What You Need To Know About Alcohol Addiction Programs

1. What You Need To Know About Alcohol Addiction Programs

2. Synopsis

3. Alcohol Addiction Rehab: What to Expect? • You Have the Freedom • Contrary to what it looks like, alcohol addiction rehab program does not pressurise you into anything. You are on your free will to leave anytime and refuse to anything you don’t feel comfortable with. • Integrated Approach • The modern alcohol addiction rehab programs proffer an integrated approach for the recovery. This integrated approach is a combination of three elements: medication, detox, and behavioural therapy. • Education • Alcohol addiction rehab accentuates on educating the people enrolled in the program to treat their addiction. You will be studied in detailed to learn about your addiction, your attitude and your will to adopt change. • Counselling • The best part about alcohol addiction rehab is that you won’t feel isolated. There are other people who are struggling in the same manner you are, and they also have taken the step towards making their lives better just like you.

4. What Does an Alcohol Addiction Rehab Look Like? • In-Patient Rehab • Most of the rehab facilities are in-patient. You have to be admitted in a hospital or a residential rehab facility for a specific period of time. It could be 15 days, a month or even a couple of months based on the prescription from your primary consultant. • Out-Patient- Rehab • Some of the rehab facilities allow patients to leave at night. This is for cases where people have children or elderly to look after and no one would be able to take care of them at night. • Open Door Policy • When people of think of rehab, they generally visualize a jail that they can’t escape. However, that is not the reality. Most rehab centres keep the doors unlocked. Patients are required to stay willingly. They can leave any time they want. No one would compel them to stay. The choice has to be their own.

5. What Does an Alcohol Addiction Rehab Look Like? • Routine • All rehabs have a strict routine that patients have to follow. It begins with a healthy breakfast leading to several activities and therapy sessions during the day. All these leave no room for alcohol craving to make its way in the patients’ minds. • Detoxification • Many rehab centres offer detoxification for patients who show up with severe physical symptoms such as shaking, convulsion, hallucinations etc. Before they put the patients in routine, they allow them time to survive without alcohol and remain healthy at the same time. • Therapy • They offer one to one therapy with the consultants so both the patient and doctor can be aware of the progress. Group therapy sessions are also arranged so everyone can learn to understand each other’s perspectives about alcohol and how to abstain from it.

6. Alcohol Abuse – Programs for Treatment • Medicinal Treatment • Many doctors prescribe medication for treating addiction to alcohol. While medicine may keep alcohol from harming your body, it does little to keep your mind sated which longs for one more drink. • Alcoholic Anonymous • This program is generally open for all alcoholics. If your society is organizing one and you feel the need to be a part of it then you had better not shy away. It comprises of a group of alcoholics who come together willingly to share their experiences as an addict. • Support Groups • SMART Groups • This group uses the SMART scale to ensure that the members of the group completely abstain from consuming alcohol. Using the principles of being Specific and Measurable in their actions, they motivate members to do good things. They push them to set Achievable targets for themselves. They teach them how to be Relevant and how their actions should be Time-based.

7. Alcohol Abuse – Programs for Treatment • HAMS Groups • HAMS stands for Harm reduction, Abstinence, Moderation and Support. This program focuses on reducing alcohol consumption rather than removing it completely. It allows patients to drink only as much as they need to get rid of adverse side effects of the addiction. • Counselling Sessions • These sessions are taken by professional psychologists and are used for the treatment of alcohol addiction as well. They focus on positivity rather than looking for faults and mistakes in one’s personality. • Relapse Prevention • Programs designed for relapse prevention are for long term treatment. Once, an alcoholic achieves sobriety, the next step is to maintain it. It requires regular appearance in meetings even after complete stoppage of alcohol consumption and use of prescribed medicine.

8. 3 Effective Programs for Getting Rid of Alcohol Addiction • In-Patient Treatment • This program is generally prescribed in the immediate aftermath of dropping alcohol. At this time, patients are generally suffering from violent shaking, jitters, hallucinations, confusion and convulsions. • Counselling Sessions • Once the physical effects of dropping alcohol use disappear, the only thing that is left is control over the patient’s cravings for drinking. These cravings can be controlled through therapy. The treating doctor may take individual counselling sessions with the patient or he may prescribe group therapy to him. • Letting Go of Your Old Habits • Doctors also prescribe behavioural changes for coping with alcoholism. After patients leave treatment, doctors caution them from re-visiting the bars that they used to.

9. Why Is Alcohol Counselling Important? 3 Essential Benefits • Treatment of Psychological Disorders • According to a national survey, the substance use disorder is common in people over the age of 12 years. This denotes that alcohol addiction begins with adolescence and is affecting the younger generation which, if not dealt immediately, leads to lifelong addiction. • Improving Family Life • Alcohol is a disease that not just affects the individual with the alcohol addiction but the entire family. The partner, children, parents, and siblings, everyone gets affected and face the consequences one way or another. • Dual Diagnosis • Alcohol is a drug that is very common in people. It has the potential to cause several serious medical conditions. Mental health disorders like depression and anxiety are consequences of alcoholism. This may also lead towards destructive behaviours like inflicting self-harm and stimulation of suicidal tendencies.

10. The Importance of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery • The negative effects of different addictions on health: • Alcohol is known to damage numerous organs of the body, especially liver, which is known to flush out the bad toxins from the body, and the pancreas, that is known to control the blood sugar levels and fat absorption. • Opiate drugs such as morphine, heroin, and oxycontin damage the gastrointestinal organs which lead to the person constantly suffering from constipation while on the drugs, and then diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea while withdrawing from them. The users of the drug have often reported a deficiency in B6, iron, and vitamin D. • Marijuana causes a surge in one’s appetite which leads the frequent user of the drug to gain a huge amount of weight. • Stimulants, such as cocaine, are known to produce an adverse effect on the person’s appetite in comparison to marijuana. People under the effects of cocaine are considerably underweight, other than that since the drug gives the person energy and helps them stay awake longer it is a possibility that the user is dehydrated.

11. The Importance of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery • The role of nutrition in recovery • Research has shown that to have a healthy mind and body you need to practice healthy eating at all costs. This goes especially for those who are recovering from a drug addiction. A healthy diet lets your body use the minerals that it needs to repair the parts of your body that have been damaged by drugs. • You need to remember to cut out junk food and items high in saturated fat. Eat foods that contain more vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fibre, protein, and unsaturated fats. Eat food items such as egg-whites, raw soybeans, parmesan cheese, dairy products, spirulina, turkey, beans, spinach, beat, salmon and dry fruits. Make sure to drink water and consume fruits and vegetables that high water content, especially if you are recovering from cocaine use.

12. The End For more details, please visit: https://addictionhealingcentre.ca/alcohol-addiction- treatment/