What to Expect From Addiction Treatment Programs

By Your Health Magazine

Your Health Magazine

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What to Expect From Addiction Treatment Programs

Addiction treatment is a serious commitment to recovery- it involves knowing what is really involved in the treatment process. Several individuals hesitate to seek assistance due to the fear of the unknown as they think of treatment as punishment, humiliating, or ineffective. However, in the real world, the modern treatment programs of addiction work in a very different manner. Knowing what to anticipate in comprehensive treatment assists individuals and families in making realistic expectations about the process of recovery, making them make informed decisions about this life changing process.

The Intake and Assessment Process

Such kind of addiction treatment starts with good evaluation of your needs, history of substance use, medical history, mental health, and support systems. This is a holistic assessment that allows clinicians to develop a personalized care strategy that would cover your specific situation and not implement a generic framework. Assessment is a critical process- it helps to set baseline knowledge whereby progress of treatment is quantified and that treatment elements are based on real needs instead of guesses.

Medical assessment, psychological screening, and substance use habits, effects, and treatment motivation are part of professional intake. Details can make this process invasive, but with sufficient information, the clinician can predict the withdrawal symptoms, determine the presence of comorbid mental health conditions that need to be treated, and provide interventions that will be specific to you.

Medical Detoxification and Stabilization

In most substances, especially alcohol, benzodiazepines, and opioids, sudden withdrawal leads to severe health conditions. The medical detoxification offers clinical observation and use of pharmaceutical interventions to safely handle the withdrawal symptoms. Instead of white-knuckling during withdrawal symptoms with discomfort, medication-based methods lessen the symptoms and facilitate biological stabilization. Addiction treatment center in Los Angeles  such as Northridge offers 24 hours of medical care that can provide you with a safe detoxification with the assurance that you are on the road to recovery and that the professional community is by your side.

Therapy and Behavioral Treatment

Post-detoxification is based on treatment of underlying psychological factors that precipitate addictive behavior. Individual therapy ventures into exploring the trauma, depression, anxiety or other issues that cause substance use. Group therapy offers identification with others who share the same struggles and helps them not be alone in the world but rather supports one another. Evidence-based solutions such as cognitive-behavioral therapy have been used to determine triggering factors and working out coping mechanisms to substitute substance use. Family therapy with relation repair and reinstating healthy family dynamics is a feature of many programs.

Daily Structure and Community

In residential treatment, there are scheduled environments, with scheduled therapy, group sessions, lectures, recreational activities and meals. This organization is free of decision exhaustion and creates healthy habits. Connection to the rest of the residents helps form mutual support- seeing other patients devote themselves makes you recover. Peer relationships that are built during the treatment process have reportedly become life-long friendships that maintain the recovery process in life.

Discharge Planning and Aftercare

Treatment does not end when one is at home. Complete programs implement discharge plans covering a process of returning to normal life, the frequency of the outpatient therapy, the recommendation of the support groups, medication management (when necessary) and the strategies that take into account a particular environmental trigger. Effective aftercare will guarantee the success of gains achieved in treatment leads to permanent recovery and not temporary sobriety before relapse.

Realistic Expectations regarding Recovery

The process of recovery is not linear, as there are short-term setbacks and difficulties even with a strong commitment. The quality programs equip the participants to accept this fact and during this process, the emphasis is made on the fact that relapse is a form of biological and psychological phenomenon that goes beyond the personal will. Instead of considering relapse as a failure in treatment, the evidence-based programs understand that full support and perseverance are the only way to achieve permanent recovery.

Taking the First Step

Addiction treatment is effective- studies have shown that holistic program involving medical stabilization, behavioral counseling and community offering gives 60 plus percent success rates to those who are motivated to attend the programs. The most difficult thing is to make a decision to start. Knowing what treatment is like eliminates the sense of mystery and fear so that you can look at the idea of recovery as a process that you can handle and not an impossible mission.