Technically, the term drug treatment refers to the process of rehabilitation for drug abuse and or addiction. Treatment refers to the overall therapeutic, educational and behavior modification process of learning how to live a drug free lifestyle.
The first step in the drug treatment process is the proper management if the withdrawalsymptoms. This process, also known as detox, must be the first step of drug treatment. Until all traces of drugs are safely out of the body, no treatment can be initiated.
One, the client is simply too unstable to actively participate in any form of drug treatment.
Secondly, while any traces of drugs remain in the body, cravings will persist as a natural part of the withdrawal process. These cravings will make it virtually impossible for the individual to not use drugs to relieve the feelings of cravings for drugs.
Drug treatment therapy can be defined as any form of individual or group activity where the primary goal is the enhancement of the client's ability to better process their internal thought process.
The role of therapy in drug treatment is to help the client see more clearly how their drug using is effecting their lives in a negative way. By identifying certain unique elements in a person's behavior or reacting to life, they can begin to alter it. Therapy a client to see themselves through the eyes of a caring person, who only motive is to help them grow.
Much of what takes places in any drug treatment environment is of the educational variety. Drug abusers must learn a lot about both the problem and the solution. Addiction is a vast topic. Many drug addicts do not know much about addiction. Education about addiction includes the physical and mental effects and consequences. Additionally, drug abusers need to learn about what triggers drug use. The other aspect of education is learning about the solution, or recovery. Recovery is a whole new way of dealing with life. Most drug treatment programs are 12 Step oriented. Much about recovery is changing certain key aspects of life. Making new friendships, for example, is one of the key aspects to being in recovery.
Behavior modification is the key to successful drug treatment. Behavior modification is the element of changing many of the most important things in the addicts life. Such things as 
where they go for fun, who their friends are and even what job they have are all under close scrutiny. Also, the general rule of thumb is to not make any "major" changes in the first year. This might include marriage or divorce, changing jobs, moving to another city, etc.
Drug treatment can be provided at several different levels. The two primary levels are Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) and Inpatient, also known as Residential.
Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) encompass a wide variety of programs for patients who visit a clinic at regular intervals. Most of the programs involve individual or group drug counseling. Some programs also offer other forms of behavioral treatment such as:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which seeks to help patients recognize, avoid, and cope with the situations in which they are most likely to abuse drugs.
- Multidimensional Family Therapy, which addresses a range of influences on the drug abuse patterns of adolescents and is designed for them and their families.
- Motivational Interviewing capitalizes on the readiness of individuals to change their behavior and enter treatment.
- Motivational Incentives (contingency management), which uses positive reinforcement to encourage abstinence from drugs.
Residential drug treatment is the easiest way for an addict to get 30 days clean and off drugs. Ideally, a drug addict should begin the drug rehabilitation process by going into a 30 day, residential treatment center. They are designed to offer their clients full time treatment for drug abuse. Residential drug treatment is effective for those with more severe problems. Some are more specialized and offer a wide range of options to their patients. Others are less diverse and treat all the clients the same.
Residential drug treatment centers all have some method of detoxing their clients, either on their premises, or off. Some are co-ed others gender specific.
Medications are often used to help with different aspects of the treatment process.
Medications offer help in suppressing withdrawal symptoms during detoxification. However, medically assisted withdrawal is not in itself "treatment"-it is only the first step in the treatment process. Patients who go through medically assisted withdrawal but do not receive any further treatment show drug abuse patterns similar to those who were never treated.
Medications can be used to help re-establish normal brain function and to prevent relapse and diminish cravings throughout the treatment process. Currently, we have medications for opioid (heroin, morphine) and tobacco (nicotine) addiction, and are developing others for treating stimulant (cocaine, methamphetamine) and cannabis (marijuana) addiction. Buprenorphine, for example, are effective medications for the treatment of opiate addiction. Acting on the same targets in the brain as heroin and morphine, these medications suppress withdrawal symptoms, and relieve craving for the drug. This helps patients to disengage from drug-seeking and related criminal behavior and be more receptive to behavioral treatments.
This is a relatively new and important treatment medication. NIDA-supported basic and clinical research led to its development (Subutex or, in combination with naloxone, Suboxone), and demonstrated it to be a safe and acceptable addiction treatment. While these products were being developed in concert with industry partners, Congress passed the Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA 2000), permitting qualified physicians to prescribe narcotic medications (Schedules III to V) for the treatment of opioid addiction. This legislation created a major paradigm shift by allowing access to opiate treatment in a medical setting rather than limiting it to specialized drug treatment clinics. To date, nearly 10,000 physicians have taken the training needed to prescribe these two medications, and nearly 7,000 have registered as potential providers.
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