Who Heals Addiction?
Addiction treatment is a therapeutic process. As you can easily guess, it is carried out by a therapist. But who is it and how does it work? To become a qualified therapist, you must first graduate in the appropriate field of study.
It could be:
- psychology,
- sociology,
- education,
- nursing,
- medicine.
After completing your studies, you must undergo a specialist course. A qualified therapist participates not only in the treatment of addicts, but also in preventive and supportive activities for people after treatment.
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Addiction Treatment
Addiction treatment usually takes place in several stages (their details depend strictly on the type of addiction). Since this disease is almost always associated with the problems of the functioning of an individual in life, treatment of addiction is aimed at, among others:
stop using a psychoactive substance (alcohol, drugs) or activity (such as a computer game or gambling) that is a source of addiction;
reducing the harm caused by the addiction;
re-education of the individual regarding his functioning in society.
Drug and alcohol addiction is a chronic disease. Treatment can therefore never be considered complete. Only the development of the disease is inhibited and the patient is taught to live without the substance. Treatment is carried out under the supervision of a psychotherapist, because the disease is largely psychological (it often results from emotional problems that the patient could not cope with before becoming addicted).
Treatment Of Addiction From Alcoholism
The most common addiction deal with is alcoholism. In this case, therapy is carried out in stages that can be summarized in the following subsections:
stimulating motivation for treatment in a sick person;
participation in therapeutic activities (group and individual) and drug therapy;
work on maintaining abstinence.
The first stage of addiction treatment is a process that involves, among other things, that the sick person admits to the problem and wants to fight it. The behavior of the patient’s environment, relatives, family and friends is of great importance here. The purpose of the subsequent therapeutic activities is to make the addicted person aware of the negative effects of the disease and how it has affected various spheres of his life (work, family, etc.), and how he should deal with problems without alcohol. Without this stage of therapy, the patient, even if they successfully detox, will not be able to cope on their own after leaving the addiction treatment center.
Read more: how long does it take to detox from alcohol
Also, measures that are supposed to have negative effects on him if he reaches for alcohol (the so-called “woven labels”) will not help. Without therapy, they will not be beneficial because the fear of drinking alcohol is short-lived.