Heroin Addiction Therapy

Heroin is such a highly addictive drug to a point where many people who come in contact with heroin develop a dependency to it. What an individual will experience during heroin addiction treatment depends on specific factors including how long they have been using, and how much of it they have been consuming. The recovery of an addict will also depend on their ability to understand and deal with other challenges, such as underlying psychological problems that may have caused their abuse, or been caused by the abuse. Treatment for heroin addiction includes both behavioral and pharmacological treatment. Both of these approaches help restore a degree of normalcy to the individual’s brain function, and behavior. Although both behavioral and pharmacologic

An important task is to match the best treatment approach to meet the particular needs of the patient. There are two kinds of treatment centers which are residential and outpatient. Residential treatment centers can vary, from wilderness programs, Christian rehabilitation, and even gender specific programs. Many residential programs offer services for a wide range of addictions, and psychological problems, while others specialize in one particular addiction. With outpatient treatment, you get the opportunity to live at home, and meet with your counselors and doctors on a regular basis. Approaches such as contingency management and cognitive behavioral therapy have been shown to effectively treat heroin addiction, especially when applied simultaneously with medications. Once the patient has completed detox, they will attend classes and therapy sessions with counselors, as well as support meetings with other addicts in treatment. They will learn how to deal with triggers that make them want to use heroin

Treatment for cocaine must be adjusted to the individual patient 's needs in order to be successful. Behavior treatment is the only treatment for cocaine abuse. Many behavioral treatments for cocaine addiction have proven to be effective in both residential, and outpatient settings. One form of behavioral therapy that is showing positive results is contingency management, or motivational incentives. Motivational incentives may be particularly useful for helping patients achieve initial abstinence from cocaine and for helping then remain in treatment. Programs use a voucher or prize based system where patients receive rewards for abstaining from using cocaine and other drugs. On the basis of drug free urine tests, the patients earn points, or chips, which can be exchanged for items that encourage healthy living, such as a gym membership, movie tickets, or dinner at a local restaurant. Studies show that this approach has recently been shown to be practical and effective in community treatment programs. Cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective approach for preventing relapse. This therapy is focused on helping cocaine addicted individuals abstain, and remain abstinent from cocaine and other substances. The underlying assumption is that learning processes play an important role in the development and continuation of cocaine abuse and addiction. These same learning processes can be harnessed to help