Addiction Recovery

Drug Rehab and Detox Programs Explained A Simple & Easy Description of Many Different Programs

What’s the difference between one rehab program and another? Which drug and alcohol detox and rehab program should you or a loved one go to? Do you know the different types or models of recovery?

Here is a summary of the different approaches to detox and rehab that I am familiar with after working in the field of drug abuse for 8 years as a drug rehab consultant and drug prevention specialist.

Medical Detox

Medical detox is the use of medications, such as benzodiazepines, clonidine, suboxone, etc, to more smoothly withdraw someone from alcohol, methadone, opiates or other drugs of abuse. Approved medical facilities and medical doctors and staff are required to administer the various treatments to assist with difficult or otherwise long withdrawals from these drugs.

Some medical detox facilities use a combination of medical and natural / holistic approaches to detox. These methods generally speed recovery time and comfort through withdrawal according to client testimonials.

Non-Medical Detox

This might mean withdrawing someone from drugs without medication. Non-medical detox is sometimes more effective than medical detox as a drug abuser is sick of using drugs and is highly averse to any more drugs going into their bodies. Non-medical detox may mean the highly skilled use of alternative nutrients, sometimes IV’s and natural therapy’s to assist a person to more comfortably withdrawal and detox from drugs / pharmaceuticals and correct brain function. (Agora Regeneration Clinics Ltd)

Some medical and non-medical detox is highly sophisticated and involves many testing and evaluation protocols not used by traditional medical detox centers. IE nutrient, vitamin and allergy testing to name only a few.

Bio-Physical Detox

Drug residuals have been found to get lodged in the fatty tissues of the body. This includes the brain, kidney, liver, muscles as well as the fat. Former drug abusers sometimes relapse back to using drugs due to physical cravings for the drugs which they say doesn’t go away after medical detox or rehab.

Bio-physical Detox involves a total and full detoxification requiring weeks or months of natural detox methods like extensive sauna baths, vitamin and nutritional supplementation, intensive exercise, proper rest, improving diet, drinking lots of water, etc.

Some Bio-physical Detox has been given extensive scientific testing and proven itself under many different populations – drug addicts; hazardous chemical / gas victims (fire fighters, pesticides / herbicides — DDT; mental / spiritual betterment, health improvement. (see Townsend Letter Apr 2006 #273)

Traditional & 12 Step Rehab Methods

Traditional and 12 Step models comprise about 95% of the rehab facility programs in the US and Canada. Their successes vary massively depending on the center and how the center defines success. One center can vary greatly from another in terms of professionalism, care and results.

12 Step programs attempt to intervene between the decisions to abuse drugs and desires to stay clean. A drug addict or alcoholic have been solving life’s problems with a fix, drink, hit, or other drugs. 12 Step methods use sponsors, meetings, actions, education, etc techniques to stop further drug abuse. 12 Step programs also resemble social educational programs from step 4 onward, as a personal responsibility in ones recovery is expected of a 12 stepper. 12 Step includes principals of spiritual connection through-out the process.

Medical / psychological programs use different drugs and counselors in their intervention efforts. Usually medical programs are either trying to make a client more comfortable while in rehab or they have actually done some extensive testing to find underlying medical problems which could by spurring the substance abuser to use drugs. A typical example is hypo-thyroid conditions. Psychological approaches either attempt to correct aberrant behavior through adjusting the thinking of the client. It may involve on-going counseling for in-determinant amounts of time after a stay in rehab is completed.

Sometimes drugs that create aversion to drinking are used as with Schick Shadel programs. Other substitute drugs like methadone for opiate abuse and Ritalin for cocaine / meth abuse have been used by many program models.

Non-Traditional Rehab Methods

Social Educational or learning models focus on improving abilities and increasing self control or will power through enlightenment or cognitive realization. Combinations of study, exercise, counseling and practical application of processes are applied to bring about desired states of being. Often a type of therapeutic community is established due to the camaraderie of clients assisting each other through the tough times of their recovery.

As social educational programs are my forte, I will list the specific programs I am familiar with along with their posted success rates.

Jude Thaddeus Program (JT), or St. Jude’s is a social/educational approach rather than a medical/psychological methodology putting control over one’s recovery in their own hands rather than a doctor, psychologist, or group. JT provides an opportunity to permanently recover, because JT believe’s it is a choice – not a disease. JT’s success rate for 12 years is over 68%. (Ref: St. Jude Retreat House)

Rational Recovery or RR, has a different approach than traditional or 12 Step methods. RR labels different behaviors and parts of a mind model to get a person to recover through cognitive or increased awareness and control over their addictions. Focus is on self-recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs through planned, permanent abstinence through greater self awareness / control. (Ref: Jack Trimpey, Founder RR)

Narconon (NN) Drug Rehabilitation is a drug-free all natural social educational approach to ending addiction. Narconon considers clients as students who are not trying to recover from an illness. NN students enroll to learn something that they didn’t already know. NN addresses the disabilities caused by drug abuse with new abilities, new skills for effective living. Narconon posts success rates averaging 75% Narconon uses the non-medical detox & Bio-physical method of detoxification. (Narconon: An Overview Of Results).

Do you still have questions about which detox and rehab programs would be best for your loved one?

Go to: Different Rehabs Compared

Tibor A. Palatinus, CCDC, is the Director of a Drug / Alcohol Detox and Rehab Consultancy which specializes in Referring Clients to Drug-free Detox and Rehab Programs which End Addiction for Life.

PS: To subscribe to our free newsletter giving our Latest Discoveries go to: http://www.detox-narconon.org/family-training/subscribe.php

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Vitamins and the Addict

For many years now it has become more apparent that nutrition played an important role in the life of a drug addict, alcoholic, methadone patient or other that might be chemically imbalanced. Today many are looking for answers to help solve the problem of nutritional deficiencies in alcoholics, drug addicts and methadone treatment patients. This search was pioneered by a group of doctors who developed a vitamin mineral supplement to help people with drug problems. Today more people are paying attention to this problem with their clients whom are in treatment. In many cases it is being added to their treatment plans. The big problem then is what course of action needs to be taken to positively affect a change in their client’s health and nutrition.

Many times the course of action to address the problem is to tell the person to start taking a “good” vitamin. Maybe they tell them to go to a health food store and try some specific product that might give them some relief. This can be expensive road to follow, trying to find the right vitamin supplement for each case. Vitamin B in various forms is most often recommended for low energy but that is just one issue. Then people are told another product to help other issues (Something for this and something else for that.). The result is that there is no real change because the treatment is not complete. The problems persist and sometimes even worsen. The person gives up and becomes skeptic towards the benefit of health and nutritional supplements.

The other problem is that because of their problem they expect and want instantaneous gratification. They don’t realize that the problem developed over a period of time usually a long time. Most vitamin and mineral supplements are developed for “normal” people (whatever that is). They may not even work for those people, much less work for people with specific problems such as drug and alcohol problems and people under going methadone treatment or maintenance. Sometimes in methadone treatment clients experience the methadone side effects of extreme constipation, sugar craving, low energy and heavy sweating. The other problem is people with drug and alcohol problems are used to “feeling” something. This is not generally the case with most of the products they take. If they do feel the product it usually a short lived high, burst of energy or something of that nature. Then comes the let down.

Now there are Vitamin supplements developed for addicts and those inn various treatments. The active principles used in developing this product get the nutrient to the cellular level. If the nutrient never reaches the cellular level then the body doesn’t benefit from the nutrient. The two active principles are chelation and an integrated antioxidant system. Chelated products are easily absorbed in the body while retaining their nutritional properties as you would expect from their natural sources. The body needs antioxidants to inactivate or minimize the effects free radicals or Oxidants. Although beta carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E are commonly taken as antioxidants, they may be harmful if taken inappropriately. However when processed corectly they will be in the form that is used by the body to do what antioxidants are supposed to do in the body.

When a product is designed properly and for a specific purpose it has a much better chance of doing what it supposed do. If given the appropriate nutrients in a form the body needs and can use, the body will then do what it is supposed to do, be healthy. Then you will function like you were designed to.

Jerry L Wright, MS, MLAP
Methadone Clinic Director 6 years
Certified Drug Treatment Counselor
http://www.nutridone.com

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Meth Addiction Treatment and Drug Rehab Advice

It’s a purely-synthetic and highly-addictive drug that has wrecked lives all throughout the globe. Meth (methamphetamine) – also known as ‘crystal’ in the United States, ‘yaba’ in Thailand and ‘shabu’ in the Philippines – is abused by a wide cross-section of society, from blue collared workers to corporate types, causing unimaginable costs to society in general.

It’s more dangerous than the highly potent cocaine even. Dr. Michael Abrams of Broadlawn Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, says Meth ‘is the most malignant, addictive drug known to mankind.’ He explains that the body has enzymes that break down cocaine, which is basically derived from coca leaves, but these enzymes are powerless with methamphetamine.

Dealing with persons addicted to this drug is not at all easy. Affected people are both physiologically and psychologically changed. Among the dangerous physical effects of meth use are increased blood pressure and breathing rates, stomach cramps, cardiac arrhythmia, insomnia, paranoia, hallucinations, stroke and even death.

A lot of meth-dependent individuals have tried to get rid of the habit unsuccessfully. It’s hard to wake up one morning, say ‘no’ to it and forget about it. Curing an addiction just doesn’t work that way. Treatment should be done step by step and in a long term, each step being quite relevant to the one before it.

There’s no pill that can flush out all the settled harmful substance in your system. It takes a lot of determination on your part and the informed persistence of the people who are trying to help you overcome your dependence. Withdrawal symptoms include depression and other forms of psychological impairment that may last for several months.

While dealing with addiction appropriately was a major concern the world over a long time ago, several organizations have done significant efforts that effectively help sufferers to overcome their cravings. There is no other best way to solve it but to send meth dependents to drug rehabilitation centers.

At drug rehab facilities, people get a holistic treatment for their problems. In there, they will be given honest and caring support so that these affected ones will find their way back towards their happy and normal lives. The victims will be staying in the drug treatment facility for as long as they still show strong cravings for it.

Recovery from meth dependence is a possibility, but the withdrawal period can be tough on the patient and there is a possibility for relapse. While some prosperous nations have numbers of drug rehabilitation centers, poor ones don’t. That is why this global problem has not been significantly dealt with. Worse, the number of meth addicts continues to rise.

Ultimately, meth addiction treatment relies on the support of the sufferer’s family and loved ones. It’s basically a social concern that needs a social solution. Knowing the reasons and circumstances that led the person to methamphetamine dependence and taking these away from his environment during and after the rehab period will be a great help.

For those who would like to learn more about meth addiction: meth addiction

When you need more information on cocaine rehabilitation, try searching for it here: cocaine addiction rehab

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