Elements of Effective Drug Addiction Treatment
What are the needed steps to overcome drug or alcohol addiction? Here are some vital elements of drug addiction treatment.
- An achievable goal.
First, it is important to put a goal there that can be achieved. Too often we hear of treatment modalities in which one of the first principles is a firm belief that addiction is incurable! This is misleading and can be counterproductive. The fact is, millions of people overcome drug addiction and go on to live productive, drug-free lives, some of them without any professional help.
However, the chances of permanently beating drug or alcohol addiction are much, much better if the addict does go through a professional and preferably drug-free, rehabilitation drug rehab in california treatment facility.
- Treatment should be of sufficient length.
The addict has been on drugs for years, the problem isn’t going to be reversed in 28 days. In many cases, especially with alcohol addiction, the user has been abusing alcohol since childhood! The body has developed, literally, around alcohol.
Maybe the kid began stealing a beer or two from the fridge at age 10 or 11. Then in middle school, was getting drunk at parties and in high school was drinking to excess every weekend.
With a nervous system and a liver that have actually been forced to grow around alcohol, or whatever other combination of drugs, it’s going to take time to re-adjust. That time will best be spent in a drug and alcohol free facility, learning to live an honest and straight forward life of which the former addict can be proud.
- Treatment should not be based on substitute drug therapy.
This person has for years been dependent on substances to get by in life. He or she now has to learn (or relearn) how to live without the chemical crutches.
True, some withdrawals must be medically supervised and involve medicinal assistance during the initial adjustment to being drug-free. But these cases are in the vast minority. And after the withdrawal dangers have passed, using drugs to treat drug dependence is like putting a fire out with kerosene.
- Withdrawal does not constitute treatment
There is a belief in some that going through withdrawal is treatment. It is even sometimes called detox! Getting past the first shock of withdrawal is of course necessary, and, done correctly can be relatively painless. But it falls far short of being actual treatment.
It’s true that fear of the dreadful effects of withdrawal are, in themselves, sometimes enough to keep the addict using drugs. But once that shock is over, has the addict really learned to live drug free? Seldom does the pain of withdrawal prove to be enough of a deterrent to keep the person from going back to the drug of choice. It usually happens pretty quickly.
True rehabilitation is a process of learning, discovery, recovery, and reevaluation of oneself. It should also be a time for setting new, pro-survival goals. A time of setting new objectives and aspirations that will serve to not only forward success but help to rebuild the former addict’s self-respect.
What are the needed steps to overcome drug or alcohol addiction? Here are some vital elements of drug addiction treatment. First, it is important to put a goal there that can be achieved. Too often we hear of treatment modalities in which one of the first principles is a firm belief that addiction is incurable!…