What is Successful Addiction Treatment?

What is successful treatment of addiction? To answer this question correctly, it needs to be understood first that addiction is a chronic, lifelong condition that requires changes to one's lifestyle and behaviors.

image: young male business person reflecting on his addiction

Like diabetes or hypertension, addiction is a disease and can prove as fatal as a malignant cancer is left untreated.

Whether the dependence is on drugs, alcohol, or behaviors like gambling and overeating, the fact remains that an obsession with anything can prove to be unhealthy.

When an addict admits himself into a rehabilitation center, the goal is recovery - a permanent remission of this disease.

However, chronic addiction is often characterized by periodic relapses into active use of a substance or habit, whether through peer pressure or the inability to cope with stress.

It would be ignorant of any treatment provider to think that their methods could cure an individual of addiction or prevent relapse.

We know that bad things happen to good people. When bad things happen, a recovering addict/alcoholic may backslide into old habits. Does this mean the treatment was not successful? No, it just means the person got sick again.

Knowing what rehabilitation professionals and physicians have learned and implemented in the practice of recovery, we can define successful treatment as thus:

As chemical dependency further develops the adolescents can no longer trust themselves when using chemicals. The choice to use the drug is no longer available to them; they have to use to feel normal. The continued use of chemicals eliminates the ability to think logically and rationally. Rationalization, minimization, and denial cut the adolescent off from reality.

Knowing what rehabilitation professionals and physicians have learned and implemented in the practice of recovery, we can define successful treatment as thus:

Due to the fact that the pain, suffering, poor health and the host of other negative consequences of addiction are preventable and to a great extent self-induced, it is quite appropriate to describe drug and alcohol addiction as "self destruction."

image: young woman thinking about her relationship with her addicted boyfriend

Recovery from addiction is the abstinence from all controlled substances and/or unhealthy behaviors, while embracing a lifestyle focused on well being and service to one's family and community.

Successful treatment is defined by people who are abstinent, recovering, and accountable for their actions. In the unfortunate events of a relapse, treatment can still be considered successful if that person is better able to recognize his/her addictive behavior and get back on the proper path toward recovery.

For an addict to admit there is a problem and be willing to do something about it is already a big step toward success. Seeing a program through and living a productive life after rehabilitation continues the achievement.

Illegal drugs are not the only substances that can be abused. Alcohol, prescription and over-the-counter medications, inhalants and solvents, and even coffee and cigarettes, can all be used to harmful excess. Theoretically, almost any substance can be abused.

image: doctor writing test results in chart of drug addict

Stephanie Loebs is the executive director of Williamsburg Place, one of the top drug rehab clinics in the nation. Williamsburg Place aids those who suffer from drug and/or alcohol addiction, and specializes in caring for health care professionals.

For over twenty years Williamsburg Place and its joint rehabilitation center, the William J. Farley Center, have helped thousands of people from all walks of life take back their lives and overcome substance abuse.

Battling not only cravings for their drug of choice, re-stimulation of their past and changes in the way their brain functions, it is no wonder that quitting drugs without professional help is an uphill battle.

A number of people wonder why some recovering alcoholics and drug addicts return to drinking and taking drugs many weeks after attaining sobriety. There are many possible reasons for this but interestingly, substance abuse research that has focused on the long-term effects of addiction has demonstrated that long after the drug addict and the alcoholic quit taking drugs and drinking, respectively, significant changes in the way in which the brain functions are still present. In a word, all a recovering addict or an alcoholic has to do to engage in behavior that is in concert with the changes that have taken place in the brain is to start taking drugs or start drinking again.