How Is Addiction Treated?

Entering treatment for your substance use disorder can seem daunting, but it is an important the first step towards a life free from the bonds of addiction and the disruptive life you are experiencing. You may have hit your rock bottom, or you may still be in denial and have been approached multiple times by your family and friends about your substance use.

Do I Really Need Rehab?

What are the warning signs that you should enter professional addiction treatment?

• Your family or friends have confronted you about your substance use disorder.

• You have no control over your substance use disorder.

• You are experiencing cravings or withdrawals.

• You have a desire to quit but are unable to.

• You hide your substance use disorder from others.

• Your substance use disorder has affected multiple aspects of your life including

• your personal life and professional life.

• Your substance use disorder has resulted in financial strain or trouble with the law.

What should you know about our program?

Entering treatment is a sign of both strength and commitment to your future. If you choose to ignore the warning signs, your disorder can become worse and even life-threatening. But, effective treatments for addiction are available.

The first step on the road to recovery is recognition of the problem. The recovery process can be hindered when a person denies having a problem and lacks understanding about substance misuse and addiction. The intervention of concerned friends and family often prompts treatment.

A member of our SUMAT team will conduct a formal assessment of your symptoms, to assess the level of substance use and discuss the best treatment plan options. Even if the problem seems severe, most people with a substance use disorder can benefit from treatment. Unfortunately, many people who could truly benefit from our treatments don’t seek and receive this help.

Because addiction affects many aspects of a person’s life, multiple types of treatment are often required. For most, we at SUMAT have found that a combination of medication and individual therapy is most effective. Treatment approaches that address an individual’s situation, and any co-occurring medical, psychiatric and social problems, lead best to a sustained recovery.

Medication-Assisted Treatment

Addiction is classified as a disease because it negatively alters the biology of the brain from an otherwise healthy state. It’s considered a chronic disease because the changes are long-lasting.

The uncontrollable compulsive behaviors of addiction are the product of changes to the brain caused by chronic use and misuse of opioids, alcohol, etc. And, just as these changes developed over time, it will take time to reverse them – to the extent they can be reversed. Unfortunately, some changes due to substance use may be irreversible. For these, coping strategies need to be learned in order to deal with them successfully.

In broad terms, addiction is the manifestation of abnormal brain adaptations. These biological changes to the brain have an influence on behavior in unhealthy ways. The changes in brain chemistry are responsible for the cravings associated with addiction. Humans, and animals, are innately programmed to crave and repeat activities determined by the brain to be necessary for survival, and propagation of the species. Some natural examples are sex, food, exercise, and accomplishment.

However, the repeated artificial stimulation of the brain’s reward system with opioids creates a memory and association which prompts repetition of destructive behavior via cravings. In other words the part of the brain responsible for survival is in effect hijacked. It is tricked into believing opioids are necessary for survival. And, just as hunger and thirst prompt eating and drinking, the strong cravings for opioids prompt the person to repeat the behavior, in this case opioid misuse. It’s the strong cravings that are responsible for the uncontrollable compulsive behavior common to all addictions. It’s important to understand that the psychological experience of cravings is rooted in abnormally altered brain biology.

Successful addiction treatment consists of reversing, to the extent possible, the destructive brain adaptations. This is accomplished with a deliberate reconditioning effort by making significant positive changes in behavior and reflex reactions to stress and other things that prompted past drug use, not by simply taking medication. Gaining experience with these new behavioral patterns slowly creates new brain pathways while allowing the old destructive ones to fade.

Medication-assisted treatment is used to control drug cravings and relieve severe symptoms of withdrawal. This therapy can also help individuals understand their behavior and motivations, develop higher self-esteem, cope with stress and address other mental health problems without being committed to an in-patient situation.

Buprenorphine is only a small part of our treatment program. By itself it would only serve to temporarily suppress symptoms of addiction. These symptoms would likely reemerge upon cessation of the medication.

Recovery is the process of reversing and/or coping with the abnormal brain adaptations responsible for the disruptive, addictive behaviors. Medication, such as buprenorphine, helps facilitate this effort by suppressing symptoms of addiction.

Counseling, therapy and support, all help guide patients to make behavioral changes. The medication suppresses symptoms of cravings and withdrawal that might otherwise interfere with this effort. It is the deliberate self-reconditioning process which is the actual recovery. And, once significant experience is gained with new patterns of behavior, the patient may be ready to transition to the medication-free phase of treatment. At that point, a slow taper is initiated to resolve the physical dependence to opioids that has been maintained.