Treatment for substance use disorders is designed to help people stop alcohol or drug use and remain sober and drug free.
Substance use disorders affect every part of a person's life. For that reason, treatment needs to affect every part of a person's life as well. Recovery is a lifelong process. Staying in recovery is a difficult task. You will need to learn new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. Treatment can help you accept, manage, and live with your illness.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Options
Many different kinds of professionals provide treatment for substance use disorders. In most treatment programs, the main caregivers are specially trained individuals certified or licensed as substance abuse treatment counselors. About half these counselors are people who are in recovery themselves. Many programs have staff from several different ethnic or cultural groups.
Most treatment programs assign patients to a treatment team of professionals. Depending on the type of treatment, teams can be made up of social workers, counselors, doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, or other professionals. The treatment team uses the information gathered to recommend the best type of treatment. No one type of treatment is right for everyone; to work, the treatment needs to meet your family member's individual needs.
Detoxification or Detox
Medically supervised withdrawal (often called detoxification or detox) uses medication to help people withdraw from alcohol or drugs. People who have been taking large amounts of opioids (e.g., heroin, OxyContin7, or codeine), barbiturates or sedatives ("downers"), pain medications, or alcohol- either alone or together-may need medically monitored or managed withdrawal services. Sometimes, alcohol withdrawal can be so severe that people hallucinate, have convulsions, or develop other dangerous conditions. Medication can help prevent or treat such conditions. Anyone who has once had hallucinations or seizures from alcohol withdrawal or who has another serious illness or (in some cases) a mental disorder that could complicate detoxification may need medical supervision to detoxify safely. Medically supervised withdrawal can take place on a regular medical ward of a hospital, in a specialized inpatient detoxification unit, or on an outpatient basis with close medical supervision. Detoxification may take several days to a week or more. During that time, the person will receive medical care and may begin to receive education about his or her disease. Detoxification is not treatment; it is a first step that can prepare a person for treatment.
Detoxification Medications
Methadone
A medication that prevents opioid withdrawal symptoms for about 24 hours, so the person must take it daily. Taken as directed, it does not make a person high but allows him or her to function normally. In fact, methadone blocks the "high" a person gets from an opioid drug. Some people stay on methadone for only 6 months to 1 year and then gradually stop taking it; most of these people relapse and begin to use opioids again. However, others stay on methadone for long periods of time or for life, which is called methadone maintenance treatment. People receiving this treatment often have good jobs and lead happy, productive lives.
Buprenorphine
A medication that may be used to treat opioid dependence and is sometimes used by OTPs. Buprenorphine recently was approved for treatment by primary care doctors in their offices. A doctor treating a patient with buprenorphine generally will provide or refer the patient for counseling, also.
Naltrexone (ReVia7),
A medication that reduces the craving for alcohol. This medication can help keep people who drink a small amount of alcohol from drinking more of it. Programs also sometimes use Naltrexone to treat heroin or other opioid dependence because it blocks the drug's effects. It is important for people who use heroin to go through detox first, so they are heroin free before starting to take Naltrexone.
Disulfiram (Antabuse7)
A medication that causes a bad reaction if people drink alcohol while taking it. The reaction is flushing, nausea, vomiting, and anxiety. Because people know the medication will make them very ill if they drink alcohol, it helps them not to drink it. Antabuse is taken daily.
Sober Living Skills
Sober life skills are the new behaviors and ways of living that your partner will need to work on. Before treatment, your partner spent a great deal of time obtaining a substance, using drugs or drinking alcohol, and getting over the substance's effects. Most of his or her activities centered on drugs or alcohol. Most of his or her fun activities included drinking alcohol or using drugs, and many of your partner's friends used or abused substances, too. For these reasons, people recovering from substance use disorders need to learn a whole new way to live and to make new friends.
Follow-up care is very important to successful treatment. Once a person is back in his or her community, back in school, or back at work, he or she will experience many temptations and cravings for alcohol or drugs. In follow-up care, your family member will meet periodically with a counselor or a group to determine how he or she is coping and to help him or her deal with the challenges of recovery.
