Drug abuse treatment has many steps and requires many different approaches in order to achieve success. Addiction involves no logic whatsoever, and so people have a hard time attacking the problem form a common-sense viewpoint. Drug addiction, defined as the compulsion to use drugs despite adverse consequences, has more characteristics of a chronic illness than of a hobby. Even after months and years of treatment and avoiding drugs, people with addictions can still have cravings, even though they understand the negative effects that drugs have on a person’s physical and mental conditions.
Because everyone has different drug problems, drug treatments have to alter to fit different people’s needs. Drug abuse treatment depends on factors such as social conditions, the particular drugs to which the person has an addiction, and the mental condition of the person in question. The person’s social conditions might include his or her age, gender, ethnicity, and culture, because different lifestyles react differently to treatments and interventions. Any other problems that a person might have will also influence what kind of treatment will work best for that person. For example, many people with drug addictions may have started using drugs to cover up other problems, such as social problems, mental problems, and occupational problems.
One of the most severe drug addictions involves heroin, where the person will get a large, quick rush when taking the substance, shortly followed by a low. These fluctuations cause a greater desire for the drug again, resulting in addiction and both physical and mental dependence. For heroin treatment, many people take methadone, which regulates the fluctuations while avoiding the side effects of stopping all at once. Unlike some people believe, drug patients do not get addicted to methadone if used properly because they take the medication in specific doses designed to eventually eliminate their addiction and constant cravings. For methadone to work, however, the patient usually needs to take it regularly for at least a year since heroin has such permanent effects on the body that people maintain cravings for it for a long time even after they are no longer taking it.
Many drug abuse treatment facilities offer counseling and behavioral therapy alongside medication treatments. Because many people who have addictions also have mental problems such as depression, anxiety disorder, and bipolar disorder, this additional treatment helps with long-term maintenance. Medication helps with immediate withdrawal symptoms, but staving off the addiction in the future requires treating the problems that caused the drug addiction in the first place. In addition to the medications used to treat the drug addiction, the person may need other medications simultaneously to deal with the drug problems. Many people have methadone treatments accompanied by anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, or neuroleptics to lessen the respective afflictions.
Many times, people with drug problems show a reluctance to start drug abuse treatment. The person with the addiction doesn’t have to volunteer to go to treatment for the treatment to begin. Family, co-workers, and the criminal justice system have varying degrees of influence concerning whether people get treatment. These outside parties also play a large role in making sure that the patient stays with the treatment for the necessary length of time, and that the person stays away from the drugs after completing the treatment. Recovery, like a chronic illness, may take multiple treatments over several years because of the permanent effects of powerful drugs.
When people do get drug treatment, however, their lives improve in many ways. Studies show that drug abuse treatment reduces both AIDS and criminal behavior by up to 50%. Also, people who have completed treatment have an average of 40% increase in employment. In spite of the difficulties of following through with drug treatment, the effects – both financially and emotionally – can make people’s lives better, as well as those of the people around them.
By Lisa Zyga