Drug Addiction Treatment Center – a typical program

It takes a great deal of courage and support to make the leap from being an addicted person to wanting to take control of your life back and seeking treatment for substance dependency. For many it is not the first time at a drug addiction treatment center and for some it will be the first time that you have sought help. No matter what your circumstances, you will find a team of professionals and support staff at your drug addiction treatment center that will encourage, guide and support you as you take the path to healing and recovering control over your addiction and your life.

What Can I Expect?

The first thing you can NOT expect is a moral judgment on your condition. Many patients come to a drug addiction treatment center for a wide variety of reasons, some are addicted to alcohol, illicit substances or prescribed medications and their motivations for seeking help are as different as each individual.

The first thing you can expect from your drug addiction treatment center is a caring, supportive approach to helping you achieve a successful treatment outcome to your condition in order to enable you to enjoy a positive and constructive life without the use of drugs.

Personalized Assessment

A drug addiction treatment center will first of all perform a personalized assessment of yourself and your condition. Here we will seek to explore not only the nature of your dependency but also the underlying causes for your addictions in order to plan a suitable set of treatments and therapies to maximize your recovery chances. This will not only rely on a medical assessment to determine the nature and severity of your dependency, but also look at some of your personal motivations and circumstances to gain an understanding of what psychological and social factors, such as work or family related stress, have contributed to your cycle of addictive behaviors.

“Detox”

After a drug addiction treatment center has performed this individual assessment, the first practical step in the treatment process will be undertaken – “detox”.

Detoxification is the process by which the body is cleansed of the drug that is causing the dependency. This does not cure addiction but prepares the body and mind for further treatment that may be a combination of medical intervention combined with therapeutic remedies. It is an essential first step that needs to be completed for almost all but the very mildly addicted and it is absolutely vital that this process is carried out only by medical personnel and is closely supervised.

Detoxification involves the withdrawal of the drug causing dependency and this in itself may cause serious and traumatic effects for the patient. In many cases, medication is required in order to control the effects of withdrawal which may include relatively minor effects such as stomach cramps and nausea to very serious symptoms such as seizures and debilitating compulsive hyperactivity. Unless closely supervised by experienced medical staff, detoxification can pose a serious hazard to the patient’s health and can result in death.

Depending on the substance causing the addiction, the severity of addiction and the health of the individual, detoxification may take as little as a few hours to a couple of weeks. Upon completing detoxification, the patient is ready to start the next, lengthier part of treatment which may be as an inpatient at a residential drug addiction treatment center or as an outpatient at a community center.

Beyond Detox

Medical Intervention

The purpose of detox will now become clear. Many medications used by a drug addiction treatment center help patients overcome their dependency actually work on the brain receptors that the drug works on to produce the effects of drug use. By clearing the brain receptors of any of the drug that stimulates them, they become available for medications to interact with and block any drug molecules from affecting them afterwards.
Medications that are used, not only block the brains receptors, so denying the drug an opportunity to affect the patient, but also serve to stop the highs and lows, or other effects that a drug has. The effects of medication are to act as a long lasting, benign guard against further interference with a drug while helping the patient to “normalize” their brain chemicals.

This helps to stabilize a patient so that they are able to interact in therapy and self-awareness exercises held as a part of the combinative treatments offered by a drug addiction treatment center.

Therapeutic Treatment

Therapy and psychotherapy play an extremely important part in helping patients recover from the underlying nature of their dependency at a drug addiction treatment center.
Individual therapy will focus on helping the patient come to a realization of the effects of their behavior as well as an understanding of what has caused the turn to a drug in the first instance. Many therapies concentrate upon helping the patient gain a sense of purpose and worth while learning or relearning life strategies to help them deal with their cravings and social environment when they are discharged from the drug addiction treatment center.

Family therapy is used in order to help family members understand the nature of the patients addiction and educate them on what the effects of the compulsive obsessions are on the patient. Dealing with issues such as an inability to cease drug without outside help, the physical and mental compulsions to use a substance and what to expect once the patient is discharged are vital if a support network for the patient is to be prepared to help them once they are discharged. Helping family members of the patient deal with the effects of addiction is also important. Family and loved ones of a patient are often as much a victim of addiction as the patient, and family therapy helps them and the patient, particularly in rekindling or repairing family bonds that may have become damaged during the patients illness.

Group therapy is extensively used to share the experience of patients and avoid the sense of isolation that frequently afflicts patients. It is not unusual for patients to form extremely strong bonds as they help each other through encouragement and mutual support on the road to recovery.