At the SOBA Recovery Center, our team of world-renowned treatment professionals understands that alcohol and drug addiction is a complex illness.
Compulsive and sometimes-uncontrollable drug craving, med-seeking, and use that persist even in the face of negative consequences characterize drug addiction. For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses occurring after drug rehab and even after long periods of abstinence.
Over time, a person’s ability to choose not to take drugs can become compromised. Drug seeking becomes compulsive, as a result of the effects of prolonged drug use on brain functioning. Behavior becomes unpredictable.
The compulsion to use drugs can take over an individual’s life. Addiction involves not only compulsive drug taking but also a wide range of dysfunctional behaviors. Addiction leaves people and their loved ones at increased risk for a wide variety of illnesses. These illnesses can be brought on by the addicts’ behaviors, or because of toxic effects of the drugs themselves.
Drug rehab is not always simple. Effective drug abuse and drug rehab treatment programs typically incorporate several components directed to particular aspects of the illness and its consequences.
Despite scientific evidence establishing the effectiveness of drug rehab and drug abuse treatment, many people believe that drug rehab is ineffective, mostly because of unrealistic expectations. Many people equate addiction with simply using drugs and therefore expect that addiction should be cured quickly, and if it is not, the drug rehab is a failure. In reality, because addiction is a chronic disorder, the ultimate goal of long-term abstinence often requires sustained and repeated treatment as well as transitional living. drug rehab is the beginning of recovery, but not the end of the disease.
Scientists continue studying alcoholism. Some of the more exciting investigations focus on the causes, consequences, treatment (such as drug rehab), and prevention of alcoholism:
- Genetics: alcoholism is a complex disease. Scientists have identified chromosomes where genes involved in increasing a person’s risk for alcoholism are potentially located. Researchers are working to be able to identify and measure the specific contribution of each gene to the complex behaviors associated with drinking.
- Treatment: Three commonly used behavioral treatments for alcohol abuse and alcoholism are: motivation enhancement therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and 12-step involvement. Other therapies that have been evaluated and found effective in reducing alcohol problems include drug rehab and transitional living.
- Medications: There are a range of new medications being developed based on the results of genetic and neuroscience research. Neuroscience research has already led to studies of one medication— naltrexone as an anti-craving medication. This drug, in combination with behavioral therapy, has proven effective in treating alcohol craving. Naltrexone, often started in drug rehab, targets the brain’s reward circuits and is the first medication approved to help maintain sobriety after detoxification from alcohol since the approval of Antabuse in 1949.
- Combined medications/behavioral therapies: Medications work best with behavioral therapy. Studies are taking place to determine which of the currently available medications and which behavioral therapies work best together. drug rehab is a suggested setting for these studies.
Be especially scrutinizing as you determine the drug rehab program that meets your specific needs.
SOBA Recovery Center introduces compassionate care in a healing environment. Services include:
• Detox and / or medication management
• Residential Treatment
• Day Treatment
• Parent and Teen Outpatient Services
• Adult Outpatient Services
• Alumni / Aftercare
If you or a loved one is suffering from alcohol or drug addiction, please call us at 866-547-6451 and speak with one of our caring admissions counselors.