Drug Rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation is typically a 30-day program that requires clients to stay in either a home, hospital or rehab setting, attending group and individual therapy throughout the day. The types of drug rehabilitation vary greatly.

• There are free programs and programs that cost over six figures for a month of treatment
• Some programs are less than a week and those that last for over a year.
• Programs that are extremely strict and don’t allow clients to have outside contact, technology, reading material, caffeine, sugar or cigarettes.
• Lastly, programs that allow clients to come and go as they please with all the privileges of home.

Some rehabilitation’s provide regular individual therapy, which can mean meetings with psychiatrists, therapists, counselors or rehab techs. Because of the belief that many addicts suffer from dual diagnosis (i.e., a mental illness such as depression in addition to alcoholism or addiction), many rehabs will have clients meet with psychiatrists who can prescribe SSRIs, mood stabilizers or other medications. Psychiatrists often applied detox to heavily addicted clients. It lasts from a few days to a week. Detox stabilizes the patients through a combination of medication and medical care before the treatment begins.

While the majority of rehabs used to subscribe to the AA philosophy—that treatment depends upon the belief in a Higher Power—this system of belief is considered controversial and an increasing number of rehabs now offer more evidence-based treatment. Another shift in thinking is around treatment time. Until recently, recovery experts believed that 30 days of inpatient treatment was enough to put clients on the road to recovery but a more recent school of thought supports the notion that 90 days is far more effective and that inpatient treatment should be followed by a stay in a sober living home along with outpatient treatment.

Addiction is a Mental Illness

Addiction alters the way a person’s brain functions. It decreases their chances of leaving a happy and productive lives. The inability to regulate their own behavior is also one of the traits of many mental illnesses. So, it makes sense to classify addictions as mental illness.

Most medical professional distinguish between two different kinds of mental illness that are included in addiction: substance abuse versus substance dependence. “Dependence” is the term used by the World Health Organization. However, both are part of obsessive compulsive disorder. Addicts feel compelled to keep taking their drug of choice, even though they may consciously register that this is destructive.

Just like addiction issues, a personal is more likely to suffer from mental illness if there’s genetic predisposition for it. Many alcoholics come from families in which one of more family members had problems with alcohol abuse. Addiction can also a learned behavior. However, there are also certain ethnic and racial groups whose genetic composition puts them at greater risk for substance abuse. Example, Native Americans have different combination of enzymes, which makes it harder for them to process alcohol in their system.

Recent studies have shown some disturbing connections between ADHD that goes undiagnosed in children and later substance abuse as adults. The studies support the view of the medical field.

Treatment Plan

Drug addiction or alcoholism may not be the only psychological problem that an addict has. Often, these types of behavioral abnormalities exist at the same time as other disorders.

Doctors can often have difficult time diagnosing patients with an alcohol or drug problem because those substances falsely alter moods. Alcohol, for example, is a depressant and can mimic the symptoms of clinical depression even if that mental health issue is not normally present except when triggered by alcohol consumption. From a clinical standpoint, the issue can also be one of cause and effect:

• Patient consumes alcohol because he or she suffers from anxiety and depression.
• Alcohol consumption causes the anxiety and depression.
• Physical dependence on alcohol causes the anxiety and depression.

Often it is difficult to separate out all of these symptoms of mental illness.

Treatments for addiction are similar to those for mental illness. Many of the medications designed to curb addiction effect the release of dopamine in the brain. Antipsychotic medications and antidepressants also function to regulate brain chemistry.

Many people close to substance abusers don’t understand why they just can’t stop using drugs or drinking alcohol when such activities are having negative effects on their lives and the lives of those the love. But just someone who suffers from a mental illness, it isn’t their fault. It’s because their brain chemistry has changed and no longer see the same reality as those around them.