Drug Rehabilitation: Treatment Methods
Drug addiction is a very terrible disorder, but it is treatable. Through treatment at drug rehabilitation centers, an addict can return to a healthy, normal, and productive life. The treatment at various drug rehabilitation centers though tailored toward every patient’s need, still consists of general medication and behavioral therapies.
Medications generally help suppress withdrawal symptoms, effects of drugs, and cravings. Behavioral therapies, however, which include counseling, support groups, and psychotherapy, are for long-term purposes. They help in healing the patient mentally and returning him/her to normal life.
There are several types of drug abuse treatment methods. Short-term methods include residential therapy, medication therapy, and drug-free outpatient therapy. Long-term treatment includes, for example, methadone maintenance outpatient treatment for opiate addicts and residential therapeutic community treatment.
In the methadone maintenance drug rehabilitation method, the addict is given a controlled dose of methadone hydrochloride, a synthetic opiate, to stop the effects of the drug, especially heroin. It also results in a stable mind state which helps in avoiding a relapse.
Another drug rehabilitation method is Outpatient drug-free treatment. It does not include any kind of medication; instead, it is based on a wide variety of individual or group counseling programs for patients who visit clinics at regular intervals. This method is for those people who are addicts of drugs other than opiates.
Therapeutic communities are programs in which patients stay at a residence called rehabilitation centers for 6 to 12 months. This kind of treatment is usually suitable for patients with a long history of drug addiction, criminal activities, and impaired social performance. The patients in Therapeutic communities are helped to return to drug and crime-free lifestyles.
Although the addiction to drugs is treated by medication and counseling, spirituality and faith have an equally important role in drug rehabilitation. These are the things on which the patient is going to build upon the foundations he or she laid during the entire process of drug rehabilitation for his or her lifetime. In spiritual and religious rehabilitation, the members of staff more religiously learned to motivate their charges towards a positive life lived on the principles of one’s religion.
These were some of the many drug rehabilitation methods among the list of many. If you or any of your friends are addicted to drugs, help them by consulting a good drug rehabilitation center, because it is better late than never!
