Home » Drug Addiction Treatment: First Step, Types, and Medications

Drug Addiction Treatment: First Step, Types, and Medications

by Elaina
Addiction treatment

An assortment of disorders known as addiction disorders can be harmful to the body and the mind. Addiction treatment is necessary to escape the cycle. However, addiction is a chronic illness that is challenging to manage and calls for ongoing care.

Depending on the drugs you’re abusing, the level of care you need, your unique needs for mental health, or the cost of healthcare options, you can select the course of treatment that is best for you. The most popular medications and treatments for addiction are listed below.

First step

Recognizing that drug use is a problem that lowers the quality of life is the first step in recovery. This may happen due to disruptions at school, employment, socializing, leisure, or other crucial functional domains.

A variety of therapy choices become available after you acknowledge the detrimental effects of substances on your life. Options for addiction treatment vary depending on the type of addiction, length, intensity of use, and impact on the individual, among other things. Several different types of treatment are available, some of which are given below.

Detoxification

Your body can be cleansed of harmful substances through a medically assisted detox in a secure and controlled setting. This is advantageous because substance withdrawal can result in uncomfortable or perhaps fatal physical symptoms. Detoxes are typically used in conjunction with other treatments because they do not address the underlying behavioral causes of addiction.

Psychotherapy and behavioral treatment

The most popular post-detox remedy is this one. Depending on each patient’s needs, the type of treatment may be individual, group, or family. The number of sessions typically steadily lowers as symptoms improve after an initial period of vigorous therapy.

Addiction therapy aims to change people’s attitudes and actions about substance use, improve their life skills, and assist with other medicines. In addition to behavioral behavior, it emphasizes the fundamental causes of addiction illnesses.

Therapy with Reasoning and Emotion

You can recognize your negative thoughts and learn strategies to fight feelings of self-defeat with rational, emotional, and behavioral therapy (REBT). The purpose of REBT is to assist you in realizing that the capacity for rational thought is innate in you and has nothing to do with stressors or external events.

Some medications for drug addiction treatment are;

Naltrexone (Vivitrol) (Vivitrol)

The brain’s pleasure-producing alcohol receptors are blocked by naltrexone. It lessens the desire to drink as well. Naltrexone may result in headaches and nausea. It can be injected every four weeks.

Methadone

An opiate called methadone is used to treat moderate to severe opiate addiction. While methadone also binds to brain receptors as heroin and medicines do, it has no psychoactive effects.

By doing so, cravings and withdrawal symptoms are reduced. As a heroin and painkiller substitute for some addicts, methadone should be taken cautiously. To stop abuse, medicines are regularly given out by methadone clinics.

Acamprosate (Kampral)

This medication eases the physical and mental suffering brought on by alcohol poisoning. After the detox is finished, recovering alcoholics can start taking acamprosate. Acamprosate reduces the impulse to drink while preventing unfavorable feelings like anxiety and depression.

Buprenorphine (Sabson)

Although buprenorphine is less addictive and consequently less restricted than methadone, it functions similarly. Users of buprenorphine can avoid making daily trips to the doctor’s office by taking the medication home.

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