Social scientists, teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists pay a great deal of attention to understand the nature of addiction. It is complicated because it is a disease, it is psychological but also biological, it is also inherited as well as cultural.
If you take the opportunity to visit a rehabilitation center and talk to several people, you would see that almost all of them have different reasons for their addictions. This is even so for a simple alcohol addict or a caffeine addict or a cigarette smoker.
The image of an addict in our minds that comes mostly from Hollywood movies does not reflect the truth. Like it is in homosexuality, you cannot always look to a person and say "yes, this is an addict" or "no this person is not an addict".
Parents of teenagers also feel this difficulty when to tell their children have a drug addiction or not. If the child is not an addict and her parents insist on controlling her on substance abuse, this is another traumatic scene for the teenage. Without any addiction she is going to have other psychological disorders regarding trust, oppression, etc.
Due to this complicated nature of addictions, it is best to trust professional diagnosis and addiction treatment.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Gov. Mitt Romney meets a medical marijuana patient
Clayton Holton of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana asks Gov. Mitt Romney if he will have seriously ill patients like himself arrested for using medical marijuana with their doctor's approval. Gov. Romney doesn't answer the question and turns his back on Clayton.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Heroine addiction and treatment
There are eight million heroine addicts in the world at the moment. Recovery from heroine is not an easy process. It is considered as the most difficult addiction treatment by authorities.
Medical treatment is effective for withdrawal symptoms which makes recovery easier. When it comes to heroine addiction, the 80% ratio of relapse puts preventing relapse more important than the recovery itself.
There are also interacting drugs with heroine. As WikiPedia puts:
And for options of recovery:
Source: Wikipedia.
Medical treatment is effective for withdrawal symptoms which makes recovery easier. When it comes to heroine addiction, the 80% ratio of relapse puts preventing relapse more important than the recovery itself.
There are also interacting drugs with heroine. As WikiPedia puts:
Opioids are strong central nervous system depressants, but regular users develop physiological tolerance. In combination with other central nervous system depressants, heroin may still kill even experienced users, particularly if their tolerance to the drug has reduced or the strength of their usual dose has increased.
Toxicology studies of heroin-related deaths reveal frequent involvement of other central nervous system depressants, including alcohol, benzodiazepines such as temazepam (Restoril; Normison), and, to a rising degree, methadone. Ironically, benzodiazepines are often used in the treatment of heroin addiction while they cause much more severe withdrawal symptoms.
Cocaine sometimes proves to be fatal when used in combination with heroin. Though "speedballs" (when injected) or "moonrocks" (when smoked) are a popular mix of the two drugs among users, combinations of stimulants and depressants can have unpredictable and sometimes fatal results. In the United States in early 2006, a rash of deaths was attributed to either a combination of fentanyl and heroin, or pure fentanyl masquerading as heroin particularly in the Detroit Metro Area; one news report refers to the combination as 'laced heroin', though this is likely a generic rather than a specific term.
And for options of recovery:
In situations where the addictive quality is judged to be of lower consequence than other measures (such as cases of terminal illness) diamorphine is a valuable drug. The slow and often very painful end to a cancer sufferer's life can be greatly relieved by the careful use of diamorphine to relieve the pain and worry. In this situation the drug can allow a sufferer to live their last few weeks more actively and independently than would otherwise be possible.
Source: Wikipedia.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Diseased person model in drug rehabilitation
A controversial topic in drug addiction treatment is the diseased person model. Diseased person model, according to wikipedia:
So, this is open to discussion. I agree with some psychotherapists on the issue, especially with the idea that the diseased person model perpetuates the addicted person's emotions and situation.
This is not a controversy unique to substance abuse treatment. There is always this conflict between psychotherapists and other health professionals. The society tends to behave towards each member as if they are never grown up and are still children regardless of their age.
Ironically, many drug addicts are addicts just because of this paradigm, at least in my opinion. Treating a person as if she will never grow up ends up in unhealthy behavior in that person.
Of course, I can understand that the addict may be very agitated by his or her situation and should be treated accordingly. However, this is not the issue. This looks something like learning and implementing respect to others in every corner of life.
Therefore, I don't think that the diseased person model discussion is unique to drug recovery efforts. It's everywhere in our society.
Some psychotherapists question the validity of the "diseased person" model used within the drug rehabilitation environment. Instead, they state the individual person is entirely capable of rejecting previous behaviors. Further, they contend the use of the disease model of addiction simply perpetuates the addicts' feelings of worthlessness, powerlessness, and inevitably causes inner conflicts that could be resolved if the addict were to approach addiction as behavior that is no longer productive, the same as childhood tantrums. Most drug rehabilitation programs do not utilize any of these ideas, inasmuch as they are seen to contradict the assumption the addict is a sick person in need of help.
So, this is open to discussion. I agree with some psychotherapists on the issue, especially with the idea that the diseased person model perpetuates the addicted person's emotions and situation.
This is not a controversy unique to substance abuse treatment. There is always this conflict between psychotherapists and other health professionals. The society tends to behave towards each member as if they are never grown up and are still children regardless of their age.
Ironically, many drug addicts are addicts just because of this paradigm, at least in my opinion. Treating a person as if she will never grow up ends up in unhealthy behavior in that person.
Of course, I can understand that the addict may be very agitated by his or her situation and should be treated accordingly. However, this is not the issue. This looks something like learning and implementing respect to others in every corner of life.
Therefore, I don't think that the diseased person model discussion is unique to drug recovery efforts. It's everywhere in our society.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Types of drug rehabilitation
When residential treatment is selected, it is important to put emphasis on the powerful nature of substance abuse and addiction. Addiction usually does not come as the only life-problem in such cases.
Drug rehab programs have to have their own unique philosophy in order to overcome the charismatic aspect of addiction. Treatment may have to differ according to each individual. Working on self-esteem is a great idea to raise chances of early recovery and mostly, this is the work of cognitive therapy.
Drug intervention services are also of crucial importance when you want to care and rescue your loved ones. The problem is close relatives or very close friends sometimes are not able to cope with their lovely children or special ones or buddies addiction.
When pharmacology (pharmacotherapy) is selected the primary method for treatment then usually methadone and buprenorphine are used. Pharmacotherapy does not yet have an instant effect. Yet, it helps very much in recovery beacuse it eliminates some of the withdrawal symptoms.
Drug rehab programs have to have their own unique philosophy in order to overcome the charismatic aspect of addiction. Treatment may have to differ according to each individual. Working on self-esteem is a great idea to raise chances of early recovery and mostly, this is the work of cognitive therapy.
Drug intervention services are also of crucial importance when you want to care and rescue your loved ones. The problem is close relatives or very close friends sometimes are not able to cope with their lovely children or special ones or buddies addiction.
When pharmacology (pharmacotherapy) is selected the primary method for treatment then usually methadone and buprenorphine are used. Pharmacotherapy does not yet have an instant effect. Yet, it helps very much in recovery beacuse it eliminates some of the withdrawal symptoms.
First steps of drug addiction recovery would make you feel temporarily worse
One of the most important issues during drug addiction rehab and treatment is that people feel worse temporarily in the beginning of the process. This very normal because first of all, any medium to big change in human life causes stress.
Personal change that one engages in during such a substance abuse treatment is not a small one.
One alternative approach to this first round stress might be to learn meditation. Now, when we say meditation, many people would think of long durations in uncomfortable positions. However, this is not a necessary part of meditation. There are even special chairs designed for meditation and they are very comfortable.
What important here is to learn to become still and to feel your inner strength. When somebody first hears this, it comes very impolite because it makes people feel that as if nobody is understanding their pain.
The most strong reason of this first phase stress and depression is that the person experiences both the physical withdrawal effects and the psychological effects.
The duration of this phase differs from person to person as well as from treatment to treatment. Psychiatric medicine in that phase looks like very effective.
It is also spiritual, anyway. Don't give up and you will be the next success story.
Personal change that one engages in during such a substance abuse treatment is not a small one.
One alternative approach to this first round stress might be to learn meditation. Now, when we say meditation, many people would think of long durations in uncomfortable positions. However, this is not a necessary part of meditation. There are even special chairs designed for meditation and they are very comfortable.
What important here is to learn to become still and to feel your inner strength. When somebody first hears this, it comes very impolite because it makes people feel that as if nobody is understanding their pain.
The most strong reason of this first phase stress and depression is that the person experiences both the physical withdrawal effects and the psychological effects.
The duration of this phase differs from person to person as well as from treatment to treatment. Psychiatric medicine in that phase looks like very effective.
It is also spiritual, anyway. Don't give up and you will be the next success story.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Antidepressants and addiction recovery
I would like to tell you about a very mild example. So mild that it cannot be compared to alcohol addiction or drug addiction. I'll talk about caffeine and nicotine addiction.
Several times in my life, I have use different antidepressants. I said different but all of them were ssri's. They were cipram (citalopram), lustral (sertraline, also known as zoloft in U.S.), effexor (venlafaxine) and lustral again.
On all of these, I had the same experience with my caffeine and nicotine addiction in the first couple of weeks. I needed less coffee and less cigarettes. Especially in weeks 2 to 8, I can clearly say that on some days, both cigarettes and coffee was seemingly too much to me. I couldn't drink and smoke at the same amount when I was not on antidepressants.
So, if this holds true for drug addiction treatment? I am not sure about it. I don't have a clue. I can just do reasoning. If your addiction relates to the serotonin levels in the brain, then antidepressants may rehabilitate your addictive behavior if not cure them.
On the other hand, this amateur reasoning of mine would not be valid for many other addictive substance. Maybe it may help if you are at the beginning of substance abuse and the substance abuse is just caused by your serotonin levels.
Several times in my life, I have use different antidepressants. I said different but all of them were ssri's. They were cipram (citalopram), lustral (sertraline, also known as zoloft in U.S.), effexor (venlafaxine) and lustral again.
On all of these, I had the same experience with my caffeine and nicotine addiction in the first couple of weeks. I needed less coffee and less cigarettes. Especially in weeks 2 to 8, I can clearly say that on some days, both cigarettes and coffee was seemingly too much to me. I couldn't drink and smoke at the same amount when I was not on antidepressants.
So, if this holds true for drug addiction treatment? I am not sure about it. I don't have a clue. I can just do reasoning. If your addiction relates to the serotonin levels in the brain, then antidepressants may rehabilitate your addictive behavior if not cure them.
On the other hand, this amateur reasoning of mine would not be valid for many other addictive substance. Maybe it may help if you are at the beginning of substance abuse and the substance abuse is just caused by your serotonin levels.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Two faces of drug and alcohol addiction
There are two addictions in every substance abuse. One is biological and physiological. The other is psychological.
Every drug rehabilitation attempt should pay attention two both of them. Let's remember how physical addiction occurs. When you take a substance, your body already produces a certain amount of that substance. When you take that substance regularly, your body gradually decrease the production of that substance. In time as a result your body ceases the production of the substance and you become addicted.
The detox process is necessary because of this. Drug recovery means to restore your body in order to start the production of the substance again. You have to be detoxed because every substance you take from outside of your body will influence your body capacity to produce this substance.
The other side of the recovery is psychological. Psychological drug treatment means to make the person gain his skills to spend his time in a drug-free environment. Since addiction does not only consists of actually taking the substance one needs but the habit of taking it too, it is important to change those habits too. At this point, cognitive treatments would be beneficial.
Every drug rehabilitation attempt should pay attention two both of them. Let's remember how physical addiction occurs. When you take a substance, your body already produces a certain amount of that substance. When you take that substance regularly, your body gradually decrease the production of that substance. In time as a result your body ceases the production of the substance and you become addicted.
The detox process is necessary because of this. Drug recovery means to restore your body in order to start the production of the substance again. You have to be detoxed because every substance you take from outside of your body will influence your body capacity to produce this substance.
The other side of the recovery is psychological. Psychological drug treatment means to make the person gain his skills to spend his time in a drug-free environment. Since addiction does not only consists of actually taking the substance one needs but the habit of taking it too, it is important to change those habits too. At this point, cognitive treatments would be beneficial.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Drug and alcohol addiction treatment from a psychotherapeutic perspective
You can recover from drug addiction with the help of psychotherapy. Clinical psychology as a scientific method offers drug addiction treatment. However, psychotherapy is a little different in approach.
Both analytic and dynamic psychotherapy models can offer you treatment in a social context instead of a hardcore scientific context, pretty much as in Christian drug treatment.
The reason behind this is that psychotherapy - at least some schools of psychotherapy - in fact deals with abstract notions. In my previous post about religious approaches to addiction treatment, I stated that many contemporary drug rehab centers are based on the assumption that if the addicts social and psychological factors change, the addictive behavior will change accordingly. So, psychotherapy also stays in that perspective although it is different than a religious approach.
Every process of psychological counseling is not the same but I can still provide examples to explain what I mean.
Well, here is this addicted person that seeks addiction help. There are reasons that the person is addicted. One possible reason for that may be that the person doesn't feel that he or she is an adult person but still have feelings of childhood. The person feels as a child but her body is an adult. Suppose that this person has nobody around her to give her the care as if she is a child. Now, this person should find her way into something that will feed her childish, infantile feelings and starts dealing with addictive substances.
I know that the example is not really comprehensive enough but I just tried to show how a psychotherapist would establish his assessment for addiction treatment. It is an abstract establishment. It is a different framework to understand her tendency to addictive substances. It is about reasons and bringing the reasons to one's consciousness so that he or she can deal better with them.
One drawback of such a psychotherapeutic process is that it takes time. It usually takes years to recover. Moreover, a talk therapy usually consists of weekly counseling, one hour per week. This may not be enough for an agitated person. If the status of addiction is very high then hospitalization or a drug rehabilitation center would help more.
Both analytic and dynamic psychotherapy models can offer you treatment in a social context instead of a hardcore scientific context, pretty much as in Christian drug treatment.
The reason behind this is that psychotherapy - at least some schools of psychotherapy - in fact deals with abstract notions. In my previous post about religious approaches to addiction treatment, I stated that many contemporary drug rehab centers are based on the assumption that if the addicts social and psychological factors change, the addictive behavior will change accordingly. So, psychotherapy also stays in that perspective although it is different than a religious approach.
Every process of psychological counseling is not the same but I can still provide examples to explain what I mean.
Well, here is this addicted person that seeks addiction help. There are reasons that the person is addicted. One possible reason for that may be that the person doesn't feel that he or she is an adult person but still have feelings of childhood. The person feels as a child but her body is an adult. Suppose that this person has nobody around her to give her the care as if she is a child. Now, this person should find her way into something that will feed her childish, infantile feelings and starts dealing with addictive substances.
I know that the example is not really comprehensive enough but I just tried to show how a psychotherapist would establish his assessment for addiction treatment. It is an abstract establishment. It is a different framework to understand her tendency to addictive substances. It is about reasons and bringing the reasons to one's consciousness so that he or she can deal better with them.
One drawback of such a psychotherapeutic process is that it takes time. It usually takes years to recover. Moreover, a talk therapy usually consists of weekly counseling, one hour per week. This may not be enough for an agitated person. If the status of addiction is very high then hospitalization or a drug rehabilitation center would help more.
Religious approaches to drug recovery and rehabilitation
Christian drug treatment centers exist for a very important reason. On one hand, there is this strictly material belief system (yes, it is a belief system too) that tries to explain drug addiction in terms of biological factors. On the other hand, there are evidence (both scientific and social) that addiction is caused by social factors.
The latter view became a very wide attention. So much that many contemporary drug rehab centers are based on the assumption that if the addicts social and psychological factors change, the addictive behavior will change accordingly.
In that extent, Christian drug rehabilitation centers play a major role on that. While it seems that they are only available for Christians, virtually anyone can attend to those centers for treatment.
It may sound odd or non-scientific, however drug and alcohol treatment centers pay attention to that concept, and they are successful on what they do too.
The latter view became a very wide attention. So much that many contemporary drug rehab centers are based on the assumption that if the addicts social and psychological factors change, the addictive behavior will change accordingly.
In that extent, Christian drug rehabilitation centers play a major role on that. While it seems that they are only available for Christians, virtually anyone can attend to those centers for treatment.
It may sound odd or non-scientific, however drug and alcohol treatment centers pay attention to that concept, and they are successful on what they do too.
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