Drug abuse and drug addiction are serious conditions in which most cannot overcome. Since most of these substances warp the way the mind and brain thinks and works, it makes it nearly impossible for the addict to help themselves and requires professional assistance. Besides getting over the physical aspect of the addiction, drug abusers will also need drug abuse counseling as well.
Each drug addict will have a different assessment and will require different therapy procedures in the recovery process. There is however a general approach on how to handle substance abuse patients. Here is a brief rundown on what to expect with recovery and drug abuse counseling.
The first part of recovery is to get the person into clinical supervision. This may be voluntary or involuntary depending on how deep the person is in to their drug abuse. Someone that has been misusing drugs for awhile most likely will not voluntarily enter themselves into drug treatment.
Once they first enter treatment, the goal is to get them over the first withdrawal stages of recovery and make them realize that they should and need to stay in recovery to succeed with recovery. This involves motivating the person to want to succeed and get better so they can ultimately be happy and not have to rely on drugs to do so.
The second part of recovery is the part where the counselors begin to start teaching the person how to deal with their cravings. This part is not easy and many have problems with relapsing with the drugs. Support groups play a big portion of this part of recovery. Groups like AA or Alcoholics Anonymous can help the addict realize that others have gone through the same process and that they are there to help and answer any questions.
People that want to get sober and have a higher motivation level tend to have a higher success rate and spend less time in the second part of drug abuse counseling. Usually around 90 days, but those that struggle and don’t cooperate can take much longer.
The middle or third stage of counseling and recovery is much the same as the second. However, this stage will involve more of the personal and mental issues the addict is dealing with such as anxiety, stress, and depression. Addressing these issues and confronting them head on will allow the patient to have a better chance of recovery and not slipping back into addiction.
The last stage of recovery and drug abuse counseling is the tune up or maintenance stage. The counselors now work on tuning up what they worked on in the previous three stages. This involves making sure the person is coping well with a sober living and that they are staying away from influential factors that contribute to their old habits.
The other part of counseling that doesn’t get talked about much but is also extremely important is the family therapy aspect. Development family therapy helps the family understand addiction and how it affects them as well. Whether they know it or not, many times the family will need therapy as well and it will only help to better their relationship with the addict and help them recover.