The end goal for addicts is to regain a healthy lifestyle and be completely free of any chemical substance. Rebuilding relationships with family members and friends and living a productive professional life are important steps to retaining a happier state of well-being, one that doesn’t require drugs for proper daily function.
Medication treatment can be a successful method for breaking chemical dependency, but it is important to remember that even prescribed drugs can produce negative side effects. For example, recovering opioid addicts can sometimes form new addictions to methadone, a highly addictive prescription drug used to treat severe withdrawal symptoms.
Typically, addicts and family members should look into a “rehabilitation package” that includes medication therapy, behavioral therapy, and counseling. No treatment method works for everyone, and at Asana Recovery, we approach everyone who enters into our care as an individual in need of individual care and attention.
The Choice Is The Addict’s
Re-entering society as a former or recovering addict is not easy. Counseling, medication, and other forms of therapy are essential healing methods, but one important factor remains the addict’s choice. All the medical assistance in the world is not always enough to change people’s minds. Long-term drug abuse can lead to severe chemical dependency. While they might appear happy and healthy for a while, addicts will have to cope with a buzzing attraction to a substance they have abused long after they’ve left recovery.
For addicts ready to shatter the chains of their addiction, there are different forms of counseling and treatment available.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy helps addicts rebuild confidence and self-worth and also rebuild the weakened mental state brought on by addiction and abuse. This can also be supported by medication treatment. The combination of monitored prescription drugs and rigid counseling allows for psychological healing altogether.
Generally, behavioral therapy falls into two categories: outpatient and residential or inpatient.
Outpatient Therapy follows the relationship between an addict and a counselor/physician and can include:
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: helps patients develop a stronger understanding of controlling addictive behavior and recognizing situations that may provoke drug use
- Contingency: enforces and emboldens habits for self-restraint against drug use
- Motivational Interviewing: convinces addicts to take the first steps toward recovery and to feel confident during withdrawal and treatment
- Family: counseling that seeks to heal relationships between addicts and family members
Residential Therapy (Institutional) is a more rigid treatment, where an addict is required to stay at an institution or medical center to receive more rigorous rehabilitation. While some individuals with severe forms of addiction or dangerous withdrawal symptoms must undergo residential therapy for their own safety, many choose residential therapy for the community and around the clock support it provides. This process involves community therapy, housing groups, and short-term institutionalization for social integration, and at Asana Recovery, it’s our preferred method of treatment.
