The Best Treatment of Drug Addicts

Ali M
Ali M
Sep 1, 2018 · 3 min read

Drug addiction can cause an intense craving for the drug. You may want to quit, but most people find they can’t do it on their own. Drug addiction manifests as a compulsive drive to take a drug despite serious adverse consequences. This aberrant behavior has traditionally been viewed as bad ‘choices’ that are made voluntarily by the addict.

Studies have shown that repeated drug use leads to long-lasting changes in the brain that undermine voluntary control. This, combined with new knowledge of how environmental, genetic and developmental factors contribute to addiction, should bring about changes in our approach to the prevention and treatment of addiction.

Different types of treatments can be provided to drug addicts to treat their addiction and keep them away from drug abuse. Three major types of treatment have been observed which include: Behavioral and cognitive therapy, Withdrawal Therapy and Anti-addiction medications.

BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY:
In this type of therapy, a number of sessions, support groups, Counseling and other forms of therapy are included. If a person really wishes to keep himself away from drugs, then it is extremely important for a person to divert his mind in such activities, which will prove to be motivational for him and keep his mind distracted from negative thoughts. In order to get motivated, a person needs to bring following behavioral changes in him:
• He must start talking with his colleagues, friends and family members about his real-life problems.
• An addict should also be able to control his urge and desire to move back towards taking drugs.
• Proper identification must be done of complicated behavior and thoughts which lead the addict towards drug abuse.
• To stay away from drugs, a person must develop refusal skills, with the help of which he may control his urge when needed.

WITHDRAWAL THERAPY:
The major aim and objective of withdrawal therapy are to detoxify your body from the traces of a drug that might still be present within your body and produce harmful effects. However, some side effects have been observed due to the withdrawal of different types of drugs. These effects are explained below:

DEPRESSANTS:
After withdrawal of depressants, a person might feel strongly arising feelings of restlessness, anxiety, sleep problems and sweating. Moreover, he may also suffer from a hallucination, tremors, seizures and increased blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature in severe cases.

STIMULANTS:
Such of drugs, when withdrawn by the addict, produces depression, fatigue, anxiety and intense cravings. Even, people have been observed to be having suicidal thoughts, and suicidal attempts after withdrawing these drugs.

ANTI ADDICTIVE MEDICATIONS:
Some of the common and popular drugs are used in order to make a person quit use of drug, and inhibits Addiction Liberty. However, different types of drugs are responsible for producing different types of alteration in the mechanism; therefore, different types of drugs are used accordingly to treat addictions.

NALTREXONE: It is responsible for blocking opiate receptors and prevents dopamine release. It is used to treat the addiction of alcohol and opiates mainly.

DISULFIRAM: It produced prompt action by acting as an antidote for addiction caused by alcohol. The effects of alcohol may last for 5–10 minutes up to several hours. But, with the help of this drug, it is almost impossible to identify that a person has been drinking alcohol.

METHADONE: These drugs are mainly responsible for treating addiction produced by opiates. They inhibit cravings and extreme restlessness of a person.

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