If you know someone who is a recovering addict or have experienced drug addiction first hand, you know that it’s an ongoing, day-by-day process. The first step towards recovery starts with asking for help. Once you have a solid support system to help you through the highs and lows, you move in a positive direction towards a healthy, sober lifestyle. Drug and alcohol rehabilitation most often occurs in a treatment facility. Trained professionals, addiction counselors and resident advisers have extensive experience helping addicts recover from a life of drug and alcohol abuse. Someone would go to a drug rehab facility if he or she feels like their substance abuse has made their life unmanageable.

There are many different types of facilities that treat chemical dependency. The most commonly known type is the 30 day model. These centers can help people who’ve hit a brick wall and need immediate help for their addiction. The 12 Step program is usually a staple in their approach to therapy, but extra special attention is paid to treating the physical symptoms of addiction. Many residents go through an initial detox period when the drugs leave their system under the supervision of a health care professional. Short-term programs can give drug users a “slap in the face”, so to speak, to encourage them to wake up from their destructive behavioral patterns.

Short-term programs are different from extended care treatment centers not only because of the length of time a person stays in treatment. Long term drug rehab tends to focus on providing residents with tools for re-integration into society. Life skills, behavior modification and goal development are instilled in residents, on top of classic 12 Step work. Many people who enter a long term program have had especially tumultuous histories with drug abuse. Basic social and life management skills have been erased or, in some cases, never even taught to them in the first place. Long term rehab not only helps people manage their addiction, but also gives people a second chance at discovering who they are.

It seems like every time you hear about a person going into drug rehab or the TV broadcasts another celebrity with a drug problem, most people say they are going in for alcohol treatment. Even on shows like “Celebrity Rehab” with Dr. Drew Pinsky, most of the characters are diagnosed as alcoholics, even if their drug of choice is a different substance; they are still treated for the specific drug that’s caused the most harm in their lives, but attest to being an alcoholic. That led me to question, does every person who has a substance abuse problem inherently have an alcohol problem? Is it impossible to be addicted to heroine, for instance, and not be addicted to alcohol?

You don’t hear many people say that they’re going to alcohol rehab these days. But in fact, most drug rehabs are also treatment centers for alcohol abuse. The reason so many drug addicts need to stray from using alcohol if they are trying to remain sober is because alcohol has the same intoxicating effects, and using alcohol, even if in moderation, may lead a recovering drug addict to use again.

I learned that addiction, as a larger issue, puts every addict in the category of alcoholism. Even if a person ultimately entered themselves into treatment for drug rehabilitation and not an alcohol problem, many realize that their drinking tendencies are just as destructive.

Drug Addiction Treatment – Atropine Comatose Therapy

A somatic therapy for the treatment of selected cases of mental illness and drug addiction is described. Coma is produced by the administration of massive doses of atropine and terminated by physostigmine. Increased accessibility, better contact with reality, and more appropriate affective responses are found immediately after termination of coma, providing the opportunity for more effective psychotherapeutic assistance.