Different Types of Treatment for Alcohol and Drug Addiction

When a person is addicted to alcohol or drugs there are a number of treatment options available to them. It is important to be aware that each individual will respond differently to different treatment. Therefore, more than one method may need to be used in order to discover which method will work effectively. It is important that certain principles are recognized when trying do discover which type of alcohol addiction treatment is best for you or a loved one. For instance, it is important to remember that no single treatment will be appropriate for everyone; that treatment time span is extremely important; and that there could be other factors at play including actual mental disorders.

The two main treatments will include medication and behavioral therapy. Medications are usually used in the initial withdrawal time. They help to suppress the extreme discomfort that alcohol and drug withdrawal can bring about. Medications are also used as an effective method of treatment. They can assist with an individual's normal brain functioning being restored and have been very successful in helping certain types of drug abusers of heroin, morphine, nicotine, and alcohol to quit.

There are a number of different types of behavioral treatments. Medication deals with the physical, but in order to truly release the habit of drug addiction certain behavior must change as well. Behavioral treatments include cognitive-behavioral therapy which is where individuals get a chance to recognize and then deal with the situations that cause them to want to use drugs; motivational interviewing; and multi-dimensional family therapy, which is where the entire family participates in a teen's therapy session to again discover trigger patterns and allow the family to take part in this crucial part of recovery.