Addiction Treatment Options

Drug or alcohol addiction is also known as a substance use disorder. This problem is common in the United States - with about 8 percent of the entire population (about 21 million people) needing treatment for the condition. In the following guide, you will learn more about addiction treatment options.

Getting Help

The first step towards recovery would be to acknowledge that you are addicted to drugs and alcohol as well as realize that this problem has been causing various negative effects on your day to day life.

This means that you should notice the fact that addiction has been disrupting the overall quality of your life. For instance, it might have led to impairment in your functioning at work, school, home, or social situations.

After realizing that addiction treatment has a negative impact on your life, you will be prepared to consider the broad variety of treatment options that are currently available. If you have an addictive disorder, you are going to require ongoing access to the treatment services that you need.

In some cases, the treatment modalities might last for the rest of your life. This means that you will have to abstain from the substances that you used to take on the long term - which could be difficult. Further, your treatment plans will typically change to meet your evolving needs in recovery.

The treatment options available will depend on different factors. These factors include but are not limited to the effects of drugs and alcohol on you as an individual, the severity and duration of your substance abuse, and the type of addiction that you are struggling with.

Your doctor can treat you or refer you for treatment for the physical complications that arise during the early stages of your recovery. For instance, if you are struggling with an alcohol use disorder, you may develop liver disease. On the other hand, if you were smoking substances there is a high probability that you may develop respiratory issues.

That said, there are severe treatment options available today. While struggling with addiction, you may also receive combinations of different recovery approaches. The important thing to keep in mind is that there is no universal treatment method that will work for everyone who has been diagnosed with a substance use disorder.

That said, the treatment process will typically follow the routine listed below:

1. Detoxification

After you have gone through evaluation and assessment and been found to be struggling with substance abuse and addiction - and the presence of other co-occurring medical and mental health disorders - you will have to attend a detoxification program.

Detoxification is the first real step in the addiction treatment process. It will clear all the substances that you were abusing from your body as well as limit the withdrawal reactions that might arise during this period.

In many cases, the recovery center will recommend that you take certain medications to manage and reduce your withdrawal symptoms. This is according to research published by SAMHSA - the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

If you were addicted to multiple substances of abuse, you may often need these medications to manage all the withdrawal symptoms that arise for all of the drugs that you were taking.

2. Counseling and Therapy

After the medically supervised detox process has come to a successful end and you are no longer displaying any adverse drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms, the addiction treatment center will recommend that you start on a round of therapy and counseling options.

Therapy might include individual counseling, group therapy, family counseling, or couples counseling. The options that you choose will largely depend on your needs and requirements. At the onset of your treatment, however, therapy will be typically intensive. The number of sessions, however, will reduce gradually over time as your symptoms improve.

Some of the most common types of counseling and therapy include but are not limited to:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Motivational incentives
• Motivational interviewing
• Multi-dimensional family therapy

Addiction counseling will help you change the attitudes and behaviors that you had around substance abuse. It can also strengthen your life skills as well as support any other treatments that you have been receiving.

3. Rehabilitation Programs

Research studies point out that spending more time in an addiction treatment program can prove to be more effective in helping you achieve recovery. It can also ensure that you are able to remain free of drugs and alcohol while also showing you how to resume normal functioning with respect to your family, professional, and social responsibilities.

There are two primary type of rehabilitation programs - inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. An inpatient program might be the right solution if you have a severe addiction or other co-occurring medical and mental health disorders. It will provide you with accommodation so that you live in the treatment environment as you work on overcoming these disorders.

Outpatient programs, on the other hand, might work well if you have already been through an inpatient center but still need additional help to ensure that you do not suffer a relapse. However, you can also choose this type of treatment for addiction if you have obligations and responsibilities that would make it difficult for you to spend too much time enrolled in an inpatient center while getting help for your addiction.

4. Aftercare

Even after you have been through an inpatient or an outpatient addiction treatment program, it is still crucial that you continue seeking help for your substance abuse problem. This is because addiction does not automatically disappear simply because you have been treated for it.

There are several aftercare options available today that can ensure that you do not lose the lessons and skills that you learned while you were getting treated for a substance abuse problem. Examples include:

• Continued medication management
• Group therapy
• Individual therapy
• Self-help groups

As long as you have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder - or even if you just suspect that you have one due to your ongoing problems with drugs and alcohol - it is essential that you consider enrolling in an addiction treatment center so that you can get the help needed to overcome this problem.