Effective Methods: Medication Assisted Treatment
When someone enters full-blown addiction and becomes completely dependent on any medication or illegal narcotic, finding a way to recover can seem impossible. At the very least, individuals with substance abuse disorder fight with the imbalance of brain chemicals and the changes they’ve made to their behavior and decision-making ability. In the worst situations, the body becomes fully dependent on these substances and responds in challenging and dangerous ways to detoxify.
Because of these substances’ grip on users, attempting recovery can become a revolving door of abstinence and relapse. Finding the light at the end of the tunnel is unimaginable, and the repetition can become demoralizing.
Luckily, recent advances in medication-assisted treatment have made it possible for individuals with substance abuse disorder to conquer their addictions and return to a normalized form of living. Depending on the substance, there are many options to ease difficulties associated with recovery and focus on healing.
Whether you are looking for ‘medication-assisted treatment near me’ or more general information, keep reading to find out how effective MAT can be in helping users return to a life of normalcy!
Confidential Assessment for Rehab Admission – Call Now!
What Is Medication-Assisted Treatment?
Medication-assisted treatment is a form of rehabilitation treatment that allows individuals to maintain a normal life without focusing on their daily need for a substance. These treatments may include one of many medication options with no set window of time for treatment.
Some of these treatment plans last for weeks, while some may extend up to a year or longer. One of the most common names for medication-assisted treatment is a maintenance program. It’s important not to confuse medication-assisted treatment with medically assisted detox. The latter is a short-term process in which all traces of a substance are eliminated from a user’s body. These two forms of treatment are completely different, with two separate end goals. However, in certain situations, medically assisted detox may come as a precursor to medication-assisted treatment.
The overall goal is to allow individuals with substance abuse disorder to reintegrate back into a normal personal and professional life. They are able to maintain their focus on functioning normally on a daily basis and mending relationships throughout their lives.
When individuals place their daily focus on the need for a substance, everything else comes second. This is how the life of an individual with substance abuse disorder slowly unwinds and disintegrates, as everything but the substance in question takes a back seat to the addiction. Medication-assisted treatment, in particular for opioid addiction, allows the mirror reversal of this situation, placing the attention away from the need for drugs and back on the most pertinent areas of life.
Although multiple substances that require recovery have some form of medication-assisted treatment, including alcohol, methamphetamines, and others, opiates tend to be the primary candidate in this treatment category. Because of the physical dependence associated with opiates and opioids, these drugs tend to further isolate users from a normal life even more than other drugs.