Addiction Recovery | Penfield News

Effective Addiction Treatment Types

12. December, 2011General PenfieldNo comments

Drug and alcohol addiction can’t be cured but it can be successfully treated with the right help. There are many treatment options available. The one that’s most suitable for you depends on many factors, including the type of substance abused, the severity of your problem and your personal circumstances.

Addiction is a complex disease that affects the individual physically, psychologically and socially. Addiction treatment therefore needs to combine a range of therapies in order to address all of these aspects. Treatment has to get to the underlying cause of the illness so that the addict understands it and its triggers. It has to teach the addict skills they may have forgotten and help to re-build their confidence. And treatment needs to give the individual new ways of coping without the use of drugs or alcohol.

Residential Drug and Alcohol Rehab

Inpatient care in a rehabilation clinic is usually the most successful way of treating drug dependence and alcoholism, and offers the best chance of a healthy, sustained recovery. Clients are given support around the clock and they are kept actively engaged. The addiction program within a rehab clinic is intense, structured and personalised to individual needs. Most programs are based on the proven 12 step model of abstinence, often combined with cognitive behavioural therapy. Clients undergo one-to-one counseling, group therapy sessions and usually alternative treatments such as art and recreation therapy.

Detoxification

Drug or alcohol detox is an essential part of recovery for many addicts. It’s a withdrawal process which removes toxins from the body. Detox should always be carried out under medical supervision where medication can be prescribed to alleviate uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. Home detoxes are available as long as assessment deems this appropriate for the individual. However, as with rehab, detox is usually more successful in a residential treatment centre, where clients have 24/7 access to medical staff and counsellors. Detox alone is not enough for a long-term recovery from substance abuse. It is vital that the client receives psychological rehabilitative care in order to prevent relapse.

Intensive Addiction Therapy/Outpatient Treatment

Some people are unable commit to full-time residential rehab so there are Intensive Addiction Therapy program as an effective alternative. This offers the client an intensive program of therapy in their own local area and the support of an experienced addiction therapist. Therapy is conducted via face-to-face and telephone sessions.

Addiction Counseling and Therapy

Community-based counseling and therapy may be suitable for those with a lesser drug or alcohol addiction problem, or for those who have had residential treatment and need a “brush-up”. Treatment might take the form of cognitive behavioural therapy or psychotherapy, and enables the individual to understand the complex issues around their addiction and to develop tools to overcome it.

Aftercare

Once a client has completed a period of rehab, aftercare treatment is essential to prevent relapse. Alcoholics, in particular, are at risk of relapse because alcohol is so widely available. Aftercare will usually include local one-to-one addiction counseling and attendance of Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous mettings.

Family Counseling

Drug and alcohol dependence impacts not only the addict but their family and loved ones. Family support programs are therefore very much a part of addiction treatment. Family counseling provides a safe environment for those close to an addict to be open about their feelings, get support for themselves and to gain understanding of the disease that is addiction, which will allow them to better support their loved one.

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Christian Treatment- Addiction Recovery and Shame

19. September, 2010General PenfieldNo comments

Unfortunately, people in active addiction and in addiction recovery often suffer from shame. But what exactly is shame?

Well I guess a good place to start is the fact that in order for shame to occur two parties have to be involved: yourself, and another entity. This ‘other entity’ could be your parents, family, other people, or even society in general. We believe that we must live up to their expectations. Shame is the idea that we are constantly judged, we are exposed and naked, and in light of this examination, we are found to be ‘less than’ or lacking.

One way of looking at shame is simply not living up to our image of ourselves. But where did this image of ourselves come from?

People were brought up in families for addiction or emotional problems existed often do not get their emotional for physical needs met. Shame is often fostered when children and teenagers are abandoned or neglected and cannot develop their own sense of self-worth. Also, that we were not given a clear idea of what ‘normal’ is, by which to measure ourselves.

This leads to a primary mindset of someone who is shame ridden. That is that I’m a failure; not that I made a mistake, but that I am a mistake. Overwhelming shame can produce a sense of isolation in that we begin to feel unique in the aspect that we alone are unworthy of love. Everyone in the world will find love and happiness except us (maybe we don’t deserve it).It is kind of like life is a movie and your sitting in the audience unable to participate. There is a sense that life is happening all around us and we are helpless in our inability to participate in it.

Shame generates tremendous emotional pain. The solution that many shame based people attempt is to become more perfect, more attractive, or more lovable. Remember that other entity which spoke about earlier? Well, a shame- based person may continually try to live up to those standards of the other entity. But in their view, there will always fall short.

Shame is a natural emotion to have surface in addiction recovery. It may occur to us in recovery, or in reflection on our active using behavior that we fail to live off to who we want to be, the image we would like to portray of ourselves as Christ sees us.

The growth in addiction recovery is to recognize shame for what it is, as distinguished from guilt and not leave it unresolved ready to sprout up and grow strong. Is excepting ourselves for who we are, being human, and therefore having the ability to make mistakes. It is also of the human ability to forgive ourselves that can be a powerful tool for ridding ourselves of our shame as we get healthier in addiction recovery.

Once in Christian addiction recovery, you have regained your choice: you can either live in misery, or you can live in the solution and trust Christ to guide you through these tough emotions and your addiction-related mindset.

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