What Is the Alcohol or Drug Addiction Process?

Question by Anthony: What is the alcohol or drug addiction process?
What are the specific steps someone should take if they know of a person who is a drug addict or alcoholic. explain some of the treatment programs available to addicts.how does an alcoholic or drug addict affect family members?

Best answer:

Answer by Mary
If you know someone who needs help. You need to go to AL ANON. You can google AA or NA and you can find meetings all around the united states. These meetings will say open or closed. If the meeting is “open” that means that anyone (addict/alcoholic or non addict/alcoholic) is welcome. If it says closed, that means that only addicts and alcoholics are welcome. To you it may seem weird or not normal to go to these meetings, but everyone is friendly,warm, and inviting. After you sit through a meeting and it has ended, stick around and ask someone about what you should do with this problem. They will be more than happy to help you.

Treatment programs can be an IOP (intensive outpatient) meaning you go to a facility everyday, but go home at night, this usually lasts for 4 weeks. Or you can do impatient, meaning you live at a facility and get treatment.

Being a recovering addict myself, I hurt many family members and friends, but mostly myself. A lot of trust issues have come up, but i work everyday to gain the trust back from my loved ones. But there are also some relationships that i cannot fix. And i would also suggest picking up some pamphlets from the meeting or you can find them online!

Answer by Rachel
Helping an Addict

If you have a loved one who suffers from addiction it’s important to understand how to approach them. Usually, addicts will be defensive if confronted about substance abuse. Asking questions about health, events or situations may be helpful to begin a conversation. Then share your concerns without using the word “you” to begin the sentence. Plant concerns like seeds that need to be watered. Most addicts only seek help either when they have external consequences or are self-motivated. Be patient and continue to express concern and offer help when the addict is ready.

Treatment Programs

Treatment programs are usually either inpatient or outpatient drug rehab programs. In-patient the addict will stay at the drug rehab facility and outpatient treatment the addict will commute to and from treatment. Out-patient treatment is usually a step down program which happens after in-patient has been completed.

Treatment programs can last 30 days up to 6 months depending on if the addict needs long term or short term care. This time can be divided between in-patient and out-patient treatments. During a treatment program addict will attend individual counseling, group counseling and educational lectures for relapse prevention. Some programs will offer family counseling.

Family and Addiction

Addiction is considered a family disease due to the way that everyone is affected. When a loved one suffers from addiction, he or she negatively impacts the rest of the family. Family members suffer from emotional damage such as: anxiety, fear, depression, sleep problems and anger all related to how the addict’s addiction impacts them individually and as a family unit. For example, a child of an addict will often worry about the well being of his or her parent. A child may say to themselves, “What will mom’s mood be like when I get home, I better not do anything to interrupt mom’s good mood…” and so on. Even if the addict is not willing to get help, family members should seek help for themselves.

Cocaine Addiction: Patient Behavior Predicts Treatment Success
Similarly, positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging results revealed that the ventral striatal PET signal alone had strong accuracy in predicting individual cocaine addiction treatment response, with a cross-validated correct rate of 82 …
Read more on Medscape

Free Alcoholism Newsletter! Sign Up
Alcohol and drug use can progress into abuse and even addiction so insidiously that sometimes people do not realize that it has become a problem for them and those around them. The following self-assessment tests can help you determine ….. A key …
Read more on About – News & Issues

Substance Abuse Treatment Program — Judy Redmond, MA, LPC, discusses RCBM’s Substance Abuse Treatment Program, which may include assessment; pharmacotherapy; family or couples therapy; and indi…

More Drug Abuse Treatment Programs Information…