5 Facts About Treating Opiate Addiction
For anyone suffering from an addiction to opiates, it can seem impossible to end that disease. However, there are treatment options that can help you. Knowing the facts can make treatment seem like your best shot at a drug-free life, which it is.
1. It is Not Easy
Opiates are incredibly addictive substances that change the way your brain is structured and functions. This makes beating it incredibly difficult. It should come as no surprise that opiate addiction treatment is just as difficult.
2. Behavioral Therapies are the Basis
Like all addictions, opiate addiction is considered a mental disorder. As such, behavioral therapies and counseling must form the basis of all successful treatment programs. There are an almost endless variety of possible approaches, but the most important thing is that they are somehow included in your treatment for opiate addiction.
3. Medications Help
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, medications have a number of benefits to people in opiate addiction treatment programs. These include:
- Reduced or eliminated withdrawal symptoms
- Less chance of relapse
- Increased treatment retention rates
- Significantly reduced opiate use
The benefits make medications extremely helpful in the battle to end your opiate addiction.
4. Other Options Exist
While behavioral therapies and medications are the only medically proven options in treatment for opiate addiction, they are not the only available options. There are numerous other methods that are considered to be alternative treatments. These alternatives can be used to support traditional treatment or when mainstream approaches are not working.
5. You Can Succeed in Ending your Addiction
No matter how hard treatment seems, or how difficult it is to see yourself succeeding in ending your opiate abuse, you can do it. Having a strong support network and remembering why you are in treatment can help you through the worst times.
Mistakes You Will Make When Treating Opiate Addiction
Opiate addiction is a dangerous and complicated disease. Though professional treatment helps, it can be difficult to get the most out of treatment and ensure its success. It is even more difficult when the addict involved makes costly mistakes. This is why you need to know what mistakes are commonly made by opiate addicts in treatment.
Having Unreal Expectations
Far too many people have very unrealistic expectations for opiate addiction treatment. It is not a cure, a vacation, or an easy process. However, if you are willing to do what is necessary, it can help you beat your addiction.
Not Participating
Opiate addiction is a mental disorder, so the best base of treatment lies in behavioral therapies and counseling. However, these approaches are only as successful as you make them. This means that you must be an active participant in your opiate addiction treatment for you to get the most out of it.
Not Taking Medications Properly
Medications are an important part of treatment for opiate addiction. They reduce withdrawal symptoms, prevent relapse, and increase retention in treatment programs. For anyone suffering from an addiction to opiates, it can seem impossible to end that disease. However, there are treatment options that can help you. Knowing the facts can make treatment seem like your best shot at a drug-free life, which it is.
1. It is Not Easy
Opiates are incredibly addictive substances that change the way your brain is structured and functions. This makes beating it incredibly difficult. It should come as no surprise that opiate addiction treatment is just as difficult.
2. Behavioral Therapies are the Basis
Like all addictions, opiate addiction is considered a mental disorder. As such, behavioral therapies and counseling must form the basis of all successful treatment programs. There are an almost endless variety of possible approaches, but the most important thing is that they are somehow included in your treatment for opiate addiction.
3. Medications Help
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, medications have a number of benefits to people in opiate addiction treatment programs. These include:
- Reduced or eliminated withdrawal symptoms
- Less chance of relapse
- Increased treatment retention rates
- Significantly reduced opiate use
The benefits make medications extremely helpful in the battle to end your opiate addiction.
4. Other Options Exist
While behavioral therapies and medications are the only medically proven options in treatment for opiate addiction, they are not the only available options. There are numerous other methods that are considered to be alternative treatments. These alternatives can be used to support traditional treatment or when mainstream approaches are not working.
5. You Can Succeed in Ending your Addiction
No matter how hard treatment seems, or how difficult it is to see yourself succeeding in ending your opiate abuse, you can do it. Having a strong support network and remembering why you are in treatment can help you through the worst times.
Mistakes You Will Make When Treating Opiate Addiction
Opiate addiction is a dangerous and complicated disease. Though professional treatment helps, it can be difficult to get the most out of treatment and ensure its success.
It is even more difficult when the addict involved makes costly mistakes. This is why you need to know what mistakes are commonly made by opiate addicts in treatment.
Having Unreal Expectations
Far too many people have very unrealistic expectations for opiate addiction treatment. It is not a cure, a vacation, or an easy process. However, if you are willing to do what is necessary, it can help you beat your addiction.
Not Participating
Opiate addiction is a mental disorder, so the best base of treatment lies in behavioral therapies and counseling. However, these approaches are only as successful as you make them. This means that you must be an active participant in your opiate addiction treatment for you to get the most out of it.
Not Taking Medications Properly
Medications are an important part of treatment for opiate addiction. They reduce withdrawal symptoms, prevent relapse, and increase retention in treatment programs. However, these benefits only happen when medications are taken properly. When taken improperly, you can cause yourself a number of other problems, including another addiction.
Leaving Treatment Too Early
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, remaining in treatment for the right amount of time is critical to success. How much time this actually is depends on a number of factors. However, all opiate addiction treatment programs should last a minimum of three months if they are to be effective.
Giving Up Hope
Perhaps the biggest mistake that people in treatment for an addiction to opiates make is to lose sight of why they decided to end their addiction. In difficult times it is easy to lose hope, but you must stay focused. Overcoming an addiction is not easy, but it is significantly more likely if you stay positive and hopeful.
How Treating Opiate Addiction Benefits You
It is well known that opiate addiction is a dangerous disease that ruins lives all over the world. You may have heard that professional treatment is the best way to end this addiction, but is it really what you need? To know, you need to understand the benefits that treatment can provide.
An End to Opiate Use
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of opiate addiction treatment is ending your opiate use. However, there is no doubt that this is certainly a good thing.
Continued opiate abuse will ruin every aspect of your life, including your relationships, finances, and well-being. Getting treatment will prevent these damages.
Better Health
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opiate addiction and abuse does immeasurable damage to your physical and mental health. This damage increases the longer you continue to use opiates. Treatment for opiate addiction stops these damages from continuing and even reverses much of the damage already done.
Decreased Risk of Disease
Opiate addiction is well known in the medical community to greatly increase your risk of infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. Ending that opiate use through opiate addiction treatment is the best way to decrease this risk and prevent the spread of these dangerous diseases.
Less Chance of Relapse
Addiction is a relapsing disease and many sufferers return to drug use after having previously stopped. Treatment for opiate addiction has been proven to reduce the rate of relapse and help you to remain drug-free after treatment has ended.
Longer Life
The fact is that continuing your opiate addiction will kill you. The constant poisoning of your body, the damages to your internal organs, and the changes in your brain will all end your life long before your time. Getting treatment is the only proven way to end your addiction and increase your lifespan. If you know someone who’s in need of treatments, visit our official site.