Can Addiction be Cured? Understanding Treatment Options

In just adolescents alone, substance abuse is rampant. Extrapolate that to adults, and you’ll see that drug addiction is a concerning problem in this country.

If you are a drug addict, or if someone in your family is, you know just how serious the consequences of this affliction can be. Not only is it bad for your health, but it’s bad for your relationships as well.

So can addiction be cured? If you or your loved one is ready to take the first step towards recovery, it’s possible to beat almost any addiction.

This article highlights some of the treatment options available to you.

Rehab: Inpatient vs Outpatient

If you or your loved one is aiming to beat addiction, rehab is one of the main options you should consider.

Changing your environment is an extremely important part of the recovery process. This allows you to break any negative thought patterns that were contributing to your addiction. Rehab can also help you to get away from the negative people in your life who were contributing to your addiction issues.

When it comes to rehab, you have 2 main options available to you: inpatient and outpatient rehab.

Inpatient Rehab

Inpatient rehab means you’ll actually live in the rehab facility. You’ll have round-the-clock access to the care you need.

This treatment option is the most recommended as it has the greatest chance of being successful. Inpatient rehab means you can commit 100% to your goal of getting sober.

Of course, inpatient rehab isn’t always possible. You might have responsibilities that mean you can’t simply disappear from your life. In this case, you could consider outpatient rehab.

Outpatient Rehab

When you attend an outpatient program, you continue to live at home, but you go in to visit the rehab center at regular intervals. This is great if you have unavoidable responsibilities, such as work or school.

Generally speaking, outpatient rehab is also more affordable than inpatient rehab. So if money is a concern, you could consider going to outpatient rehab over inpatient.

Medication

If you’re intending to go through rehab, you’ll also need to consider medication. In some serious cases, certain medication might be essential.

If you’re a serious alcoholic, withdrawing from alcohol could have serious consequences. For this reason, alcoholics are often given a benzodiazepine such as Valium to prevent them from having a seizure due to withdrawals.

If you are addicted to opioids such as heroin or oxycontin, you might consider suboxone treatment. If you’re trying to quit opioids, you might’ve already tried to quit before and relapsed.

Suboxone helps with addiction as it’s a partial opioid agonist. It gives a “ceiling effect.”

It won’t get you anywhere near as high as other opioids, but it’ll prevent you from going into withdrawal. This allows you to use suboxone to transition into your sober life. In the right circumstances, suboxone treatment can work very well.

It’s very important that you consult with a doctor before taking this medication as there are some circumstances in which it shouldn’t be taken. For example, if you suffer from liver damage, it’s probably not a good idea for you to take suboxone. Make sure you’re completely open with your doctor about any medical issues.

Keep Withdrawal Symptoms at Bay

It’s no secret that the withdrawal symptoms from opiates can be extremely difficult to overcome. Not only are these withdrawal symptoms extremely unpleasant, but they also make it much more likely that you’ll return to doing opiates.

Suboxone helps you to get past the initial hurdle of physical withdrawal symptoms and allows you to advance into the next stage of your recovery.

Treat the Psychological Symptoms

If you truly want to cure addiction, it’s important that more than just the physical symptoms are addressed. You also need to consider the psychological factors that led to addiction in the first place.

In many cases, addicts manage to get clean by physically detoxing, but they don’t address any of the psychological conditions that initially caused their addiction. Without addressing the psychological side of things, there’s a high risk that you’ll relapse.

Many drug addicts have undiagnosed mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety. If you truly want to start living a sober life, you’ll need to face these kinds of problems as well as your physical drug addiction.

Sober Living

Once you’ve beaten your addiction, this is only the beginning of your recovery. As you probably know, many drug addicts end up relapsing months or even years down the line. This means it’s vital that you’re proactive in maintaining your sobriety.

There are a few ways you can help with this. You might see a therapist on a regular basis to address your psychological issues. If you’ve been diagnosed with a mental illness of any kind, you should consider this part to be an essential step.

You could also consider spending some time living in a sober living facility. In a sober living facility, you’ll live alongside other ex-addicts in the same position as you.

The facilities have a strict no drugs and alcohol policy, making it an ideal environment to avoid any bad influences. Living in a sober living center helps to separate you from bad influences and people who might disrupt your recovery process.

Can Addiction Be Cured?

The answer to the question of “can addiction be cured” is this: with the right treatment options, addiction can certainly be cured. It’s important that a holistic approach to addiction treatment is taken. It’s not enough to just go to rehab; you also have to make sure the psychological aspect is taken care of as well.

Another point to consider is that you can’t ever force someone to go to rehab and get clean. If you want to cure addiction, it’s essential that the addict actually wants to get clean. If you try and force recovery onto someone who doesn’t want it, or isn’t ready, it’s almost certainly going to fail.

Recovery can also take time. For many addicts, relapse is part of the recovery process. Just because someone has relapsed, it doesn’t mean their addiction can’t still be cured. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel.

Want to know more about suboxone? Then read this page.