Monday, May 3, 2010

Drug Addiction


This term, drug rehab or drug rehabilitation, is used for the processes of psychotherapeutic or medical treatment for addiction of any kind of drug. The main aim behind this process is to enable the patient to discontinue excessive or improper use of a substance.

Drug rehab is gaining more and more importance in the world today, as the numbers of such cases are rising, in all age groups of men and women. Drug addiction is a mental disorder wherein a person cannot survive without a narcotic drug. This addiction starts with him/her taking drugs, which later on becomes compulsive and all the actions are controlled by the drug.

There are a lot of methods used for rehabilitation. Medicating, counseling, therapies, etc are the common ones. Every individual reacts differently to the treatment, thus the treatment is given according to the persons need.

Drug rehabilitation includes two types of drug dependencies, they are:
  • Psychological dependency:
    This is used in various drug rehab centers to teach the patient how to live in a completely drug free environment. During this treatment span, the patients are not allowed to be associated with friends who are still using the addictive substances.
  • Physical dependency:
    This includes removal of all toxic substance from the patient’s body, so as to cope with the drug abuse withdrawal symptoms from daily drug usage.

The most addictive drugs are cocaine, heroin and nicotine. During these programs, the addict is observed, in spite of being under the effect of the drug. Due to high usage of drugs, the sudden halt in the intake of drugs could lead to withdrawal symptoms and the body may take many weeks or months to go back to normal.

Drug addiction is a major problem, all over the world. Hence, the rehab centers are located in every city and town to help addicts get rid of their addiction. The treatments for the addicts usually include awareness education, treatment and counseling about the drugs. Some centers also focus on the mental attitude and proper nutrition of the addict as well. All these programs basically depend on the length of the inpatient or outpatient treatments and also on the costs of such treatments.

Though there are outpatient programs available in the rehab centers, the doctors prefer the inpatient programs for the patient as it is the first step in recovery. Within just twenty-eight days of such a program the patient experiences relief from drug usage. After completion of inpatient program, the centers suggest an aftercare program. This program includes individual or group meetings taken twice or thrice a week, to ensure that the addict is on the course of recovery. This aftercare program is helpful for the addict to return to daily life overcoming his/her anxiety or fear of going back to drug usage after the treatment. Thus, the addict is given all the support needed to complete his/her recovery programs.

For more information on rehabilitation you can visit on Rehabilitations.org/.