What Type Of Therapy Is The Most Effective For Meth Addiction
Fortunately, there are a variety of proven and effective treatments for individuals living with a meth addiction. Typically, these treatments and therapies seek to address the physical and mental aspects of addiction. However, only one is the most effective for meth addiction: cognitive behavioral therapy.
Each Approach To Drug Treatment Is Designed To Address Certain Aspects Of Drug Addiction And Its Consequences For The Individual Family And Society
This section presents examples of treatment approaches and components that have an evidence base supporting their use. Each approach is designed to address certain aspects of drug addiction and its consequences for the individual, family, and society. Some of the approaches are intended to supplement or enhance existing treatment programs, and others are fairly comprehensive in and of themselves.
The following section is broken down into Pharmacotherapies, Behavioral Therapies, and Behavioral Therapies Primarily for Adolescents. They are further subdivided according to particular substance use disorders. This list is not exhaustive, and new treatments are continually under development.
Complementary And Alternative Therapies
Some drug treatment therapies fall under the category of complementary and alternative. Acupuncture is one that has been found beneficial for treating depression and anxiety. However, evidence for its ability to treat drug addiction is somewhat mixed.
A 2016 study looked at 85 different research articles involving the use of acupuncture for substance abuse therapy . It noted that some found positive results but not all did, perhaps due to inconsistent research methods.
Meditation is a complementary approach that appears to offer better results. It has been connected with improved recovery, while also improving mental health via reducing feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Nutritional repletion can also play an important role in recovery. This can include consulting with a registered dietitian to improve eating behaviors, replenish nutrients in your body, and improve your overall health.
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The Most Effective Drug Addiction Treatment Methods
Are you or a loved one dealing with substance abuse problems? Read on to learn about 5 of the most effective drug addiction treatment methods.
Every year, drug addiction costs the nation over $740 billion. This figure includes healthcare costs, crime, and employment losses.
Unfortunately, overcoming addiction may be one of the most difficult feats for a human being to accomplish. There is not only the physical addiction, but the mental and emotional dependence as well. Thats why drug addiction treatment is not always one-size-fits-all.
Not sure which method best suits your situation? Check out 5 of the most effective drug addiction treatments below.
Drug rehabilitation programs are one of the most familiar ways to treat addiction. These programs can range from super expensive to affordable and government-subsidized.
There are also different kinds of rehab programs. Resources like this blog article explore a few types of rehab. This includes:
- Long-term residential drug treatment programs
- Inpatient drug rehabilitation centers
- Outpatient drug rehab programs.
Therapy for addiction usually involves behavioral counseling. This addresses those behaviors that led to the addiction and perpetuate it. This treatment type helps get to the root of the problem.
The different types of therapy for addiction may include:
- The Matrix Model
Therapy can also combine a variety of approaches.
Holistic methods can include:
What Is A Substance Use Disorder
Substance use disorder is a complex condition in which there is uncontrolled use of a substance despite harmful consequences. People with SUD have an intense focus on using a certain substance such as alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs, to the point where the person’s ability to function in day-to-day life becomes impaired. People keep using the substance even when they know it is causing or will cause problems. The most severe SUDs are sometimes called addictions.
People with a substance use disorder may have distorted thinking and behaviors. Changes in the brain’s structure and function are what cause people to have intense cravings, changes in personality, abnormal movements, and other behaviors. Brain imaging studies show changes in the areas of the brain that relate to judgment, decision making, learning, memory, and behavioral control.
People can develop an addiction to:
- Alcohol
- PCP, LSD and other hallucinogens
- Inhalants, such as, paint thinners and glue
- Opioid pain killers, such as codeine and oxycodone, heroin
- Sedatives, hypnotics and anxiolytics
- Cocaine, methamphetamine and other stimulants
- Tobacco
When someone has a substance use disorder, they usually build up a tolerance to the substance, meaning they need larger amounts to feel the effects.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, people begin taking drugs for a variety of reasons, including:
In addition to substances, people can also develop addiction to behaviors, such as gambling .
Learn more about
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What Makes Some Addiction Treatment Programs More Successful
Treatment programs that treat the mind, body, and spirit with individualized therapies tend to be the best way to deal with alcohol addiction or drug addiction. While programs like Alcoholics Anonymous can support quitting drinking, similar to Narcotics Anonymous, these programs rely heavily on group therapy. At WhiteSands Alcohol and Drug Rehab, we feature individual therapy, peer group counseling, medical therapies, alternative therapies, and holistic treatments that help people overcome addictions for lasting recovery.
Principles Of Effective Drug Addiction Treatment
Research done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse has produced a set of core principles that define effective drug abuse treatment.
Here are 13 principles of effective drug addiction treatment:
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Treatment To Overcome Addiction Is A Long
Between 40 percent and 60 percent of people who enter detox and rehabilitation will eventually relapse and return to substance abuse. While this statistic may seem startling, and some may say it suggests that perhaps addiction treatment does not work, this is far from the truth.
As a chronic illness, addiction has symptom relapse rates similar to other chronic illnesses. NIDA compares symptom relapse rates.
- Type 2 diabetes symptom relapse rates are between 30 percent and 50 percent.
- Hypertension symptom relapse rates are between 50 percent and 70 percent.
- Asthma symptom relapse rates are also between 50 percent and 70 percent.
People with diabetes, asthma, or hypertension are not moral failures if they experience a return of symptoms or new symptoms. They are people with a medical condition who must go back to their doctor and discuss treatment options. It is important to treat addiction in this manner as well. Evidence-based treatment does work addiction simply needs to be continually managed.
The Whitesands Treatment Approach
If you or someone you know needs to access addiction aftercare services, its important to talk with a professional treatment center as soon as you can. WhiteSands Treatment Center offers a multi-disciplinary holistic approach to drug and alcohol recovery. Through both traditional treatments and alternative therapies, we pair the most effective components of addiction treatment to help patients find their way to recovery.
Its important for addiction sufferers to remember that there is no one path to long-term recovery. If you have tried one type of therapy and found it to be lacking, you should not give up on treatment. There are many others that can help you achieve the sobriety you crave. Additionally, by meeting with an addiction specialist, you can be assessed so that clinical staff members can recommend an ideal course of treatment for you or your loved one. The most effective methods and treatments for addiction will teach you new and effective coping skills will help you manage lifelong sobriety.
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When Is Harm Reduction Advisable
Harm reduction is treatment approach that deploys an array of strategies to help people moderate substance use and minimize its negative effects on them and their lives without demanding commitment to complete abstinence as a condition of help. Harm reduction is of special value to the many people who, while struggling with addiction, cannot envision life without drugs, dont believe they can muster the power to stop substance use, avoid seeking professional help because complete abstinence is not their goal, or find traditional approaches to treatment lacking. It makes concrete help available to people who are not comfortable with 12-step programs like Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous or who have not benefited from other treatment programs. Harm reduction is saving lives, experts say, because it initiates the recovery process at whatever stage of change a person is in.
Causes & Risk Factors For Addiction
There are a variety of causes and risk factors that can contribute to the development of a substance use disorder. These may include:
- Genetics, such as a family history of substance misuse.
- Starting substance use at an early age.
- Easy access to drugs or alcohol, especially at a young age.
- Exposure to heavy advertising of substances .
- A current mental health diagnosis.
- Low parental monitoring.
- A high amount of family conflict.
- A history of abuse or neglect.
- Family conflict or violence.
Through therapy, counseling, rehab, and other treatment modalities, the core reasoning for development of addiction can be discussed and coping mechanism and healing can commence. Because addiction impacts everyone differently, the course to addiction recovery can be different for each person. Fortunately, there are a variety of specialized rehab types and treatment programs to choose from to suit each persons individualized needs.
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Are Interventions Helpful To Get People Into Treatment
In the addiction world, “intervention” is a technique of confrontation intended to drive a person into treatment for addiction. Typically, a family member or someone close to the substance user arranges a surprise gathering of family and friends, along with a representative of an addiction treatment facility or program, to persuade the user to immediately enter treatmentor risk losing the support of and contact with those near and dear. Those who promote interventions contend that only such a dramatic event can pierce the denial of harmful consequences that is presumed to be perpetuating the addiction. The drama inherent in interventions has made them fodder for reality television.
In real life, however well-meaning they are, interventions are humiliating and often backfire. Even if they succeed in getting people into treatment, data show that they dont ensure that people stay in treatment one major problem is that they nullify the internal motivation need to quit.
Most Effective Drug Addiction Treatments
The most effective drug addiction therapies combine behavioral therapy and medications that are personalized to the patient’s needs and, in the long term, avoid relapse. The finest treatments are tailored to the unique needs of each patient.
Numerous treatments are available to assist patients suffering from drug addiction, such as these five options:
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The Most Effective: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the most effective treatment for meth addiction is behavioral therapy, specifically cognitive behavioral therapy. Although there are a variety of treatments and therapies available for meth addiction, cognitive behavioral therapy is the most effective because it modifies an individuals behavior. Using CBT with an addiction counselor or therapist can help an individual with a meth addiction identify the connections between their thoughts, feelings, and actions. In doing so, an individual can identify how these connections led them to drug abuse and how they might cope with them in the future in order to avoid a relapse.
A Brief Overview Of The Chemical Dependence Field
Like many health and human service fields, chemical dependence service delivery is continually evolving in response to new research and advances in practice. Recent scientific evidence finds that:
- Chemical addiction is a brain disease. Chronic exposure to alcohol and/or drugs changes the brain in fundamental and long lasting ways.
- Chemical dependence is a chronic, relapsing disease that requires changes in behavior for the individual. This places addiction in a category with heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and other chronic relapsing diseases.
- Addiction treatment is as effective in reducing the symptoms of the disease as are most treatments for heart disease, asthma and diabetes.
- Chemically dependent individuals comply with their treatment as frequently as those suffering from other chronic relapsing diseases, which require the individual to make permanent changes in their behaviors.
- While abstinence from chemicals is usually its goal, treatment success can also be seen in other documented outcomes .
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Breaking Free From Addiction
Researchers have developed effective behavioral and pharmaceutical therapies to treat addiction but addiction treatment practice hasn’t caught up with the science. What can psychologists do to help?
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Monitor on Psychology44
For more than five years, David Sheff watched his son Nic battle methamphetamine addiction. By age 25, Nic had been in and out of rehab and tried half a dozen treatment programs. Some helped, temporarily. But always, he had relapsed, ending up back on the streets, terrifying himself and his parents.
“I was frantic,” he says. “I called the guy who knows more about meth than anyone in the world, and I asked him Where can I send my son?’ And he had no idea. He was stunned. He asked colleagues, other researchers, and they didn’t know either.”
Sheff did find a treatment program for his son, but not through his scientist contacts he found it through a friend, another father with an addicted child.
Today, Nic is 30 years old and five years clean, married and the author of two memoirs about his addiction. But the episode, according to Sheff, illustrates the chasm between the science of addiction treatment and the programs that are available to most of the people who need them.
It’s a brew of “pseudoscience, tradition and the best guesses of people who are sincere, but that doesn’t mean they know how to help,” as Sheff puts it.
Access To Continuum Of Care
Addiction is a chronic illness that should be managed over a lifetime just as other chronic illnesses like diabetes or hypertension are managed. In the case of mild Substance Use Disorder, it is possible that a brief intervention with counselling to develop coping skills is all that will be required. At the severe end of addiction, it is likely that treatment will involve detox to manage withdrawal, residential treatment, outpatient treatment while in a sober home, and ultimately reintegration into the community with ongoing supervision by professionals of medications and involvement with self-help groups.
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How Long Does Addiction Treatment Last
Traditional residential rehab programs usually require a minimum stay of 28-30 days, but stays of 60 or 90 days are sometimes advised. The danger of relapse is considered most intense during the first 90 days of recovery.
All good rehab programs work with patients to set up an aftercare plan that supports the process of recovery in the real world. It can include arrangements for housing in substance-free environments, enrollment in an outpatient treatment program, referrals for counseling and therapy as well as supervision for medication-assisted treatment if used, and information about peer support groups and other community resources.
There is no set timetable for the internal and behavioral changes that underlie recovery, but forging self-understanding, acquiring and practicing new coping skills, developing healthy living habits, establishing new social networks, and rebuilding a rewarding life take time. Many people continue to support recovery for months or more by regularly engaging in counseling or psychotherapy and/or by participating in peer-support groups, whether in person or online.
Types Of Therapy Used In Addiction Treatment And Recovery
There are many different types of therapies that are used in addiction treatment programs like residential rehab, IOP, and aftercare. Each type of therapy is different and may be more or less effective, depending on the clients needs. If you or a loved one is preparing to start an addiction treatment program, here are some of the types of therapies you will likely encounter.
What is Cognitive behavioral therapy ? Cognitive behavioral therapy is founded on the core principle that psychological problems like addiction are based on harmful thinking patterns, negative learned behaviors, and unhelpful coping techniques.
How is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Used to Treat Addiction? CBT aims to change harmful thinking patterns by teaching individuals how to recognize and reevaluate them realistically, use problem-solving to deal with difficult situations, develop self-confidence and self-efficacy, and gain a better understanding of the behaviors of others.3 Instead of focusing on the past, CBT is centered around the here and now to help clients move forward in life.
What Are the Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Addiction?
What is Contingency management? Contingency management is a type of behavior therapy in which individuals are rewarded for making positive changes in their lives.
What Are the Benefits of Contingency Management for Addiction?
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