treatment

The first and most difficult step for people who misuse drugs & alcohol is to recognise that they have a problem, and then admit that they need help to deal with it. Some people realise that they have a problem but find it hard to stop taking the drug or reduce alcohol consumption, even though they are aware of the consequences. Others may need someone else to help them realise that they have a problem.

Most treatments are designed to do more than simply reduce or remove drug or alcohol use - they focus on getting people to change their lifestyle and even their core life values as a way of preventing return of the problems. Like treatments for other conditions, dependency treatments can also include medications and other forms of therapy.

No available therapy, program, medication or surgical procedure can remove recurrent desire or craving for alcohol and/or other drugs. Eliminating the desire to use drugs or alcohol is not an outcome of rehabilitation. A more reasonable expectation is that medication may reduce this urge and effective rehabilitation will teach a person what they must do to manage and contain their recurrent desires to use, much in the same way as a person with diabetes or hypertension must learn to manage their lives to control their illness.

It’s best to think of three stages of dependency treatment, each with a different function in the larger picture of care:

• detoxification/stabilisation
• rehabilitation
• continuing care

People frequently say that there is nothing wrong with them; they falsely believe that they can control their drug or alcohol use. They strongly resist the notion that they need treatment, even when family members or friends believe otherwise. That’s why it may be tempting to take a hands-off approach to the problem, hoping that your relative or friend's drug or alcohol problem will just go away - that he or she is just going through a phase and will get better with time.

Or you may decide that treatment won't help because your addicted friend or relative doesn't want to make a change. But both of these beliefs are myths that can lead to a more severe dependency and to greater family disruption.

The sooner a person receives treatment for dependency, the greater the chances for long-term recovery. Further, experts know that forced, or mandated, treatment can be successful. In fact, most people receiving treatment for dependency are getting help because family or friends, employers or the criminal justice system forced them into it.

Common wisdom taught that confrontation - "intervention" - was necessary to get a loved one into treatment. This confrontational approach is sometimes successful, but may not be the best approach. Intervention methods have been refined in recent years.

However you choose to get your loved one into treatment, if possible, get the advice of treatment specialist - and try to learn if there is space available in the treatment program of your choice before you begin your effort.