Posted by: jtdaily in non12 step drug rehab on
Sep 01, 2010
I have a Healthy, Handsome and wonderful son in his early thirties. He is happily married and very successful. The youngest of three he was loved by his siblings, parents and grandmothers. Growing up he had lots of friends and involved in all sports. He was a special boy. He did fine in middle school, but things started to change as soon as he entered high school. Warning signs started to appear, but I assumed it was just your average teenage right of passage. By the beginning of his junior year he started failing in school. We decided the best course of action was to send him away from his current environment and go to a Military School for his second semester. This was one of the hardest decisions for me. We made a deal and agreed if he got all As and Bs he could return home for his senior. He did make good grades so he returned to his high school……Big Mistake. That year was full of partying and minor problems. I kept thinking he’s almost there and then several days before graduation he was involved in a senior prank which kept the students involved in the prank from the graduation ceremony and the senior graduation party. Later in the summer he received his diploma in the principles office. Then off to College.
Well needless to say he loved College, but not the work. After the first semester he was on probation. He returned with promises of doing better, but that didn’t happen. After several years of community college and part time jobs things started to spiral out of control. I was slowly watching my beautiful child turn into someone I didn’t know. My heart was broken with thoughts of unfulfilled dreams of the life I had thought he would have. After we were confronted by one of his dearest friends about his involvement in drugs we finally had the confirmation we needed to try and change our son’s life. Believe me this was not easy. I had no idea of where to turn or what to do. Tiny steps I kept saying. I was told he needed an outpatient drug rehab program. NOT TRUE. After doing research I knew I did not want a 28 day program. I wanted an alternative program – and I found that program. After 4 months of a
non 12 step drug rehab in a facility that incorporates body and mind I have my son back. He is the confident, loving, considerate son I knew he could be and I am forever thankful that I found the right facility that helped him find himself again.
Posted by: jtdaily in inpatient drug rehab on
Aug 03, 2010
There is something to be said about the success rate of drug rehab done in an outpatient setting versus that of
inpatient drug rehab . Most outpatient drug rehab centers are either government or state-funded, and boast a success rate of between 2 and 20%. This means that in some outpatient centers, for every 100 clients that walk through the door, only 2 have their old, drug-free life restored to them. Many times, “success” is measured by whether or not the client is using illicit drugs anymore, but prescription drugs are considered part of the “ongoing cure.” This is actually a false statistic, as you cannot call a person who was addicted to a drug but now is addicted to a different one, “cured.”
Drug and alcohol abuse is not an easy fix, but it isn’t an incurable disease that you have to live with forever. If you find the right drug and alcohol treatment center, a person’s life, choices and actions can be turned around. After all, drug addiction and alcoholism are just that: a choice.
There is no more effective rehabilitation than inpatient, long-term treatment. Inpatient drug and alcohol rehab moves the person from the environment in which the substance abuse is happening—this is usually at home or at a friend’s. It also gives him or her time enough to really confront the underlying issues and develop new habits and daily routines/patterns.
The importance of long-term treatment for drug abusers and alcoholics cannot be stressed enough. Don’t settle for the 28 day program which the insurance program fully covers, or the 30 day state-funded program which is free for you but might end of being a waste of your time. Don’t rush addiction treatment. Do it right; do it long-term.
What makes one drug and alcohol treatment module more effective or “sought-after” than another? There are so many options for treatment of drug and alcohol abuse that once you enter the land of Google after searching for “drug rehab,” it’s like you’re standing in the cereal aisle trying to pick one box from a wall of 200 choices.
There are plenty of points about drug/alcohol treatment facilities that you should be taking into consideration before selecting the most suitable facility for yourself or your loved one. Below are the four most important things to research before making your choice.
Length of Program. Use common sense here. If an addict has been using drugs and/or alcohol for a length of time enough for things to have escalated to the point of “out of control,” a 28 or 30 day program is probably not going to cut it. Don’t settle for it because it’s what insurance will pay for.
Location. Most addiction treatment specialists agree that trying to get someone to stop abusing drugs or alcohol whilst keeping the abuser in the same environment which substance abuse was born makes successful treatment near-impossible. Another common sense point. Get the addict out of his current environment. In-patient alcohol and
drug treatment is always better for this reason; at the end of the day the abuser doesn’t return home where reminders of old habits live.
Success Rate by Percentile. Do your homework. A lot of these state-funded programs which are 4-6 weeks long cure only 12 for every 100 clients they enroll into their program.
Treatment Steps/Methodology. Don’t buy into the excitement of the rock-climbing, hiking and soft sheets. Find out what the program proposes to DO about the drug and alcohol abuse. What will treatment include? What steps are taken to put old habits to rest and develop new skills for a brighter future? Treatment in a tranquil setting, such as nature or by the ocean, most definitely has a valid purpose—but solely becoming “one with nature” without any concurrent treatment will likely leave you with the same problem you arrived with, although you might be a little more distracted from it.
Call us today for help with locating the most suitable program for your individual needs.
Are you, as parents, having a tough time with your children and afraid to confront them? Do you feel like there is more going on than what your kids are letting on? There are signs we as parents prefer not to notice when our children are starting to experiment with drugs… attitude, anger, behavioral problems in school and other changes in personality. Failure to address these symptoms only makes matters worse. Recreational drug use most often turns into drug addiction. When my son first started experimenting with drugs, I knew instinctively that something was going on. I didn’t necessarily know it was drug and alcohol use, but I knew that he had changed in a negative way. Instead of sitting him down and talking to him, I left it alone. As time went by, things got worse. When he was graduating from high school, he was failing almost all of his classes. We knew he was drinking and smoking pot but still did nothing. He went to college and failed out his freshman year.
It is very difficult to know how to confront your child. A person heading down the wrong path wants to be “saved” from the lifestyle they are becoming accustomed to. In the beginning they are having fun being the “life of the party,” but that changes. While their friends are moving forward, your child continues down the same path, choosing new friends and leaving the old ones behind.
When my son returned home from college, his addiction really took over. Finally his friend came over and said she was really worried and thought that cocaine was involved. My husband and I decided to finally take action. We did an intervention and got him into a long-term drug rehab far away from home and his friends. It was the best thing we have ever done as parents. When looking for
drug rehab centers , find something drug-free and inpatient as well.
That was 9 years ago and now my son is drug and alcohol free, and happily married. We are so proud of him and all of the healthy changes he made to be wonderful husband and hopefully soon a wonderful father.
Heroin is a highly addictive drug which makes it one of the toughest drugs to detox and rehabilitate from. This in itself is a challenge, but there are several other unique challenges to
heroin drug rehab that are not present in other types of drug rehabilitation. Since heroin addiction is again becoming a serious problem in our nation, a way must be found around these challenges.
The first challenge in heroin drug rehab is recognizing a heroin abuser. Years ago, heroin addicts used needles, and it was easy to spot a person addicted to heroin by the needle tracks on their arms. Today, heroin users are snorting or smoking heroin, and there is little physical evidence of use. A very popular herring is black tar heroin which is very common on the west coast. Black tar heroin addiction is very popular on the west coast.
Heroin acts rapidly however it is ingested. An addict always knows that in just a few seconds they will get relief by shooting up. Since heroin can now be smoked or snorted, there is no waiting to find a needle anymore, and gratification is only slightly delayed. This makes treatment difficult, as the drug provides almost instant gratification, something few legal recreational activities can match.
Another challenge in heroin drug rehab is the age of heroin addicts. The typical heroin user tends to be older than other types of drug addicts. Older addicts are not only more skilled at hiding their addiction, they have the mistaken belief that if heroin has not killed them yet, it never will.
Whatever the challenges, we, as a society, must demand effective, cost-effective rehabilitation programs that are available to every heroin addict. The costs of heroin addiction to society are great, and addicts need help getting off this very highly additive drug. We can help you find a heroin drug rehab today.
Most people don’t research drug addiction rehab or know anything about it because they go through life without thinking that they’re ever going to need the information about it. But if you think about it, drugs are everywhere and it’s almost unavoidable—someone close to you could be a part of that statistic.
I wasn’t educated at all, and so when the occasional partying that me and my boyfriend did on the weekends escalated to him being a full-on meth addict, I had no idea what to do or where to turn. Now he’s mixed up in the criminal justice system with an addiction that will be just as bad when he gets out of prison next year. If someone you care about is addicted, do something about it fast before it gets unfixable or leads to death.
Do the research, make the calls and get help. Learn the signs of abuse, and don’t be naïve. I look back and see many times where I wish I had gone with my gut instinct but didn’t because, who am I? I’m not an addiction specialist. The truth is, you don’t have to be an addiction specialist to see that something is getting out of control. At the first signs of his drug abuse, I should have gotten my boyfriend the help he needed. Instead I waited around or backed off because he said he didn’t need my help. The truth is, he’s never going to ask for help. What drug addict/alcoholic is going to ask for your help? It’s rare that someone is willing to get treatment, and for this reason there are Interventionists whose job it is to intervene and help the situation along.
Part of being someone’s friend or loved one is knowing what’s right for them when they aren’t able to see clearly for themselves. Do the research about drug addiction rehab and alcoholism now so you can be prepared to help any loved one who needs you. I wish I had been prepared, but I can atone for this by encouraging others to get educated ahead of time.
Learn the facts about addiction and how to treat and prevent substance abuse.
There are many things that I am grateful for having "lived and learned" about in my life. Wasting thousands of dollars on ineffective drug treatment for my sister is not one of them. Don't get me wrong, I would do anything for my family; nothing is more important than family. But I'm going to give you a few tips to avoid the mistakes I made.
First would be this--don't expect comfortable pillows and rock climbing with fellow celebrity drug abusers to cure anyone's addiction. Albeit a form of treatment, this one is not effective. Second, the higher the price does not equal the better the program. Third, the 12 Step Program works for a very small percentile of addicted persons. I believe this is because their treatment methodology includes that relapse is part of recovery and that addiction is an incurable disease. Both of these statements couldn't be further from the truth. Relapse is what happens when someone makes a mistake after they've been sober for a while, and addiction is a choice--not a disease.
I've told you what NOT to do, and now here's what you SHOULD do.
First, find a long-term alternative drug treatment program which is, preferably, open-ended and which provides individualized treatment. You don't have to pay $75,000 a month for these. Reasonably priced alternative and long-term drug treatment programs do exist. Second, if this program happens to be out-of-state, take that as a bonus. A change of environment is exactly what my sister needed to kick her treatment into high gear. And last, but far from least, is don't listen to your loved one when they call home and say, "I'm done. I'll never do drugs again. Please just let me come home." As hard as it may be, do not give in. Programs have a beginning and an end for a reason. A person who gives up in the middle, claiming they are "done" is definitely not cured. They are simply homesick and need a little extra support. Trust me, they won't ask for your help but they certainly need it.
Dual Diagnosis (literally a “double diagnosis” of someone or something) occurs when an individual is decided to be suffering both from substance abuse as well as a mental disorder of any kind—i.e.: depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. Occasionally these types of behavior are observed prior to substance abuse, but most of the time substance abuse wreaks such havoc physically that it can bring about such irrational behaviors as mentioned above. Addressing both the substance abuse as well as these behaviors is good in the sense that it puts some focus on the underlying issues of why a person is using drugs/alcohol. However, where it becomes dangerous and ineffective is the utilization of medication to do so.
A good drug/alcohol treatment program will of course find the underlying issues, but will use Life Skills Therapy to teach the person how to live life without drugs, as opposed to replacement drug therapy (the use of legal, prescription medication as a crutch for someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol.) This type of drug rehab only leads to further dependency.
Dependence on or addiction to prescription drugs (like Ambien, Methadone, Suboxone, etc.) is the inability—both physically and mentally—to discontinue the use of the drug as a direct result of the body’s build up of tolerance. The original dose progressively becomes less and less effective until eventually a higher dose or even a more powerful medication is required to prevent violent withdrawal symptoms from setting in. Because of this, many doctors will often “cross-prescribe” medications, and the addict will end up addicted to a slew of drugs in addiction to the ones he came into treatment for in the first place.
Unfortunately for those who have been recipients of replacement drug therapy, the detox, treatment/recovery centers in North America equipped to handle the massive (and inevitable) withdrawal is limited. There are more centers readily available to provide replacement drug therapy than there are available to undo the mess made by such treatment. Withdrawal symptoms from prescription drugs (tranquilizers, sleeping pills, pain medications, etc.) can include panic attacks, hallucination, paranoia, dizziness, sweating, nightmares, intense heart palpitations, a “creeping” sensation on the skin, seizures and even death. These brooding withdrawal symptoms create the necessity of weeks or months to fully taper off of the medications.
Hopefully this information will help you to see the detriment in replacement drug therapy. Seek out a program which will treat all the many facets of substance abuse without the hazardous use of replacement drug therapy.
I grew up with an alcoholic father, so you would think I'd know
exactly what to do with an alcoholic boyfriend. But I don't. I have
tried getting him to agree to go to alcohol rehab but he insists he
doesn't need treatment. He doesn't even see that he has a problem. He
is drunk almost all the time. I have researched probably hundreds of
different alcohol treatment programs, and recently a counselor at one of the
treatment centers I reached out to recommended that I look into doing
an intervention. From what I understand, these can be pretty
effective. Has anyone out there with a story similar to mine had any
success with an intervention on someone who was as strong-headed and
in denial as my boyfriend is?
For example, as a result of using cocaine an addict will usually begin lying and stealing, feeling guilty when coming down off of his/her high and then feeling depression (varying from mild to deep) and then continuing to use drugs as a way out of the depression. The question, then, is this: Does the program include real and thorough methods which address the lying, stealing, guilt and the continued relapse? A 30 day program that only offers yoga and walks on the beach may sound nice--but 30 days away from cocaine doesn't necessarily mean the person is cured. What do they DO in those 30 days? In most cases, group therapy and detox is just not enough.
Cocaine addiction rehab is best resolved with biophysical rehab followed with cognitive counseling and life skills training. Biophysical drug rehab will eliminate the drug residuals out of the body--this eliminates the body's physical dependency and gives the individual a fresh start physically as well as a "clear head." Cognitive counseling will address the individual's responsibility and choices and will help the addict realize his ability to remain drug free when confronted with situations in the future. Last, life skills training will reinstore a person's ability to live life productively--the skills we often take for granted (i.e.: communication skills, "people-picking" skills, planning and administrating one's own life, etc.)
I hope this helps you in your search for answers.
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