Free Essay On Treating Addiction

Addiction, which will soon be commonly accepted as a manageable chronic disease affects the brain, which science has shown to have the ability to recover from addiction. According to Mark L. Willenbring, M.D., the Director of Treatment and Recovery Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the vulnerable group to enter into drugs and addiction are the youth between 18 and 25 years. However, Dr. Volkow indicates in her interview that genetic differences are responsible for different vulnerability in people as well as the resistance or response to treatment. The resistance or response to treatment, however, depends on different factors such as family and peer support, compatibility of the treatment program and the addict, and the ability of the caretakers to understand the level of vulnerability of the addiction. For instance, in the latter factor, treating hardcore cocaine addicts is different from treating a two or five month’s alcohol addict.
The treatment for addiction such as alcoholism and other addictions involve both behavioral (psychological) and medical treatments. In the past cohesive and confrontational methods were used to treat addiction. Currently, supportive approaches such as the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) achieve greater results. The family can be responsible for choosing the best program for treating additions. However, just as finding the best doctor to perform an operation involves looking for doctors with historic excellence in such operations, it is important to determine the history of the program before recommending it for a family member. No is no specific treatment program can sufficiently treat all addictions. Additionally, even though a particular program can successfully treat one victim, it might fail on another. One treatment program might be relevant at some stage such as detoxification, but irrelevant in another stage such as recovery. Therefore, it is important to try different approaches to different individuals and addictions. Relapse might occur during the treatment, but this does not signify failure of the program. The 12-step program has been effective for alcoholics. This method uses the peer influence to treat addiction. Medication can also be used to treat alcohol addictions since the drugs are effective and have limited, mild, and manageable side effects. It is equally important to treat other personality disorders simultaneously with the addictions to achieve success.
Behavioral changes resulting from the effects of the drugs on the brain have resulted in the lack of sympathy for the addicts from the family members and society. While detoxification is the first stage in treating addiction, recovery is a very long process that might even take a lifetime. This has also brought problems in the families of the addicts. Therefore, the family also needs treatment in understanding how to deal with the addicts. In an example of the CRAFT program, the addict’s mother was trained to deal with her son, which greatly changed her attitude towards him, and later assisted the boy to quit drinking. Getting treatment has become uneasy since most people cannot afford treatment costs due to their prices and lack of insurance coverage for such treatments. Even though most insurance companies do not provide for such policies supporting the addiction treatments, the families of the drug addicts should demand for policy inclusion since chronic diseases such as cancer among others are covered. In addition to price, stigmatization of the addicts also increases their inability to access treatment.