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With so many methods and techniques of rehabilitation from drug or alcohol abuse out there, it can be extremely difficult to say which method you want, or, more to the point, what will work with breaking an addiction. Ranging from psychotherapy to counseling, when you are aching for support and rehab, it is easy to get overwhelmed and lost in the mass. What should be emphasized first is that most programs hold to the foundation that rehabilitation is a permanent process, meaning that you will be in this for the long haul. There are no quick cures for addiction.
From a medical standpoint, there are a number of prescription drugs that, while not cures to addiction, can allow you to combat the more damaging impact of withdrawal. For opiates, methadone or buprenorphine are used to help patients dealing with withdrawal from opiates such as heroin or morphine.
More traditionally are techniques to break the psychological dependency to an addition, such as the well-known Twelve Step programs. These emphasize complete removal of the drug from that person’s life, as well as examination of, and the changing of behaviors that are associated with addictive behaviors. This program does put an addicted person into the position of being completely abstinent, moderation is very rare to see in these programs.
More recent techniques include what is known as emotional regulation. This process takes cognitive attributes to addiction, explaining continued addictive behaviors as means you would avoid the negative effects of withdrawal or other bad moods. This model has so far been examined only for tobacco, but literature exists that lends credence to its application in other drugs as well. While this theory explains the “why” of addiction, the “how” of breaking from it comes in the form of mindfulness- based approaches. Patients are trained and taught to recognize the negative emotional states that would bring above addictive behavior and, through that knowledge and training, be better able to avoid them or more prepared to use other methods than addictive behaviors to combat those negative feelings.
