According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), addiction is a brain disease characterized by chronic relapse, despite health, social, financial and legal consequences. Drugs change the structure of the brain, sometimes permanently, which leads to long-term struggles with maintaining sobriety and creates a pattern of harmful behaviors and reduced decision-making capabilities.
Step 1
Find a treatment program that addresses all the aspects of the disease, such as the Pavillon in North Carolina or Axis in California. U.S. Drug Treatment Centers provides a listing of more than 14,000 rehabilitation facilities. A thorough treatment program for drug addiction deals with the physical withdrawal and aftereffects of substance abuse as well as the underlying psychological forces that drove the addict to use in the first place. A treatment program that lasts anywhere from 30 days to a year or more can provide the framework in which an addict can continue with recovery and quit drugs for good.
Step 2
Understand that addiction is a chronic disease that has no cure. Like other chronic illnesses such as diabetes or asthma, the disease must be managed on a daily basis. Addicts must practice complete abstinence from any mood- or mind-altering drugs to maintain a lifetime of sobriety. By taking one substance, including alcohol, addicts set up the brain to re-establish its patterns of compulsive thinking and obsessive behavior that lead to relapse.
Step 3
Take prescribed medications that can help prevent relapse. The NIDA reports that drugs such as Naltrexone and Disulfiram can help to decrease the craving for drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Addicts also should be checked for co-occurring mental conditions such as bipolar disorder to make sure they receive the proper medication to treat the dual diagnosis. Co-occurring mental illness is common among drug addicts.
Step 4
Join a 12-step recovery program such as Narcotics Anonymous to receive continued support from other addicts who have quit drugs for good. NA can provide experience on how to refrain from picking up another substance. Recovering addicts support each other by making themselves available to talk with other addicts when the thought to use surfaces. They share tips and strategies that have worked since the program was first developed in the early 1950s and have helped millions of former addicts stay quit for good.
Tips and Warnings
- Talk about a desire to use as soon as it hits. Keeping secrets and denying the existence of those thoughts only leads to isolation and sets off the brain patterns of obsession that are always present in the addicted mind.
- Relapse does not have to mean that treatment failed. Addicts can return to their healthy patterns and resume counseling or recovery group involvement immediately after a relapse and avoid additional long-term damage. Adjustments in the recovery program may need to be made to avoid further relapse however.
Things You'll Need
- Treatment
- Medication
- Recovery program
