Heroin Addiction Treatment

Heroin addiction treatment is a vital part of the addiction recovery process. In addition to stopping drug use, the goal of heroin addiction treatment is to return the individual to productive functioning in their family, workplace, and community. Heroin abuse and addiction are a major problem across the United States. It is the most abused opiate in the world as well as the fastest acting. In its pure form, heroin is typically a white powder. However, it is often found in less pure forms and will vary in color from white to brown.

While in a heroin addiction treatment program, recovering addicts learn about addiction, recovery, and relapse while addressing misguided beliefs about self, others, and their environment. Attending a heroin addiction treatment program helps the recovering heroin addict make lifestyle changes, manage feelings, develop coping tools, and hone drug refusal skills. In addition, they learn to identify relapse warning signs and challenge thoughts that may lead to relapse.

Heroin users build up a tolerance to its effects very rapidly. A tolerance to heroin or any other drug means that the user must take more of the substance to achieve the same effect that a smaller amount did initially. Heroin addiction affects the addict both physically and psychologically. Users no longer know how to function without being high and will experience extreme withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking the drug.

Heroin abusers have made a recent shift from injecting the drug to snorting and smoking it. Users are under the impression that by not injecting heroin they will avoid heroin addiction. This is not the case. Everyday more and more people succumb to this drugs deadly addiction. Those who inject the drug run the risk of contracting HIV or other blood born diseases. This happens when a heroin users shares needles or other injection equipment with an infected individual. Often, addicts are unaware of their health problems and share their contaminated paraphernalia without knowing the serious consequences.

Heroin addiction treatment is on the increase as more and more people are becoming dependent on this drug. Years of research have shown that addiction to any drug can be effectively treated. However, there is no single form of heroin addiction treatment that is appropriate for everyone. When getting help for heroin addiction, one must take into account the length of time the drug was used and the specific needs of the individual.

A variety of scientifically based approaches to heroin addiction treatment exists. Treatment for heroin addiction can include behavioral therapy (such as counseling, cognitive therapy, or psychotherapy), medications, or a combination of both. Behavioral therapies offer people strategies for coping with their drug cravings, teach them ways to avoid drugs and prevent relapse, and helps them deal with relapse if it occurs. The best heroin addiction treatment programs provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the needs of each patient. These needs are shaped by issues such as age, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, parenting, housing, and employment.

Heroin addiction treatment can occur in a variety of settings, in many different forms, and for varying lengths of time. Heroin addiction is typically a persistent disorder which may result in relapse. Because of this, a short-term or one-time treatment program is often insufficient. As with other habits, relapses to drug use can occur during or after successful treatment episodes. For many, heroin addiction treatment is a long-term process that involves multiple attempts at abstinence before lasting sobriety is achieved.

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