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The variations in services and treatments depend on the patient’s individual needs and type of drug they used. The essential services necessary in treatment are:
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HIV/AIDS services.
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Educational services.
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Child Care services.
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Financial services.
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Medical services.
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Housing /Transportation services.
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Mental Health services.
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Family services.
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Vocational services.
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Legal services.
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Intake Processing/Assessment.
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Treatment Plan.
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Pharmacotherapy.
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Continuing Care.
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Clinical and Case Management.
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Behavioral Therapy and Counseling.
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Substance Use Monitoring.
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Self-Help/Peer Support Groups.
Treatment approach can be influenced by severity of addiction and previous efforts which are made to stop using drugs. Drug addiction leads to many health problems. People who are drug addicted may have to suffer from problems related to mental health.
he best treatment for drug abusers is to provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the patient’s requirement. Treatment may vary according to culture, age, race, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, other drug use, HIV case, parenting, housing and employment. Also, it depends on physical and sexual abuse history. The drug abuse treatment includes behavior therapies besides medication.
Medicines for opioids addicts are methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. Nicotine preparations (patches, gum, lozenges, and nasal spray) and medicines like varenicline and bupropion are used to treat tobacco addicted individuals. Commonly alcohol addiction co-occurs with drug addiction and for alcohol dependent treatment medicines used are disulfiram, acamprosate, naltrexone, and topiramate. Many people are poly drug users along with sever addiction and they need to be treated for all substances. Combine use of tobacco and alcohol is responsible for harmonious treatment for both substances. When patient is suffering from some mental disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, stress, bipolar disorders, or schizophrenia, then treatment via medications like antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotic medications may be crucial.
ehavioral therapies are considered as very effective treatment for drug abuser as they motivate individuals to participate in drug treatment. They help individuals in how to avoid drugs, how to prevent from relapse and if it happens to occur then how to deal with it. Also, these therapies guide people how to improve communication and relationship.
Different treatment programs have different schedules many of them provide individual therapies or group therapies. Group therapies are helpful in increasing social strength. Also, they promote non-drug life style. While keeping in mind the cost effectiveness and efficiency, behavioral treatments like contingency management and cognitive-behavioral therapy have been introduced. There might be danger of iatrogenic, or inadvertent effects of group treatment iatrogenic, or inadvertent effects of group treatment, happens to occur especially in immature individuals. Thus, this is the duty of counselor to monitor such effects. Combination of different behavioral therapies and medication will definitely be more effective rather than using a single treatment alone. This treatment requires many settings in order to treat it.
Pharmacotherapies Opioid Addiction- Methadone
The maintenance treatment Methadone is conducted in a specialized environment such as in methadone maintenance clinics. The treatments offer to provide the patient with a medication methadone which is long-acting synthetic opioid in sufficient amount so that the individual gets rid of the opioid intake, prevents the effects of opioid illicit use as well as decrease in the craving of opioid.
This treatment is also combined with behavioral treatment. One of the most effective maintenance methadone programs will include the group or individual counseling. It will also give referrals for other medical needs, social and psychological services. In a recent study conducted it was found that the individuals of opioid addicted who were receiving methadone along with counseling showed more improvement as compared to those who received only methadone in order to get rid of or reduce the usage of opioid use. The improvements were even more enhanced with addition of onsite psychiatric/medical, family services or employment.
Evidence-Based Approaches to Drug Addiction Treatment -Buprenorphine
Burprenophine is a partial agonist i.e. it has both the properties of antagonist as well as agonist at the receptors of opioid which carries minimum risk of overdose. It eliminates the symptoms which are linked with the dependence on opioid and at the same time does not produce the sedation or the euphoria which is caused by the heroin or other types of opioids.
In the year 2000, an Act by the congress was passed, known as the Drug Addiction Treatment Act, allowing physicians who were qualified to prescribe medications of Schedule III, IV, and V for treating addiction to opioid. This Act resulted in a major development and allowed for opioid treatments not only in the specialized treatment clinics but now the treatment could be carried out in a generalized medical settings e.g. primary care offices.
The first medication which was approved under this Act was Buprenorphine. It is available in two formulations: Suboxone (a combination of opioid antagonist naloxone and buprenorphine) and Subutex® (a form of pure buprenorphine). A formulation with the naloxone is very effective and produces such symptoms of withdrawal when an addict is injected with it to get high and thus lessens the chances of diversion.
A physician must have a special accreditation if they are to provide an office based treatment of buprenorphine for maintenance or detoxification. Such physicians are also required to provide for counseling patients when needed or they should be able to refer the individuals to those who can provide for counseling.
It is said that the treatment for opioid addict which is office based is cost-effective and provides for easy access to treatment as well as the many options available to the patients. You will find many patients who have circumstances and so the treatment which is office-based is a better option as compared to going for specialized clinics. For instance, it might be the case that the patient is living far away from the treatment center or the checkup/treatment hours clashes with the working hours of the patients’ job.
The treatments which are office based are offered by primary care, physicians, pediatricians, internists and other specialists.
Those patients who receive treatments via sustaining adequate dosages of buprenorphine or methadone are said to be able to function normally. They are able to hold jobs and avoid involving themselves in crime or violence as well as the exposure to HIV is reduced by avoiding getting into unprotected sexual activities or drug injection. Such stabilized patients can also easily engage themselves in counseling or behavioral interventions which are said to be essential in order to recover or rehabilitate.
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Comprehensive drug treatment options