Treatments for drug addiction vary, depending on severity, psychosocial factors and medical issues. Addicts with severe or longstanding addictions may need inpatient detoxification to safely withdraw from drugs. Some addicts find enough support through a twelve-step group, counseling or a combination of the two. Other treatments include residential treatment programs and certain medications, both of which provide help for many seeking recovery. Anyone wanting to defeat a drug addiction should consult with a psychotherapist, doctor or drug treatment center for assessment.
Twelve Steps
Participating in Narcotics Anonymous or other twelve-step meetings can aid greatly in achieving and maintaining recovery. Most addicts need more support than this, but use it as an important adjunctive support, during and after more intensive treatment. Narcotics Anonymous literature states that "one of the keys to NA's success is the therapeutic value of addicts working with other addicts." Members attend regular meetings and progress through the twelve steps of recovery with the help of a peer sponsor. NA has no religious affiliation, though it does encourage members to cultivate individual spiritual principles. NA cites statistics that their members achieve complete recovery for an average of nine years.
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Therapy of various kinds can help addicts understand what lies beneath their addictions and triggers drug use, and gain new coping skills to live drug-free. As with NA, addicts usually need more than psychotherapy alone to get clean. It generally serves as an important part of achieving and maintaining recovery by working in a more holistic way with the addiction and its roots and effects. Many experts laud cognitive behavioral therapy, with its focus on changing thinking and behavior. For many this helps immensely, though for some a focus on feelings and working through past trauma and pain provides a more substantial foundation.
Residential Treatment
The National Institute on Drug Abuse claims that residential treatment can be useful. Residential treatment can range anywhere from thirty-day intensive treatment to six months or more in a therapeutic community. These communities aim to resocialize the addict to a drug-free lifestyle. Residential treatment can offer real hope for those who have struggled with serious drug problems for many years. Depending on the severity of the addiction, inpatient medical detoxification may be the first stage of treatment. Generally, residential programs start out highly structured and gradually loosen the structure, while still providing intensive support in order to facilitate reintegration in society.
Medications
Some opiate addicts choose medication as a part of their recovery process. Opiates include heroin, prescription narcotics, opium and morphine. The prescribed medications ease withdrawal symptoms and help to relieve drug cravings. One drug, naltrexone, blocks the effects opioids have at their receptor sites, and is used only in already de-toxed patients and to treat overdose. Addicts using excessive amounts of heroin or other opiates to try to overcome the naltrexone in their system have fatally overdosed. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, researchers are developing medications to treat stimulant and marijuana use as well.
