rehab

Overcoming Addiction: Can Alcoholism Ever be Cured?

If someone is to recover from an addiction, the first step is admitting that there is a problem. A mental health professional, such as a therapist, should be consulted. They can offer a tailored treatment plan for an addict. They will address the underlying issues that led to the addictive behavior in the first place. There are treatment centers for almost every kind of addiction: alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex, work, gambling, Internet, and many others. You cannot really cure addiction and alcoholism. Addicts just learn to live with the understanding that they have an addiction. And that they learn various coping mechanisms to free themselves from its negative effects on their lives.

One of the first steps of recovering from addiction is to detox from the substance. Some people have had success by stopping “cold turkey” on their own. However, most addicts who need larger support from friends or an established medical facility found the method ineffective. Support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, seem to be the most effective long-term solution for recovery. Many of the successful treatments involve some form of therapy. In behavior therapy, addicts learn why they abuse substances and then learn more productive behaviors to cope with the feeling or events in life that trigger their addiction.

Treatment Options

There are many medicines in the market that claimed to cure addiction. One such product, Vivitrol, is a version of naltrexone, an opioid blocker, that takes away the “high” an addict feels by blocking the brain’s release of endorphins. Some alcoholics, including a group of Hollywood actors, claim that this method of curing alcoholism is extremely effective and are campaigning for its wider use in the United States. Few European countries have used it currently. Other similar medications are disulfiram and acamprosate.

AddictionAddiction or alcoholism has no real cure because a relapse into the addictive behavior can happen at any time. Even among the success stories of people who go through recovery programs for addiction, you often find stories about how the addiction just shifted to something less harmful, like an addiction to exercise or an obsession over “eating clean”. The 12-step programs can help someone stop their addiction to drugs or alcohol, but it can’t cure an addictive personality. It’s clear from the way these programs work that addiction doesn’t ever go away forever. Recovering alcoholics, for instance, can never have another drink of alcohol again. The same goes for those recovering from drug use. They have to be careful even to avoid overuse of prescription medications, which could impact their healthcare.

Even though there is no cure for drug addiction or alcoholism, it is worth seeking help if you think you might have a problem. It is helpful inorder to prevent the negative consequences you might be facing due to your dangerous behavior. Famous faces in recovery serve as reminders of how one can turn one’s life around through any of the various treatment options available. Even without a cure, it doesn’t mean addicts are ever without hope.

Bio

After nearly two decades of drinking and destroying just about every relationship in my life, I decided to get help. I didn’t know what to expect (and in some ways, I still don’t), but getting sober has been the most rewarding, fulfilling decision I’ve ever made. In the years since I entered treatment, secured an AA sponsor, and forged friendships in sobriety that rival all the others in my life, I feel like a completely different person. It’s as if I woke up in another person’s life. I’m a married father of three young children who lives in Columbus, Ohio, along with a bossy cat named Dr. No.

Most of my recovery has been spent writing about my experiences, and I’ve been fortunate to have my work picked up by The Fix, AfterParty Magazine, The Literary Review, and The Live Oak Review, among others. I want to help others find meaningful, lasting sobriety in any way that I can, which is part of the reason I’m so committed to Genius Recovery. More than that, though, I sincerely believe in the vision, aims and purpose of Genius Recovery. I’m as passionate about recovery as I am about discovering levels to my life that I didn’t know existed. After all, addiction recovery is about hope as much as it is about possibility. Through my writing, I hope to guide others to discover what’s possible for them, too. 

– Paul

Is Addiction a Disease? Why and Why Not?

Is Addiction a Diseas?

There are many schools of thought about whether or not addiction is a disease or a life choice but the American Medical Association (AMA) decreed that alcoholism was an illness in 1956 and a disease in 1966. Those who believe that addiction is a disease subscribe to the notion that sobriety or abstinence doesn’t eradicate the addict label.

DiseaseThe disease, according to those who believe in it, is less about the alcoholic’s behavior. It is more about the thinking which causes the alcoholic or addict to drink or use drugs to excess. The belief is that the addict or alcoholic drinks or uses drugs in order to escape their way thinking. Those who support the disease model believe that alcoholics are born with a genetic predisposition to alcoholism that their behavior then exacerbates and that the cure for the disease is the maintenance of a strong spiritual condition through the practice of attending 12-step meetings and practicing AA’s 12 steps.

These steps focus on cleaning up the past and making amends for bad behavior. Trying to rid oneself of character defects and most significantly developing a relationship with a Higher Power. Those who don’t believe in the disease model say that alcoholics/addicts choose to drink/use drugs in addictive ways. And that couching their behavior as a disease abdicates them of responsibility for the damage their behavior causes. The anti-disease advocates believe that telling alcoholics/addicts that they suffer from disease actually harms them. It is because it prevents them from getting better. Disease advocates argue that by teaching alcoholics and addicts that they have a disease is helpful. Those who are suffering are able to forgive themselves for their egregious behavior and find recovery without shame.

How do You Overcome Addiction?

How to Overcome Addiction?

Many schools of thought on how to overcome addiction are existing nowadays. Some believe in the harm reduction model. Noted addiction expert Gabor Mate supports the theory that addiction is the result of trauma. Addicts use drugs in order to manage the feelings around what they’ve experienced. They believe that the way to overcome addiction is to deal with the trauma. Therapeutic methods, including cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, EFT and other techniques are helpful. Those who subscribe to the harm reduction model believe that addicts and alcoholics do not need to remain abstinent. Instead, learn to moderate their behavior or use less harmful drugs (hence the term “harm reduction). Example, a heroin addict quitting opiates but continuing to use marijuana.

Harm reduction advocates often believe in the use of Suboxone, which is a prescription medicine that contains buprenorphine (which eases drug cravings) and naloxone (which blocks the effects of opiates) and must be administered by a medical professional. Suboxone is use to detox opiate users. Some people stay on the drug after detox. It’s a way of preventing them from using stronger opiates.

Treatment Programs

Overcome AddictionOthers believe that addiction can only be overcome through abstinence and that addicts can never use substances with any sort of moderation. AA is the best-known program for helping addicts find and maintain sobriety. The primarily requirement is to develop a relationship with a Higher Power. As a result, there are other abstinence-based programs that have no spiritual component, including SMART Recovery, Women for Sobriety, Secular Organizations for Sobriety, Celebrate Recovery, LifeRing and The Matrix Model. AA members, or 12-steppers, believe that addicts never truly overcome addiction but are able to arrest it by remaining abstinent, attending meetings, working the 12 steps and practicing the principles of AA. Many addicts, however, are able to remain abstinent without a program (something AA members often call “white knuckling”).

What is Drug Rehabilitation? Does it Really Work?

Drug Rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation is typically a 30-day program that requires clients to stay in either a home, hospital or rehab setting, attending group and individual therapy throughout the day. The types of drug rehabilitation vary greatly.

  • There are free programs and programs that cost over six figures for a month of treatment
  • Some programs are less than a week and those that last for over a year.
  • Programs that are extremely strict and don’t allow clients to have outside contact, technology, reading material, caffeine, sugar or cigarettes.
  • Lastly, programs that allow clients to come and go as they please with all the privileges of home.

Some rehabilitation’s provide regular individual therapy, which can mean meetings with psychiatrists, therapists, counselors or rehab techs. Because of the belief that many addicts suffer from dual diagnosis (i.e., a mental illness such as depression in addition to alcoholism or addiction), many rehabs will have clients meet with psychiatrists who can prescribe SSRIs, mood stabilizers or other medications. Psychiatrists often applied detox to heavily addicted clients. It lasts from a few days to a week. Detox stabilizes the patients through a combination of medication and medical care before the treatment begins.

Drug RehabilitationWhile the majority of rehabs used to subscribe to the AA philosophy—that treatment depends upon the belief in a Higher Power—this system of belief is considered controversial and an increasing number of rehabs now offer more evidence-based treatment. Another shift in thinking is around treatment time. Until recently, recovery experts believed that 30 days of inpatient treatment was enough to put clients on the road to recovery but a more recent school of thought supports the notion that 90 days is far more effective and that inpatient treatment should be followed by a stay in a sober living home along with outpatient treatment.

Is Addiction or Alcoholism a Mental Illness?

Addiction is a Mental Illness

Addiction alters the way a person’s brain functions. It decreases their chances of leaving a happy and productive lives. The inability to regulate their own behavior is also one of the traits of many mental illnesses. So, it makes sense to classify addictions as mental illness.

Most medical professional distinguish between two different kinds of mental illness that are included in addiction: substance abuse versus substance dependence. “Dependence” is the term used by the World Health Organization. However, both are part of obsessive compulsive disorder. Addicts feel compelled to keep taking their drug of choice, even though they may consciously register that this is destructive.

Just like addiction issues, a personal is more likely to suffer from mental illness if there’s genetic predisposition for it. Many alcoholics come from families in which one of more family members had problems with alcohol abuse. Addiction can also a learned behavior. However, there are also certain ethnic and racial groups whose genetic composition puts them at greater risk for substance abuse. Example, Native Americans have different combination of enzymes, which makes it harder for them to process alcohol in their system.

Recent studies have shown some disturbing connections between ADHD that goes undiagnosed in children and later substance abuse as adults. The studies support the view of the medical field.

Treatment Plan

Mental IllnessDrug addiction or alcoholism may not be the only psychological problem that an addict has. Often, these types of behavioral abnormalities exist at the same time as other disorders.

Doctors can often have difficult time diagnosing patients with an alcohol or drug problem because those substances falsely alter moods. Alcohol, for example, is a depressant and can mimic the symptoms of clinical depression even if that mental health issue is not normally present except when triggered by alcohol consumption. From a clinical standpoint, the issue can also be one of cause and effect:

  • Patient consumes alcohol because he or she suffers from anxiety and depression.
  • Alcohol consumption causes the anxiety and depression.
  • Physical dependence on alcohol causes the anxiety and depression.

Often it is difficult to separate out all of these symptoms of mental illness.

Treatments for addiction are similar to those for mental illness. Many of the medications designed to curb addiction effect the release of dopamine in the brain. Antipsychotic medications and antidepressants also function to regulate brain chemistry.

Many people close to substance abusers don’t understand why they just can’t stop using drugs or drinking alcohol when such activities are having negative effects on their lives and the lives of those the love. But just someone who suffers from a mental illness, it isn’t their fault. It’s because their brain chemistry has changed and no longer see the same reality as those around them.