Drug Addiction Treatment
Drug addiction treatment is composed of several stages. Read this up and find out
what goes on during the process of withdrawal and recovery.
The first stage in drug addiction treatment is detoxification. Detoxification primarily involves complete elimination of the drugs being abused from the body. Doing self-detoxification is dangerous, as drug users might experience fatal withdrawal symptoms. Detoxification programs of drug abuse treatment centers are designed to lower the level of unpleasantness to be experienced during such cleansing, and to avoid the physical dangers of withdrawal through correct medical procedures. The process of detoxification include administering medicines that can counter the ill-effects of withdrawal. This first stage of drug addiction treatment is the part that patients will hate the most. Used to the blissful effects of the abused drug, the patients’ bodies, upon the absence of such substance, will overturn such blissfulness through illness and severe anxiety.
Detoxification focuses on the physical dimension of the dependence. Having a cleansed body free from drugs does not mean that patients are already cured. They will have to undergo a period of abstinence, the second stage of drug addiction treatment. In abstinence, patients will be trained how to stop taking in the substance and how to control their cravings. During this stage of drug addiction treatment, patients will also undergo psychiatric therapy in order for them to reassess their lives and plan out a future free from drugs.
After weeks or months of in-house rehabilitation, patients can then leave the center and continue the drug addiction treatment at home. During the out-patient healing period, patients are advised to have at least two people living with them and can monitor their activities in order to ensure that relapsing won’t happen. They are also enrolled in support groups which they can reach when a withdrawal symptom suddenly surfaces and creates high levels of craving. Last but not the least, they are also advised to cut their links as completely as possible from people who have once joined them or conned them into taking drugs.