Types Of Addiction Rehab Programs
Drug addiction can ruin you in ways that you cannot imagine. You may end up dead; mentally ill or eventually suffer from a chronic illness that will make you regret your actions for the rest of your life. In all of these situations, the only way to ease your life, accept the outcomes and get rid of the regrets is through various types of addiction rehabilitation programs.
As soon as you get addicted to a substance such as alcohol, cocaine, marijuana or prescription drugs, you will never resemble another person that is addicted to the same substances. How is this possible? Well, regardless of us sharing a species, the human being species, your body is completely different from another person’s body.
The same way you have different fingerprints from another person explains the different reactions to different substances. For example, if you begin alcohol consumption at the same time as another individual, the likelihood of addiction taking place is never constant or the same.
Therefore, when you start taking more of the alcoholic drinks more often, your friend may not even care about the drink at all. This means that your addiction to something will never be the same as anyone else’s. As a result, the severity of the withdrawal symptoms, regardless of their similarity, is not the same either.
Rehabilitation
As you begin abusing drugs, you can hardly tell if you will develop an addiction that will need rehabilitation later. Therefore, you may even continuously abuse drugs just to pass time or escape some challenges that life has brought on to you. Regardless of your reasons to abuse drugs, you will eventually end up in rehabilitation if you are not careful enough.
However, despite these facts it is quite hard to really accept that you are hooked to drugs and result to stopping or seeking medical attention, which is often provided through rehab programs. Therefore, the pointer below will help you in knowing the need for rehabilitation.
- You feel that you have a terrible relationship with your family members due to drug addiction
- You want to take back your control over your actions and stop making drugs a priority
- You miss having a good night sleep and good health, since the drug have caused severe effects to your body
- You feel that you do not live up to your potential but instead have a very high drug tolerance
- You have goals to accomplish but, addiction derails you since it has already affected your mental health
- You want a healthy environment to grow and stay sober since your current environment only causes your quitting efforts to fail.
Realizing the above facts drives you into seeking for help in whatever ways, so long as it leads you into recovery. For most people that are years into the sobriety journey, they will testify that seeking that rehabilitation is the best thing that you can do for yourself.
Addiction Rehabilitation Programs
Due to the complexity of the substance abuse disorders, as well as uniqueness, you are prone to start rehab treatment at different times from other addicts. What’s more, the multiple rehab programs that doctors subject you to will also differ, depending on the reactions present in your body such as mental issues or health complications caused by addiction.
Addiction rehab programs are approaches towards addiction treatment, which are holistic and individualized. While under these programs, you get to stop using whatever you are addicted to, begin building life coping skills, you are taught on the best communication skills and acquire skills on how to maintain sobriety and also avoid relapse.
Therefore, no matter the pain or challenges that you go through, since getting sober it is never an easy task, these interventions will leave you as a better person. The programs are numerous and classified depending on their functions. They are often combined as well, so that you can emerge as a healthy person.
For example, detoxification is a program that focuses on getting your body clean of the substances abused. However, it may be combined with the medication assisted treatment program if your withdrawal symptoms are severe. Additionally, it may be followed by multiple therapy programs depending on the presence of psychological issues.
Benefits of the programs
All the addiction rehabilitation programs are helpful to you, especially if you do not relapse and are able to follow the doctors’ orders to the latter. First, they ensure that you get clean of all the substances that you abused. Second, these interventions help you to approach the causes of your addiction. It is quite known that various triggers cause addiction.
Third, the rehab programs help you in addressing and repairing the relationships that you ruined while under the influence of substances. This is the part where you will have to attend family therapies to improve communication skills as well as get help in reaching out to those that find it hard to let go of the issues that happened.
Fourth, rehab program equip you with the necessary skills to avoid relapse. As soon as you learn your triggers, therapists are known to teach on means to avoid them. Such teachings often conclude that it is important to live in a sober environment, acquire new hobbies and create boundaries that will not interfere with your sobriety.
In short, the addiction rehabilitation programs are equipped to make you a sober and a better person that can participate in making society a better place. You gain back the control over your actions and life, which is quite empowering considering that being helpless can leave you in the most desperate situations.
Types Of Addiction Rehabilitation Programs
As mentioned above, these programs are very many and work together in multiple combinations. They include the following;
- Detoxification
Detoxification is a program that you are subjected to in the effort to get your body clean. It is quite common in many addicts’ treatment since it is impossible to proceed and heal while still using drugs. Therefore, you can consider it as the first stage of the sobriety journey.
During the process of the detoxification program, you are prone to experience various types of withdrawal symptoms, which vary due to multiple factors. These include the drugs abused, the level of abuse or addiction and the amount abused. As a result, these withdrawal symptoms range from vomiting, sweating, severe fatigue, loss of appetite, hallucinations and sleeping problems to life threating ones like stroke, heart attack, rapid heartbeat, depression and suicidal thoughts.
- Medication-Assisted Treatment
The medication program follows the detoxification program as a remedy for the above mentioned withdrawal symptoms. Additional, this intervention prevents you from falling back into drug usage, keeps your cravings in check and treats your mental issues.
Most addicts put under this program suffer from benzodiazepines, opioids or alcohol addiction. If they are not treated this way, it is highly possible that they can die. Therefore, this program saves millions of drug addicts all over the world.
Among the drugs used include methadone and buprenorphine. According to research, methadone is very helpful to patients suffering from heroin and opiate addiction. As it alleviates the withdrawal symptoms, it ensures that the cravings for these drugs reduce completely.
To ensure that it works effectively, doctors prescribe methadone in high doses when the symptoms are severe. However, as the body recovers from the withdrawal symptoms, the doctors reduce the dosage. Buprenorphine as well is used on the heroin and opiate addicts.
Most doctors prefer it to methadone because it does not cause the patients to feel high while taking action. Unfortunately, these two drugs cause some side effects upon your body despite working towards the reduction of the pain from withdrawal symptoms.
If you are an opiate or heroin addict under the medication program and receive these drugs, you will definitely experience; constipation, excessive sweating, itchy skin, sexual dysfunction, vomiting respiratory depression, sleeping issues and muscle cramps.
- Inpatient Treatment Program
The inpatient treatment program is known as the residential addiction treatment program. This intervention is suitable for so many people, such as those that are deep into addiction, those whose environment has many temptations that might cause relapse, those who wish to fully focus on getting sober and those that have failed in other programs.
The program requires you to live inside a facility, whereby, you will receive an immersive treatment experience. It is known to be quite expensive, but also very effective because you will have all the help that you need at your disposal. The chances of relapsing while in this program are less and thus it is the best for you if you are deep in an addiction.
It is classified into two; long-term and short-term residential treatment. The long term is suitable for people that need a lot of care to recover, thus last 6 to 12 months. The short term is good for those whose addiction is less severe, thus can even go for few weeks to about 3 moths at most.
Signs that you need inpatient program
Just because you have been drugs does not necessarily mean that you must be admitted in an inpatient facility. If this was the case, the available inpatient facilities would be full to capacity and totally expensive in order to accommodate every addict that comes along.
Therefore, the following signs can help know if seeking the inpatient program is right for you.
- You have completely changed as your behaviors have become unrecognizable
- You are never able to decline drugs
- You spend the majority of your time in intoxication
- You seem to be developing mental issues that are propelling your addiction
- Your previous struggles to quit have failed. In this case, if they failed after a short term residential treatment, then the long-term could be needed so that you can utilize more programs to help with your recovery
- You have no support regardless of your efforts to quit
- Your addiction is long term and could result to life threatening withdrawal symptoms.
- You have constantly abused multiple drugs thus your addiction is complicated.
- Outpatient Addiction Treatment
This intervention program is quite the opposite of the inpatient program. You do not board any facility, but instead report on a basis that depends on your schedule. As you begin your sobriety journey under this program, you may have to report to the facility on a daily basis to meet with therapists and clinical staff.
It can be quite convenient especially if you have multiple responsibilities like work, and family that need your daily presence. However, it is risky if you live in an environment that comprises of triggers and unsupportive people. You are at a high risk of relapsing under this program. However, you can remain strong by practicing whatever you are taught on a daily basis.
Signs that you need outpatient program
Similar to the inpatient program, the outpatient as well is not for everybody. You may decide to pursue it, but hardly survive a week before falling back into addiction. You must discover whether it is suitable for you, since relapsing causes a lot of discouragement.
The following are signs than can help you know if outpatient program will be effective in your recovery;
- You addiction has hardly developed, thus could be still new or very mild
- You want change since you seem to be losing yourself to drugs
- Your health has no problems but you feel that you cannot go any longer without therapy
- You are afraid to lose your life, which involves family, work, or school, thus prefer a treatment that can allow you to still have your life
- You have a good support system that will ensure that you stick to your sobriety path
- You have relapsed only once or twice, but fear that you may fall back into addiction if no action is taken.
Under the outpatient program, there are categories of how to go about it.
- Day treatment- you can pursue day treatment by either attending the treatment during the day them carry out your activities in the evening. Your schedule may also allow half day treatment whereby your responsibilities will occupy the other half.
The both kinds could begin with more days of the week and lesser days as you progress.
- Intensive outpatient programs- these apply f your support system at home is very strong. This support system may include your parents, friends, spouse and children or even the whole extended family.
If you have great people behind you and by your side who can prevent a relapse, then the meetings with your therapists and clinical staff can be as flexible as possible. They can be so because you believe that nothing can make you relapse and thus have ample time for the life that you want to live in sobriety.
- Continuing care groups- while in a midst of people with the same or worse issues than you, you tend to feel less alone. Also you feel encouraged because the stories others will give you another perspective about life.
Such information is so good for your recovery because it shows you the path that you should avoid since now you know where it leads. In this program, the members decide when to meet to talk about their challenges, regrets and achievements.
- Individual Therapy
As you complete the detoxification program, you are likely to go through the individual therapy program where you have an audience with a therapist. These professionals help you understand your addiction by finding out the issues that led you into substance abuse.
As you proceed with the program, you eventually learn to deal with your problems in better ways and learn to begin new things that will help you stick to your goals. It could be expensive since the therapist or counselor focuses on you alone.
- Group Therapy
This type of program is quite effective when combined with individualized counseling. It helps in hearing other people’s struggles which often motivate fellow group members to continue with their sobriety struggles. Additionally, it is cost effective while offering the required support to stay sober as you manage triggers.
- Family Therapy
Family therapy is a program that focuses on healing your family. For you heal completely, you need that peace of mind that all is well with those that you love. Therefore, your family joins you in therapy sessions to mend the relationships destroyed and also use family strengths in propelling your recovery from drug addiction.
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy
The thoughts that you keep on a constant basis are connected to your behaviors. Therefore, the program that is based on cognitive behavior therapy, focuses on your emotions and behavior. The therapist try to find the emotions that lead to your addiction and resolve to find a solution or an alteration.
- Animal Assisted Therapy
Since you may deeply care for animals, the therapists may put you in this program to heighten your care for animals and thus divert your psychological issues. it is quite effective because just as they are innocent, pets such as cats and dogs can heal or improve mental health by increasing your empathy.
Additionally, they may increase your vulnerability thus help you in connecting with others as you increase the sense of empowerment. Since you must care for the pet, this program enables you to be responsible for your actions, reduce depression as well as isolation, while achieving long-term-sobriety.
- Motivational Interviewing
While under the motivational interviewing program, your doctors focus on motivating you to change. Additionally, they encourage the adoption of the non-confrontational style to ensure that you are engaged in the treatment. They utilize strategies like rolling with resistance, reflection and helping you discover the advantages and disadvantages of your addiction and proceeding with treatment.
- Contingency Management
While in the recovery process, you are prone to do both desirable and undesirable behaviors. Therefore, this program motivates you to stick to the desirable behaviors since you are likely to receive an incentive or reward. This program therefore, keeps you on a sober path since you will mostly indulge in the positive things which will not involve drugs or relapse risks.
- Dialectal Behavior Therapy
The dialectal behavior therapy is the best when it comes to altering how you think. Despite that difficult thoughts are hard to accept or condone, they are important since life must balance between the good and the bad. Avoiding the difficult or unwanted thought s is risky since they may cause you to relapse while trying to escape them.
This program promotes the acceptance of such thinking, as well as some behaviors and emotions. It focus on validation and in doing so increases your motivation to change, reduces unhealthy behaviors and helps you focus on your strengths rather than weaknesses.
- Harm Reduction Model
As you indulge in substance abuse, you are prone to indulge in multiple harmful behaviors. Among them is driving under the influence, risky sexual behavior, excessive consumption of drugs and contracting blood-borne illness.
This program, therefore, cares for you by not only focusing on abstinence but also reducing the indulgence in such behaviors, it may do so by proving condoms, providing the needle exchange program, and ensuring that persons do not drive while intoxicated. However, getting you to reduce your intake of substances is quite challenges.
In conclusion, rehabilitation is quite helpful if you are looking forward to living a better life free of drugs. It does not only apply to those that are already addicted to drugs, but also those that feel they have develop a drug abuse habit that they wish should disappear.
Therefore, if you abuse drugs due to peer pressure, stress, low-self-esteem or whatever issues, but are still not an addict, many of these programs will help you quit substance abuse even before you reach a place where withdrawal symptoms have kicked.
For example, if you are put under the cognitive behavioral therapy program, you are likely to have a change of thoughts. You will learn to deal with life’s issues better in your mind, thus change your behaviors. So these programs apply to anybody that is deeply or shallowly abusing drugs.