If you have someone willing to go through the process of substance abuse treatment, here are some approaches to use during the process of recovery.
Addiction is a complicated issue to deal with, because of its far-reaching effects on both the brain and your body. It is more of a disease than just a matter of weak willpower – because it affects all the behaviors of the person.
You most likely have experienced the effects of addiction, either because of a friend or loved one, or even you being in the throes of it. Addiction is also very difficult to overcome on your own because of how compulsive it is; the user wants to seek out drugs, even though those drugs are causing them physical harm. Even though it all starts off as a voluntary activity due to experimentation, it quickly develops into an activity that jeopardizes your ability to choose whether to abuse the substance.
However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to the different methods of therapy that have come up over the years. Backed by scientific research, these help you to restructure your brain through stopping the use of the substance and then giving you better strategies on how to cope with the addiction.
The different methods of treatment
Because various clinical trials and research have been conducted over the years, there are many improvements that have been done in regards to substance abuse treatment. This has continued to guarantee the possibility of you or your loved one getting clean.
The major goal for these treatments is to improve the functioning of your body, since addiction has very many negative effects in how your body works. It also aims to give you a new way of staying clean and some assistance in becoming sober.
There are several approaches to this, ranging from behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy, as well as numerous others.
Behavioral therapy
These are created as a way of giving you a reason to remain clean, working on your attitudes towards substance and drug abuse, and also provide you with some important life skills that can help you handle various stresses and environment based situations. There are some therapies under this, which will keep their main focus on specified drugs.
First is CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It is most useful for cases that involve nicotine, alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana. It was originally meant to assist people that were struggling with alcohol addiction, but it later proved to be useful for cocaine addiction. Its main aim is pinpointing negative patterns that you have learned in the course of addiction, and replace these habits with new, positive skills to prevent relapse.
The second is CM, or Contingency Management Interventions (Motivational Incentives). It is useful when dealing with alcohol, nicotine, opioids, marijuana, and stimulants. This involves giving the patient rewards when they engage in positive behavior – these rewards are mostly vouchers, which one can exchange for money, food, movie passes, and so on. The cleaner drug tests the patient passes, the more rewards they get. If they slip, they have to start from the beginning.
The third method is the famous 12-step therapy, which is useful for opiates, stimulants, and alcohol. The aim is increasing the chances of the patient to join a 12-step group. It has three basic components – acceptance (the realization that the addiction is controlling your life), surrender (accepting help from other recovering addicts), and attending meetings.
Pharmacotherapy
This is a method of handling substance abuse treatment through using prescribed medication that mimics the substance’s effects in the body. It remains a controversial method because many believe it as a method of substituting the original drug for another one.
It is not able to work on its own though, as you need to combine it with other forms of therapy for increased effectiveness. Research seems to confirm this, especially regarding drugs such as Methadone. The patient is not completely clean at the end of the process, they are simply addicted to another drug.
Therapy specifically for adolescents
Drug addiction has negative effects on you as an adult, but for a teen, it is worse. This is the reason why they require a different approach, as opposed to the conventional treatment methods for an adult. Many of the treatment plans are changed in some ways to fit their requirements. Many of them are still residing with their parents, which makes them easily affected by how they handle their own life and relations with others. This makes family involvement in the process to become an essential component of their treatment.
One method is MST, or Multi-Systematic Therapy. This operates in different aspects that result in antisocial behavior in children and teens. The child learns about their ideas ion drug and substance abuse, relating to peers, family involvements like parental drug abuse, as well as their communities influence, such as gang subculture. Many families complete this course, and the result is the reduction of drug use and total abstinence for up to half a year afterward.
The second is MDST, or Multidimensional Family Therapy. It mainly deals with helping the teen to heal in all aspects of their lives so that they stop the drug abuse. Most of the damage in the teen’s life is either directly or indirectly due to their family and the society they live in, so the counselor has meetings with both the teen and their family. This promotes better communication and a better sense of agreement within the family.
The third is BSFT, or brief Strategic Family Therapy. It gets to the root and handles family interactions that may have contributed to the drug abuse in the teen, while seeking for permanent solutions to prevent triggers in the future.
Final thoughts
Dealing with substance abuse is not an easy thing, especially when you consider its long-lasting effects on various aspects of the individual. However, scientific and clinical research has led to the advancements in therapy, rehabilitation efforts and treating of substance abuse cases.