Gay/Lesbian Rehab - What’s the Difference?
Nice to know I’m in good company…again! According to the latest statistics, the gay and lesbian population is 2 to 3 times more likely to become dependent upon drugs or alcohol than the heterosexual community. Frankly, I’m not usually one for statistics?.but this one’s a killer?for real.
Early last year I lost one of my very closest friends to a meth overdose. Why hadn’t he gotten treatment? The same reason a lot of my friends hadn’t (including me) ? FEAR. Fear of not fitting in with others. Scared to death that I’d be looked upon as a total freak, that everyone would say, “Gay and addicted?FIGURES!”
When it came to my cocaine addiction, I was totally “in the closet.” I couldn’t face my addiction in front of a bunch of people who looked down their straight noses at me. Apparently, I wasn’t alone. The GLBT community desperately needed its own treatment centers. Our prayers were answered. Mine certainly was, right here at Freedom Rings. Clean for a year and counting!
So here’s the question?are Gay/Lesbian rehabs really different? In my world, yes! Treatment methods are usually the same?.traditional therapy, peer counseling, behavior modification, drug and alcohol abuse education, nutritional training, recreation, out-patient follow-up care, etc. What makes Gay/Lesbian rehab different however has everything to do with the environment and feeling comfortable. Maybe it’s safety in numbers. Perhaps it’s knowing you’re not being judged, just understood and helped.
Gay or straight, the biology of addiction and the need to become physically free of it are the same. The difference however is, as people, we don’t want to feel like we’re being treated differently. At gay drug rehab I was helped by people who really knew where I was coming from, no prejudice or preconceived notions of who or what I was. I felt comfortable and part of a community that shared the same struggles I did and received the help I needed to come to terms with my addiction and come clean, once and for all.
