Drug Rehab Types
Drug addiction is a treatable
disorder. Through treatment that is tailored to individual needs, patients can
learn to control their condition and live normal, productive lives. Like people
with diabetes or heart disease, people in treatment for drug addiction learn
behavioral changes and often take medications as part of their treatment
regimen.
Behavioral therapies can
include counseling, psychotherapy, support groups, or family therapy. Treatment
medications offer help in suppressing the withdrawal syndrome and drug craving
and in blocking the effects of drugs. In addition, studies show that treatment
for heroin addiction using methadone at an adequate dosage level combined with
behavioral therapy reduces death rates and many health problems associated with
heroin abuse.
In general,
the more treatment given, the better the results. Many
patients require other services as well, such as medical and mental health
services and HIV prevention services. Patients who stay in treatment longer
than 3 months usually have better outcomes than those who stay less time.
Patients, who go through medically assisted withdrawal to minimize discomfort
but do not receive any further treatment, perform about the same in terms of
their drug use as those who were never treated. Over the last 25 years, studies
have shown that treatment works to reduce drug intake and crimes committed by
drug-dependent people. Researchers also have found that drug abusers who have
been through treatment are more likely to have jobs.
Types of
Treatment Programs
The ultimate goal of all drug
abuse treatment is to enable the patient to achieve lasting abstinence, but the
immediate goals are to reduce drug use, improve the patient’s ability to
function, and minimize the medical and social complications of drug abuse.
There are several types of
drug abuse treatment programs. Short-term methods last less than 6 months and
include residential therapy, medication therapy, and drug-free outpatient
therapy. Longer term treatment may include, for example, methadone maintenance
outpatient treatment for opiate addicts and residential therapeutic community
treatment.
WHAT IS A SOCIAL MODEL
PROGRAM?
Social model programs have
these traits or characteristics:
1. THE BASIS
OF AUTHORITY IS EXPERIENCE-BASED KNOWLEDGE; the program emphasizes
experience-based learning as the way to recovery..THE BASIS OF AUTHORITY IS EXPERIENCE-BASED KNOWLEDGE; the
program
emphasizes experience-based learning as the way to recovery.
The best way to really “learn” how
to recover from alcoholism is by going through the Recovery
process. This
process of learning a skill or acquiring a body of knowledge.
In Alcoholics
Anonymous and in social model recovery programs, alcoholics learn to recover
from alcoholism on a by doing it. He is guided
and aided in this process by observing and inter-Acting with
2. THE PRIMARY THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP IS
BETWEEN THE PERSON AND THE PROGRAM,
rather than between the person and the individual therapist.
In social
model programs, the individual’s primary relationship is with the group as a
Whole. A recovering alcoholic is
encouraged to discuss problems with any member of the staff, as well as with
other program participants and volunteers.
3. EVERYONE BOTH
GIVES AND RECIEVES HELP. Staff
of social model alcoholism programs frequently says that they are there as much
for the support of their own sobriety
as to help others. That is, they are
working in a program because they receive help and strength in their own lives
from their work. This same principle is
true for volunteers in social model programs.
Conversely,
even the newest resident in a social model recovery home is expected to make
some contribution toward program operation.
In the beginning, this contribution May be simply helping out the
kitchen or with routine housework. As
the new resident Proceeds with his recovery, he is expected to take more
responsibility for program Operation.
Towards the end of his residency he may be involved with facilitating
group Discussions, providing orientation to new residents, and working on
alcohol- related Issues in the surrounding community.
4. THE BASIC
PRINCIPLES AND DYNAMICS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS CREATE THE FUNDAMENTAL
FRAMEWORK for social model programs.
AA values such as honesty, tolerance, willingness to try, and the
emphasis on helping other alcoholics form the fundamental basis for social
model program operation.
In maintenance treatment for heroin
addicts, people in treatment are given an oral dose of a synthetic opiate,
usually methadone hydrochloride or levo-alpha-acetyl
methanol (LAAM), administered at a dosage sufficient to block the effects of
heroin and yield a stable, no euphoric state free from physiological craving
for opiates. In this stable state, the patient is able to disengage from
drug-seeking and related criminal behavior and, with appropriate counseling and
social services, become a productive member of his or her community.
Outpatient drug-free
treatment does not include medications and encompasses a wide variety of
programs for patients who visit a clinic at regular intervals. Most of the
programs involve individual or group counseling. Patients entering these
programs are abusers of drugs other than opiates or are opiate abusers for whom
maintenance therapy is not recommended, such as those who have stable,
well-integrated lives and only brief histories of drug dependence.
Therapeutic communities (TCs) are highly structured programs in which patients stay
at a residence, typically for 6 to 12 months. Patients in TCs
include those with relatively long histories of drug dependence, involvement in
serious criminal activities, and seriously impaired social functioning. The
focus of the TC is on the remobilization of the patient to a drug-free,
crime-free lifestyle.
Short-term residential programs, often
referred to as chemical dependency units, are often based on the “Minnesota
Model” of treatment for alcoholism. These programs involve a 3- to 6-week
inpatient treatment phase followed by extended outpatient therapy or
participation in 12-step self-help groups, such as Narcotics Anonymous or
Cocaine Anonymous. Chemical dependency programs for drug abuse arose in the
private sector in the mid-1980s with insured alcohol/cocaine abusers as their
primary patients. Today, as private provider benefits decline, more programs
are extending their services to publicly funded patients.
Methadone maintenance programs
are usually more successful at retaining clients with opiate dependence than
are therapeutic communities, which in turn are more successful than outpatient
programs that provide psychotherapy and counseling. Within various methadone
programs, those that provide higher doses of methadone (usually a minimum of 60
mg.) have better retention rates. Also, those that provide other services, such
as counseling, therapy, and medical care, along with methadone generally get
better results than the programs that provide minimal services.
Rapid Detox: Also
referred to as ‘ultra rapid opiate detox,’ rapid detox can be used for treating opiate based substances and
addictions such as heroin, vicodin, methadone, or any
prescribed narcotic pain killers. Other narcotic opiate-based substances
that can be treated through the rapid detoxification process include: codeine, dilaudid, morphine, percocet
& percodan, lortab,
& oxycontin. The rapid opiate detox process is generally conducted in a hospital setting
and under general anesthesia. In fact, the process is most often overseen by
certified and qualified anesthesiologists and a nursing staff that specializes
in such procedures. While under anesthesia, the patient is administered
medications that accelerate the physical reactions to the rapid withdrawal
process which can last from
Drug treatment programs in
prisons can succeed in preventing patients’ return to criminal behavior, particularly
if they are linked to community-based programs that continue treatment when the
client leaves prison. Some of the more successful programs have reduced the rearrest rate by one-fourth to one-half. For example, the
“Delaware Model,” an ongoing study of comprehensive treatment of drug- addicted
prison inmates; shows that prison-based treatment including a therapeutic
community setting, a work release therapeutic community, and community-based
aftercare reduces the probability of rearrest by 57
percent and reduce the likelihood of returning to drug use by 37 percent.
Drug abuse has a great economic impact on society-an
estimated $67 billion per year. This figure includes costs related to crime,
medical care, drug abuse treatment, social welfare programs, and time lost from
work. Treatment of drug abuse can reduce those costs. Studies have shown that
from $4 to $7 are saved for every dollar spent on treatment. It costs
approximately $3,600 per month to leave a drug abuser untreated in the
community, and incarceration costs approximately $3,300 per month. In contrast,
methadone maintenance therapy costs about $290 per month.
