Are There Effective Treatment for Drug Addiction?

Effective treatment of drugs addictions: Drug addiction is a complex but treatable brain disease. It is characterized by compulsive drug craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of severe adverse consequences.For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses possible even after long periods of abstinence.As a chronic, recurring illness, addiction may require repeated treatments to increase the intervals between relapses and diminish their intensity, until abstinence is achieved, recovered and lead productive lives.

The ultimate goal of drug addiction treatment is to enable an individual to achieve lasting abstinence, but the immediate goals are to reduce drug abuse, improve the patient’s ability to function and minimize the medical and social complications of drug abuse and addiction.

Untreated substance abuse and addiction and significant costs to families and communities, including those related to violence and property crimes, prison expenses, court and criminal costs, emergency room visits, healthcare utilization, child abuse and neglect, social ostracism, reduced productivity, and unemployment.

Based on various research, key principles have been identified that should form the basis of any effective treatment program for addiction:

• No single treatment is appropriate for all individuals.
• Treatment needs to be readily available.
• Effective treatment attends to multiple needs of the individual, not just his or her drug addiction.
• An individual’s treatment and services plan must be assessed often and modified to meet the person’s changing needs.
• Remaining in treatment for an adequate period of time is critical for treatment effectiveness.
• Counselling and other behavioral therapies are critical components of virtually all effective treatments for addiction.
• Medical management of withdrawal syndrome is only the first stage of addiction treatment and by itself does little to change long-term drug use.
• Treatment does not need to be voluntary to be effective.
• Possible drug use during treatment must be monitored continuously.