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The De-Addiction – The Ray of Hope to Recover

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The Addiction or Abuse of Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs is a huge problem all over the world. Even more so with developing countries, the impact of poverty rapid socio-cultural change and lack of treatment further compounds the problem. Among non-communicable diseases, alcohol and drug abuse are disorders associated with significant disability. The abuse of substances is not a problem just for user. It creates tremendous emotional and economical pressures for family members. Even though it is very clear that there are several health related problems with the problem use of alcohol & substance, there are little effective interventions that occur for early stage problems. The scenario is similar for tobacco and illicit drug. Alcohol & drugs are ingested by many around us to have fun, as a remedy for emotional & stress full problems to be part of a group, to feel good, to feel happy & much more reasons without knowing that every 20 out of these 100 become dependent on it.

What is Substance addiction or dependence?

Alcoholism and drug dependence and addiction, known as substance use disorders, are complex problems. Substance use disorder is an illness that can affect anyone: rich or poor, male or female, employed or unemployed, young or old, and any race or ethnicity. Nobody knows for sure exactly what causes it, but the chance of developing a substance use disorder depends partly on genetic, biological traits passed down through families. A person’s environment, psychological traits, and stress level also play major roles by contributing to the use of Alcohol or drugs. People with these disorders once were thought to have a character defect or moral weakness; some people mistakenly still believe that. However, most scientists and medical researchers now consider dependence on alcohol or drugs to be a long-term illness, like asthma, hypertension (high blood pressure), or diabetes. Most people who drink alcohol drink very little, and many people can stop taking drugs without a struggle. However, some people develop a substance use disorder—use of alcohol or drugs that is compulsive or dangerous (or both). One of the most important signs of substance addiction or dependence is continued use of drugs or alcohol despite experiencing the serious negative consequences of heavy drug or alcohol use. Often, a person will blame other people or circumstances for his or her problems instead of realizing that the difficulties result from use of drugs or alcohol.

Physiological & Psychological phenomena induced by the repeated taking of a substance

  • Strong desire to take the substance.
  • Difficult in controlling substance taking behavior.
  • A physiological withdrawal state.
  • Development of tolerance
  • Progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interest.
  • Persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of harmful consequence.
  • Important social, occupational or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of substance use.
  • Recurrent substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, home & society.
  • Recurrent substance use in situations in which it is physically hazardous
  • Recurrent substance-related legal problems(Eg.Arrest for substance –related disorderly conduct)
  • Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effect of the substance.
  • Sever  maladaptive patterns of substance use that impairs health in a broad sense

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Common Substance Dependence or Abuse

  • Alcohol
  • Cannabis/Marijuana/Hashish/Brown sugar
  • Tobacco
  • Heroin
  • Opium
  • Cocaine
  • LSD
  • Amphetamine
  • Phencyclidine
  • Barbiturates,Benzodiazepine,carbamates(Sedative & Hypnotics)
  • Inhalants
  • Caffeine.
  • Minor tranquilizers

De-addiction centers should have exclusive facilities to enabling these unfortunate including incidental addicts to Reckon, Relinquish & Recover completely to lead an independent normal life which they had before developing dependency.

What is substance abuse treatment?
Most treatment programs assign patients to a treatment team of professionals. Depending on the type of treatment, teams can be made up of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, doctors, De-addiction specialist, social workers, Counselors, nurses or other professionals.

Treatment and Planning Psychosocial Interventions.

A) Assessment: A full assessment, including an appraisal of current medical, psychological and social problems is initial assessment everyone entering treatment receives a clinical assessment. A complete assessment of an individual is needed to help treatment professionals offer the type of treatment that best suits him or her. The counselor needs to get a full picture of the problem; the assessment also helps program counselors’ work with the person to design an effective treatment plan.

B) Biomedical modalities: Focus on improved Detoxification regimens for treatment of withdrawal symptoms, such as mild tremors,nausea, vomiting, weakness, irritability, insomnia,  anxiety   & shakiness and Delirium tremens such as clouding of  connsciousness, disorientation, poor attention span, vivid hallucination,Delusions, Psychomotor agitation and dehydration. The person may try to relieve these symptoms by taking either more of the same or a similar substance. Detoxification dependents on specific drug used, the total daily amount, multiple dependence,       Duration and regularity of use, Psychological factors. During this time the client may complete medical management to come out of such withdrawals. It may take several days to a week or more.

C) Psychosocial Treatment modalities: Range from addiction counseling  to  psychodynamic and cognitive behavior treatment modalities, insight-oriented psychotherapy, behavior therapy including aversion conditioning, family, group& individual counseling   and therapies, Narco & Hypno-Therapy and systematic motivation enhancement therapy (MET).Relapse prevention techniques.  Group and Individual Counseling, It has its own value in the treatment At first, individual counseling generally focuses on motivating the person to stop using drugs or alcohol. Treatment then shifts to helping the person stay drug and alcohol free. The counselor attempts to help the person See the problem and become motivated to change, Change his or her behavior, Repair damaged relationships with family and friends, Build new friendships with people who don’t use Alcohol or drugs Group counseling is different in each program, but group members usually support and try to help one another cope with life without using drugs or alcohol. They share their experiences, talk about their feelings and problems, and find out that others have similar problems. Groups also may explore spirituality and its role in recovery.

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D) Socio-cultural treatment modalities: Include the community reinforcement approach, occupational & vocational rehabilitation and culturally specific interventions. Education About Substance Use Disorders People learn about the symptoms and the effects of alcohol and drug use on their brains and bodies. Education groups use videotapes or audiotapes, lectures, or activities to help people learn about their illness and how to manage it. Encouraging clients to participate self-help groups in self-help groups support and encourage one another to become or stay drug and alcohol free. Twelve-Step programs are perhaps the best known of the self-help groups. These programs include Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Cocaine Anonymous, and Marijuana Anonymous. Other self-help groups

E) After Care: Follow-up Care (Also Called Continuing Care) Even when a person has successfully completed a treatment program, the danger always exist getting relapse systematic follow-up and member of AA/NA may help to sustain for getting relapse.

Finally, no one can predict client will recover, or for how long, but many people who receive treatment do get better. The longer people stay in treatment the more likely they will remain drug and alcohol free. The reason for staying away from home not only to keep away from such stimulating environment, should have purpose to deal specific issues relating to his addiction. About half the people who complete treatment for the first time continue to recover. Of course, this means that some percentage people take chance and they may make relapse is the part of recovery and sought immediate help of the professionals or within a short period they may recover themselves after understanding the ill affect of such relapse & some will return to drinking alcohol and using drugs before they finally give them up for good but De-addiction programmes always give individuals a Ray of Hope to get recover.

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