AZ-ARC

Drug addiction treatment

Is drug treatment effective?

In addition to achieving the goal of stopping drug use the aim of a drug rehabilitation programme is to bring the person back to the state where they can once again function in society. The effectiveness of the programme will depend greatly on factors such as the medical condition of the person addicted, the level of criminal behaviour the addict has and their employability. Treatment for addiction, whatever the addiction can be just as successful as when treating any other medical condition such as asthma or diabetes.

How long will treatment for addiction last?

How long treatment will be necessary depends greatly on the person with the addiction so there isn’t really any specified amount of time a person can be in a programme. However on saying this research have shown that for treatment to be successful and to aid in the prevention of relapse adequate time should be spent in treatment. As a general guide an adequate length of time for recovery from addiction is thought to be around 6 months.

Family and friends play a critical part in the recovery from addiction

One of the important things in the recovery of addiction is family and friends, they should be there to help give support and provide the addict with motivation for quitting the addiction. Family therapy especially for younger addicts plays an important role and the family’s involvement in the recovery programme helps to strengthen the benefits that the programme has to offer.

Scientific relapse prevention

Scientific programmes such as cognitive behavioural therapies have been developed to help prevent relapse in addicts, these programmes were developed specifically for help with addictions to alcohol and later adapted to cover other addictions. The theory behind them relies on teaching addicts to learn to identify for themselves problematic behaviour brought on by their addiction and enhances the addicts self control.

Special techniques are taught which show the addict both the up and downside of continued addiction, these techniques include self monitoring which enables the addict to recognise the signs of cravings and high risk situations which may arise and how to deal with them without turning back to their addiction.

One of the most important things this therapy teaches an addict is to anticipate problem areas and gives them effective ways of dealing with them when they arise, thus preventing relapse. Research has shown that skills learnt through this type of programme will remain with a person long after the treatment is complete.