Heroin Addiction Treatment

Heroin causes severe and unpleasant sensations of withdrawal that will begin only hours after the drug is last taken, and withdrawal avoidance, coupled with a desire for the euphoria and pleasant sensations of the drug, make getting off heroin very tough. Unfortunately, with ever increasing quantities of the drug needed to stave off withdrawal and achieve the desired "high", dependency grows more serious the longer the drug is abused; and as such an addiction to heroin should be tackled as soon as possible.

Some people, with extraordinary willpower and social support, can detox and stay sober without professional assistance, but these people are rare and the vast majority of heroin addicts will need professional heroin treatment.

There are three disparate methods of heroin treatment. Heroin addicts may elect to undergo:

1. opiate substitution therapy
2. rapid detoxification
3. medically supervised detoxification followed by a residential rehab program

Methadone

These substitute opiates will not produce a "high" and will allow the addict to regain control of their lives, and reintegrate effectively with society. Additionally, addicts using the "clean" opiates as prescribed in clinics minimize the health risks of their opiate usage, and increase their overall health.

The ultimate goal of opiate substitution therapy is to gradually reduce the dosage of the substitute opiate, until none is required. This is variably effective, and many addicts will remain dependent on the substitute opiate for years or even decades after initiating treatment.

There are some additional disadvantages to this method of treatment. Firstly, the addict remains physically dependent on an opiate, and requires regular opiate therapy to remain symptoms free. Methadone must be taken under supervision in a licensed methadone clinic (to avoid resale), and as such the continued time and energy commitment to the addiction remains significant. Additionally, many physicians are now arguing that methadone is in fact more addictive than heroin, and although addicts may function normally while on methadone, they have simply increased the level of their opiate addiction. The needed duration of methadone maintenance therapy reinforces this medical viewpoint, and raises serious questions about the appropriateness of this therapy.

Buprenorphine is somewhat better than methadone in the respect that it has no resale value, and can be prescribed in limited dosages for home consumption.

Ultimately, critics of the opiate maintenance therapy opine that these therapies do not offer the addict any behavioral skills for future drug avoidance. Without any counseling or therapy offered, there is little to keep addicts from a relapse to the pleasures, and ultimately pains, of heroin addiction.

This method of detoxification allows the addict to detox off of heroin with minimal pain, but does not teach any coping skills or life strategies for future drug avoidance. Additionally, after the use of naltrexone, the opiate tolerance of the addict is severely minimized, and the probability of overdose with relapse is increased.

Detox is tough, and if an addict attempts to get off heroin in their home environment, the lure of available drugs and an end to the suffering through further use can be extraordinarily difficult to resist. Medically supervised residential detox keeps the addict sequestered away from the home environment, and thus the availability of drugs; and offers medical personnel to ease the discomfort of withdrawal through prescription medications when appropriate.

Detox is only the first stage of treatment, and detox alone is not sufficient to keep an addict away from heroin for long. Residential heroin treatment facilities offer the addict enough time away from abuse to learn how to live and enjoy life without the drug. It also offers therapeutic programs designed to help the addict understand and overcome the basal causes for their abuse, the triggers that lead to further abuse, and to give them the life skills and coping strategies they will need to stay sober once reintegrated into the community.

What happens after detoxification

Individual counseling

Heroin dependency can be very emotionally damaging, and private therapy sessions with an addictions councilor or psychologist can help to alleviate some of the emotional distress caused by the addiction. The physical withdrawal can also leave feelings of depression and anxiety, and working through those feelings with a professional can be very beneficial. Additionally, there may be unresolved personal issues that led to the initial addiction, and if not conquered, are likely to spur a relapse once reintegrated into society. Private counseling sessions help an addict to better understand their addiction, the reasons why they use, and the strategies they need to use to stay sober once back in the community.

Peer counseling

A residential rehab facility offers addicts valuable insights into their own dependency through peer sessions with other addicts. Through group therapy, unique and individual suffering becomes collective, and addicts learn from one another that the devastation of a heroin addiction is shared, and resolvable. Peer group sessions are very effective in the treatment of any addiction.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Given enough temptation it becomes impossible to avoid relapse, and as such behavioral modification therapies give a recovering addict the tools they'll need to minimize temptation once out of rehab. Cognitive therapy teaches how to avoid the social situations that make use more likely, and also to take personal responsibility for getting into these situations. These learned skills empower a heroin addict to avoid temptation, and minimize relapse.

General drug education

Heroin addicts learn about dependency and the damage that dependency can do to the body, to the soul and to the people they care about. With knowledge comes a greater understanding of addiction, and a greater ability to resist future temptation.

Health promotion and exercise

Sequestered rehab restores some of the health that is inevitably lost to a heroin addiction. Good nutrition, exercise, and a period of sobriety show the addict how good they can feel without drugs.

Although painful detox can be avoided by methadone maintenance or through rapid detoxification, only by a period of abstinence, counseling and reflection; as is offered at a sequestered rehabilitation center, can an addict gain understanding into their addiction, what causes their use, and what they can do to stay sober once reintegrated back into their community.

Rehab isn't the easiest way to get off heroin, but it’s the best way.