Opiate Addiction Treatment
How is Opiate Addiction Treated?
It’s important to understand that opiate addiction is a treatable disease.
Our addiction team creates an individualized treatment plan. We consider every client’s unique circumstances, personal issues, history of drug use, and degree of dependence. All clients are treated using proven, evidence-based addiction treatment therapies that include:
One-on-One Therapy:
One-on-one therapy is just what it sounds like; the patient sits down with a counselor alone to discuss their struggles with addiction, the root causes of their addiction, and how they can overcome their habits and learn to better themselves. The focused attention paid to patients in one-on-one therapy is highly productive in working out these issues.
Group Therapy:
Again, this is what it sounds like patients meet in groups to discuss their issues together with a counselor.
While any individual receives less focus in group therapy than in one-on-one therapy. The advantage is that patients can share their stories and hear how others have dealt with their addictions. Knowing they’re not alone in their struggle can make a recovery more accessible, especially for patients who express guilt or shame about their addiction.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) :
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the most common methods used in addiction treatment and counseling.
The goal here is not necessarily to change a patient’s thoughts but how they feel about those thoughts. In CBT, patients will talk to their counselor about their thoughts and emotions, what bothers them daily, and going back to their childhood. This can and often does get very personal. Still, patients can be assured that everything they say during CBT will be kept 100% confidential unless they threaten to harm themselves or another person.
The counselor works with the patient to help them identify negative or inaccurate thoughts. Learn how to challenge these negative and inaccurate thoughts and not let them lead to destructive behavior.
Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) :
Many methods for curbing addiction are somewhat passive; they’re meant to gently guide the addict to accept they have a problem rather than pushing them too hard toward change.
MET is more direct. It involves the counselor making abundantly clear the discrepancy between the patient’s current state and the patient’s desired state and then tackling each specific problem (low confidence, self-defeating thoughts, resistance to change, etc.) standing in the way of that desired state.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) :
What does “dialectical” mean? Don’t worry. It has nothing to do with dialects – we’re not trying to cure addiction through the power of practicing foreign accents here.
Dialectical, rather, means integrating two opposite ideas at the same time. In this context, it refers to the two opposing states of mind that must be realized in order for opiate addiction treatment to be successful – acceptance and change.
DBT teaches the patient these four skills:
- Mindfulness: being present at the moment
- Distress Tolerance: being able to tolerate emotional pain (similar to CBT in that the patient isn’t meant to change what they feel, but rather how they react to it)
- Interpersonal Effectiveness: addicts often isolate themselves, which leads to further depression and destructive habits. DBT helps patients earn more self-respect and interact with others in a more effective, satisfying way
- Emotional Regulation: learning how to escape the cycle of negative thinking and focus on more productive thoughts
Neurofeedback Therapy:
Until now, all the therapies we’ve reviewed have been different varieties of the traditional approach of a patient or multiple patients discussing their addiction and other issues with a counselor.
With neurofeedback therapy, machines are used to assist human therapists. Electrodes are attached to the patient’s scalp, and using an electroencephalogram (EEG) allows the counselor to see in real-time how the patient’s brain responds to certain stimuli.
This information helps the counselor discover what’s bothering the patient and determine the best treatments the patient responds to. Neurofeedback Therapy is available for an extra fee unless covered by insurance.
Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT) :
The patient’s effort to combat their addiction doesn’t end once they leave the treatment center.
Addiction is a lifelong struggle. That’s why so many addicts relapse and fall back into their old, destructive habits – the fight never truly ends. Any recovering addict has to actively practice the techniques they learned in therapy and not let negative thoughts and stressful situations get the best of them.
In addition to practicing those techniques learned in CBT, MET, and DBT, addicts also lower their odds of relapsing by exercising regularly and eating a diet high in nutrients and low in fat/sugar. A healthy lifestyle staves off depression, and depression, of course, contributes to addiction.
Also, just because an addict leaves the treatment center doesn’t mean they should stop seeing a counselor. Outpatient therapy helps addicts keep the issues that bother them in check rather than letting those self-defeating thoughts lead them back toward substance abuse.
