The effectiveness of drug addiction treatment continues to be a hot topic of discussion in society. Rising addiction rates and iffy results from the war on drugs are part of the contentious issues that keep fueling the debate.
However, there are many factors you can use to determine whether a program is effective or not. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states a proper drug addiction treatment program should help you achieve the following:
• Effectively stop your dependency on your drug of choice.
• Impart essential skills to help you curb urges and triggers of addiction.
• To become a positive contributor in both your personal and professional life.
• Better quality of life. It includes your income status, personal health, and social interactions.
• A total deviation from delinquent behavior, that is, refraining from any criminal activities.
Addiction treatment is a lifelong process, and the nature of treatment varies depending on your drug of choice. Therefore, to gauge the effectiveness of your drug addiction treatment program, you need to assess each treatment individually against each objective.
Using this criterion, here are the primary treatment methods currently available in the United States as per NIDA. Arizona rehab centers are among those in the country that can offer most or all of the below services.
The twelve-step process
Firstly is the 12-Step process. Specialists use it to treat drug addiction and behavioral compulsions such as gambling. It involves going through a specific set of guiding principles covering your physical, mental, and spiritual realms. The regimen runs for 90 days. However, the principles can still carry on long after admission through meetings and counseling.
Most individuals who have gone through the program testify to its effectiveness, and it is still in use seventy years later.
Pharmaceutical Interventions
Your addiction specialist may prescribe specific medications to help you combat withdrawal symptoms. For example, Lofexodine helps opioid addicts to this effect. Modafinil is also another prescription drug that works best for cocaine addicts. Since these medications are still in use, you can safely conclude that pharmaceutical interventions are an effective addiction treatment.
Psychotherapy sessions
Psychotherapy sessions are a set of drug addiction treatments that involve both individual and group discussions on addiction issues. The aim is to encourage you to adopt a more positive lifestyle by stimulating behavioral change.
Among them is cognitive-behavioral therapy. It allows addicts to develop coping strategies essential to improvements in their physical and mental health. You can expect even better results when in combination with other addiction treatments.
Alternative Therapies
Some Arizona rehab centers also use mediation and acupuncture to treat addiction. The jury, however, is still out on their success with dealing with dependence, there exists evidence on it working well on its accompanying conditions such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.
So, are drug addiction treatments effective? Yes, they are. With relapse rates of between forty to sixty percent compared to the fifty to seventy percent in heart and breathing conditions, do not hesitate to seek rehab center services when you have a need.