and alcohol abuse become less and less attractive all the time.

Treatment Comes in Many Shapes and Sizes

Even if you don’t enter a rehabilitation treatment center, don’t hesitate to consider other activities that might be called treatment. Consider getting personal counseling from a trained therapist or a spiritual leader. Find an AA or NA meeting or a 12 Step group that is positive and uplifting. Take creative arts classes as therapy. There are many positive things you can do in place of entering a rehab facility.

You shouldn’t rule out getting treatment as a means of recovery and possibly saving your life. However, you shouldn’t be dissuaded from seeking to recover without formal treatment. Take the positive steps that will support sobriety and a drug-free lifestyle, and know that effective treatment is available if you need it.