In most cases of addition, especially drug addiction, an individual gets physically dependent on a certain substance. Once an individual gets dependent on a substance, he or she is not able to function well and may feel physical pains when he or she doesn’t take in the drug. The reason is that the drug has already affected the chemical balance in the brain allowing the person’s system to crave for the certain drug in order to obtain balance. Much worse is that the body later on tolerates the drug that enters the system, thus, resulting to a higher amount requirement the next time the drug is taken to reach the desired effect.
From its very description, addiction is the condition of being enslaved to a practice, such narcotics, to such an extent that its discontinuation causes severe trauma. This trauma can differ in intensity from intense cravings to life threatening illness (depending on the drug), making it virtually impossible for an addict to give up without assistance. Because the majority withdrawal symptoms can be relieved instantly upon consumption of the drug that the body is withdrawing from, the craving to use that drug is remarkably high in this period, often resulting in defeat of the healing before it can even begin.
As the addict recognizes the problem, the treatment process is another cross to carry. Healing substance dependence means taking away the dependency on the drug. This would mean that the person had to stop taking the drug. However, slowing down the body of an addict from taking in the drug would lead to withdrawal symptoms. It is never easy to deal with these symptoms. However, symptoms will always depend on the type of substance being used. Detoxification should be done to stop pains of withdrawal symptoms.
Detoxification is a process of cleansing the toxins from the body. In the case of drug addiction, it is the removal of the drug residues from the body and controlling the symptoms of withdrawal. Detoxification is not the whole treatment process but it is the first step towards recovery. Eliminating the toxins that have been controlling the body system of the patient should be done first before any behavioral based theraphy which would treat the underlying factors of addiction.
Drug detoxification can be referred to as the stage of withdrawal during which the person’s body eventually comes back to balance after long-term use of an addictive substance. The process may vary depending on the kind of addiction.
Detoxification can be done on both inpatient and outpatient basis. Inpatient detoxification will agree to close monitoring on the patient. With these, the exposure to the substance of abuse could be avoided. On the other hand, outpatient detoxification allows higher social support. Compared with inpatients, patients in outpatient treatment keep greater freedom, continue with their day-to-day activities with fewer disruptions. However, with outpatient treatment, there is an increased risk of no improvement because the patient is more likely to be exposed with the substance of abuse.
This drug detoxification process seeks to lessen the severity of the trauma associated with the body’s withdrawal from dependence on a particular drug by medically alleviating and monitoring the intense physical symptoms associated with systematically inducing the withdrawal process. Once the drug is cleared from the system and the pain and discomfort associated with stopping its use have been alleviated, the other reasons contributing to the addiction, such as the emotional and psychological issues, can be taken cared of.
Substance dependence is always a serious problem for everybody. This problem requires serious treatment that requires self-determination, and self-will to be able to overcome the first phase of recovery. The healing process is to be deal very hard everyday.
