Drug addiction is a state in which a person has a compulsive and continuous need to consume drugs. In terms of complications, it is quite harmful, and it can literally ruin the life of an individual. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the fourth edition refers to it as a pathological condition. The use of drugs over an extended period makes the brain functioning awry.
Although it is a highly dangerous state to be in, a cure is available for it. Special treatments have been designed for the different kinds of addiction. There are two types of drugs, hard drugs, and soft drugs. Hard drugs are those, which are relatively harder to give up. These include cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, and OxyContin. On the contrary, it is relatively easier to give up on a soft drug, which includes ecstasy, marijuana, medical drugs, and valium.
For drug addiction to be treated, the person facing it must accept that he/she is addicted. Without this, it is not possible to treat someone for this problem. It comes on to the ones who love us to act as intermediaries between treatment, and addiction, and make the addict realise that he has a problem. The actual treatment begins when the addict is taken into a rehabilitation clinic, or a treatment centre. These centres offer programmes such as residential treatment, and help find outpatient, local support groups, extended care centres, and recovery, or sober houses, as a part of their treatment.
There are two ways that drug addiction treatment helps an addict. It first reduces the dependency that a person feels towards a drug by making him independent of it. The detoxification process, which tends to last about two weeks, makes one able to face the withdrawal symptoms with relatively lesser difficulty. Due to frequent use, the brain becomes dependent on the drug, which makes it very hard for the addict to go on without taking any.
The second part of drug addiction treatment is making the addict independent of the psychological urge to take drugs. Many addicts resort to addiction as a defense mechanism for their real life issues. These treatments allow the addict to see life in a new perspective, and become independent of drug usage by solving their problems through other ways.
In order to help with the withdrawal symptoms, and the need to take drugs, many drugs have been designed for this purpose. For the treatment of drugs like heroin, morphine, and oxycodone, treatment centres assign medications of an opioid kind like methadone, and buprenorphine. In order to help with the psychological and physical urge to consume drugs, another drug like Ibogaine, is used for the treatment of addictions from narcotics, stimulants, alcohol, and nicotine. Antidepressants are also used to help in the process.
The twelve-step programme is one of the most popular treatment regimes, and is followed by a number of people. It is essential that once you complete your treatment, you continue with your aim of kicking the drug habit, the best way to do this is to join an anonymous club of the respective drug, such as Alcohol Anonymous. This can provide you guidance, and support through group meetings, and a sponsor.
One last point to keep in mind is that the effectiveness of the treatment depends mostly on the addict, and how committed he is to beat off his addiction. It is not something that can be done over night, but with determination, it can be done.
