Looking at treatment options is vital if you’re coming to terms with an addiction and looking to beat it. However, it’s not an “all or nothing” choice. Many professionals will instead use multiple strategies in a specific order to ensure the best results to fight addiction. Here are some of the approaches most commonly used together.
Controlled Withdrawal to Fight Addiction
One of the most essential steps with addictions is to break the chemical dependency at its strongest. Depending on the substance, going cold turkey can be difficult and highly dangerous. Chemically induced and controlled withdrawals can ensure safety while weaning one off of the dependency. It doesn’t mean the person is no longer addicted, but it can mean that the strongest cravings are dealt with.
Treating underlying issues
While substance abuse can lead to issues with mental health, it can also be caused by such concerns, as well. Depression, chronic stress, and other mental health disorders are highly comorbid with addiction, meaning they’re likely to happen together. Seeking therapy and finding ways to care for your mental health as part of a dual-diagnosis approach can help.
Replacement
One element of preventing relapse is using medications that can continue to decrease cravings. These include medications that act as a replacement for the stimulant in question. Just as with tobacco, there are things like vapes, patches, gum, and lozenges, with opioid and opiate addiction, a methadone clinic can be highly effective. It’s worth looking into what methods of replacement there might be for the substance in question. It is especially true of addictions where withdrawal isn’t as easy to achieve as with others.
Behavioral therapies
You can learn new tools to navigate the mental side of resisting addiction. It includes things like becoming aware of the psychological triggers that can lead to relapse and avoiding those triggers. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help with all manner of compulsions, not just addiction, and focuses on recording and understanding thoughts, feelings, and emotional reactions to recognize and regulate them. Becoming aware of the automatic thought processes in our heads can help to change them.
Ongoing support
Even after a person finishes formal addiction treatment, it’s still essential to ensure ongoing support. It can include:
- staying in a residential treatment center after an in-patient treatment course
- having a sponsor you can work with to stay accountable and on top of recovery
- joining support groups to continue sharing your struggle and get advice
Recap: Fight Addiction
Plenty of time, effort, and research has gone into finding the right way to treat addiction. Whether you’re dealing with it yourself or trying to help a loved one, knowing the approaches available is an essential step towards getting better.
