Treatment for Drug Addiction

The complex disorder of drug addiction affects individual’s functionality whether in school, work, family or community. Due to complexity as well as persistent consequences there are many components involved in order to treat drug addiction. Some of these components involved focus on the use of drugs directly while others, such as employment training, focuses on making the addict a productive member of the society and family and enjoy the rewards which are associated with abstinence.

Treating the drug abuse and the problem of addiction is done via various pharmacological and behavioral approaches. You will find more than 13,000 facilities dealing in specialized treatment for drug and provides for medication, case management, behavioral therapy and much other service to the patients admitted for treatment of drug abuse.

Similarly, treatments are also provided to the addicts and drug abuse patients in physicians’ offices as well as mental health clinics. The treatment is performed by various providers namely counselors, physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. The settings used for providing treatments are residential, outpatient and inpatient. Although the treatments approaches depend on the type of settings, a setting can include various therapeutic involvement as well as services.

As the treatment of drug abuse as well as drug addiction are the problem related to the public health therefore, a major portion of the fund for the treatment is done by federal, state or local governments. Even some health plans, both employer-subsidized and private, may also provide for the coverage of drug addiction treatments and the medical consequences. It is unfortunate to know that the managed care has resulted in average stays that are shorter at the same time the lack of sufficient coverage for the treatment of drug abuse has cut down the operational programs number. With the increasing passage of parity for providing mental health insurance coverage as well as the drug abuse problem, it is hopeful that this affair will see an improvement.

Treatment Programs-General Categories

Various studies of the treatment of drug addiction have been classified into several general types of programs. These programs and the approaches are continuously evolving and diversifying and many of these new programs doesn’t fit into the traditional classifications of treatment for drug addiction.

Stopping via Detoxification and Medically Managed

The process in which the body is cleared from the drug is detoxification. Due to detoxification a patient may face unpleasant side effects which may prove to be fatal in some cases. Detoxification alone doesn’t address issues related to social, behavior and psychological, which arises due to addiction. Thus, the detoxification process is managed along with the medications in an outpatient or inpatient settings which is administered by a physician. It is called ‘medical managed withdrawal’. Generally, detoxification is said to be considered as the initial or first stage in treatment. It is designed such as to stop the dangerous and acute side effects which a patient experiences when he stops taking the drug. To provide assistance in getting rid of benzodiazepines, opioids, barbiturates, nicotine, alcohol, and other sedatives medications are used. Detoxification is then to be followed by a thorough assessment and referral to subsequent treatment for drug addiction.

Long-Term Residential Treatment

The treatment which is long term residential provides for care throughout the day in a non-hospital setting. The best treatment known for long term residential setting is therapeutic community (TC). The stay in this type of treatment is between 6 to 12 months. This program focuses on the re-socializing the individual with help from the entire community involved in the treatment such as other residents, staff and social context. The analysis of the condition of the addict is made keeping in mind the psychological and social deficits and so the treatment is given with focus on the development of the individual’s accountability and become a responsible productive member of society and family. The treatment is highly structured and might be confrontational at times i.e. there are activities designed such as it helps the individual’s take a closer look at beliefs that may be damaging, the self-concepts or destructive behavior patterns. Furthermore, the patient is encouraged to adopt new harmonious as well as constructive ways of interacting with each other.

There are many TC programs which provide comprehensive additional services on site such as employment training. Research have also shown that by simply modifying a TC program it can be used for treating women, individuals without home, adolescent, patients with serious mental disorders and patients in criminal justice system.

Short-Term Residential Treatment

The short-term based residential program is an intensive one but a brief treatment which is carried out on a modified model of 12-step approach. These short-term programs were originally to treat the alcohols related problems but with rise in the cocaine use during mid of 1980 this treatment was then used for treating other type of disorders due to various substances usage. In the original treatment model, the treatment consisted of 3 to 6 weeks of hospital based inpatient setting which was then followed by an extended therapy in outpatient setting. During the treatment or therapy, patients would go through self-help group like Alcoholics Anonymous. Following their stay in this type of treatment program, it is advisable for the patients to fully engage themselves in the treatment program in outpatient setting and/or the aftercare programs. Such programs help the individuals for not going back to old self once they are discharged from the treatment program.

The Outpatient Treatment Programs

There are various outpatient treatments depending on the type and the intensity of the services offered. These treatments are less costly as compared to the inpatient treatments or the residential treatments. This type of programs are said to be more suitable for patients with extensive social supports or jobs. However, keep this in mind that the low-intensity programs might offer a little more than the drug education.

Some outpatient treatment model maybe compared with a number of residential programs depending on the effectiveness and services offered keeping in mind the characteristics and the requirements of patients. You may also find group counseling a major component in the outpatient treatment program. Also, some treatment programs are designed such as to treat those patients who have mental or medical disorder along with drug disorders.

Drug Counseling for individuals

Drug counseling for individuals doesn’t focus only on reducing or getting rid of illicit alcohol or drug use completely i.e. it addresses the sensitive areas such as the disordered functioning or behaviors in social, job, illogical activities or family relationships but also on the structure and content of the recovery program of the patient. Although the main focus is on the behavioral goals which are short term, drug counseling for individuals also prepares patient to deal with abstaining from using the drug and maintain it. This is done by coping strategies and tools. A counselor will encourage the patient to involve in 12-step approach for at least once or twice in a week. He will also make referrals for the required supplemental medical, employment, psychiatrist and other services.

Group counseling

There are many therapeutic settings which use group therapy and takes advantage of the social reinforcement which comes up during peer discussions and thus helps in promotion of a lifestyle which is drug free. Research shows that a groups therapy, whether it is offered along with drug counseling for individuals or is planned such that the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy are reflected or with the contingency management, the outcomes achieve are positive. At present, researches are still being conducted in order to set standard conditions for the group therapy and make it more community-friendly.

Effective Drug Treatment for Drug Addicts

1. Depending on something like drug or addiction is a complex disease. It affects the brain and behavior of a person. It is treatable but misuse or excessive use of drugs results in the problem related to brain and these problems remains even after the person stop taking the drugs. This reveals that ill users of drug are at risk for relapse and even after they stop taking drugs for a long period, it has desolating consequences.

2. In order to achieve the productive functioning of brain, there is no single treatment that is suitable for everyone. Every individual’s problem differ from each other so there are different matching treatments, interventions, and services which help individuals in bringing back to normal life.

3. Drug addicted individuals really needs to be treated. It is very doubtful that drug addicted person may be ready to get treated or not. Immediate treatment is very essential for potential patients otherwise they might lead to some critical problems. Like other chronic disease it is important to treat it at early stages in order to achieve the positive outcome.

4. Effective treatment not only helps in overcoming the problem of drug addiction but also it takes care of many needs of drug abuser. In order to make treatment effective, it is important to communicate with drug abuser about associated medical, psychological and other legal problems. Also, treatment should be according to age, gender, culture etc.

5. Remaining in treatment for more than necessary time might be dangerous. The time of treatment depends on the intensiveness of case. Different researches reveal that three months treatment significantly help in reducing drug addiction problems effectively. Coverage of drug abuser or treatment of drug addicted individual is a time taking process and it needs many series of treatment. Like treatment of all other chronic diseases, it should be treated effectively and patient should engage in drug abusers treatment till the time it is completely overcome.

6. Besides medical treatment there are some other treatments like counseling, behavior therapies which are helpful in treating drug addicts. Behavior therapies are different for different individuals. It depends on how intensive the problem is. The purpose of these therapies to change the motivations of drug abuser. These are also helpful in developing skills to resist drug use, replacing drug using activities by providing constructive activities, and try to develop skills that helps individuals to solve their problems. By attending different group therapies drug abuser can reduce this problem effectively.

7. Treatment with the combination of counseling, behavior therapies and medication becomes an effective treatment. Definitely medication plays an important role in treating drug addicts, medicines like methadone and buprenorphine are used in treatment of those individuals who are addicted to heroin. These medicines help them to stabilize their lives. Individuals who consume alcohol or opioids addicted patients usually treated by naltrexone. Some more medicines that are used in treatment are acamprosate, disulfiram, and topiramate. Besides behavioral treatment programs, nicotine addicted individuals can be treated by nicotine replacement products or an oral medication can be used as treatment.

8. Assessment of individual’s treatment is very necessary and modification in the treatment according to the needs of patient should be ensured. For the sake of treatment, there will be combination of services and treatment components require which helps in recovery of patient. Also, in order to treat it there will be needs of psychological therapies, medication, services, family therapy, parenting instructions and other social and legal services. Besides the changes in treatment according to person’s need, proper care also leads to reduce this problem.

9. Drug addiction might results in some mental disorders. Often it happens to occur that drug abuse and addiction co-occur with other mental diseases. When these two occur simultaneously, treatment should address both. Appropriate use of medicines should be taken.

10. The very first step in treating drug abuse is medically assisted detoxification. This also helps in treating long term addiction. The intensiveness of medical treatment is different for different patients. Medically assisted detoxification can safely treat the drug abusers and for someone it can effectively treat the long term addiction. Hence, detoxification treatment should be encouraged by the patients in order to effectively reduce the addiction. Furthermore, motivational augmentation will also helpful in improving treatment.

11. There is no need of treatment to be willingly effective. Family support and allurement will definitely help patient while treating. Other things like employment settings, criminal justice system and retention rates will significantly leads toward success of treatment.

12. There might be chances of occurrence of lapses during treatment so consumption of drug during treatment should be monitored. During treatment, it is very important to know about how much amount of drug is being consumed by the patient. This will help in planning the better treatment for patient so that he or she didn’t feel drug absentees. Also, it reveals patient is returning back towards drug.

how effective is drug addiction treatment?

The aim of drug addiction treatment is to stop drug abuse and beside this it also helps people to return to their normal lives properly and become a productive functioning member in the family, work place and community. Researchers have proven that this treatment is a time taking process and people who remain in this treatment stop using drugs successfully. This treatment helps in reduction of their criminal activity and improves their social and psychological functioning. Methadone treatment is a good example of treating drug use and criminal behavior effectively. The choice of appropriate treatment depends on the patient’s need and requirement. It depends on the nature of the patient’s problem. Different services are helpful in addressing those problems and they improve the interaction between patient and treatment provider.