Archive for November, 2007

West Virginia Dual Diagnosis Treatment and Alcoholism

Monday, November 26th, 2007

Growing up in mountains of West Virginia I didn’t have access to many dual diagnosis treatment programs or the information to help myself understand what was going on. All I knew was that the more I drank, the calmer I felt. I was always so anxious and irritable. When I drank it calmed me down. Unfortunately over time my drinking progressed and I found that I couldn’t live without it. If I stopped, all the anxiety returned. I had no idea what the term dual diagnosis meant, much less dual diagnosis treatment.

As far as alcoholism, everybody in the area of West Virginia I lived seemed to drink alot. As a matter of fact alcoholism was pretty much accepted as a way of life. The problem was as my alcoholism began to get much worse, it no linger helped me with my anxiety. I was financially bankrupt, my wife divorced me and all the booze in the world didn’t help. After seeing a commercial on tv I headed for a rehab. This happened to be a dual diagnosis rehab.

As soon as I spoke with them I was relieved. At least I understood what dual diagnoisis meant. The dual diagnosis rehab staff treated my anxiety with medication and I completed alcohol detox and went on to alcohol rehab. My life today is a thousand times better today and the dual diagnosis treatment I received in the rehab saved my life.

If you are looking for a dual diagnosis rehab in West Virginia that provides effective dual diagnosis treatment, call the national dual diagnosis helpline at 1-800-511-9225. The helpline is confidential and toll free and has access to West Virginia rehabs.

Sex Addiction Treatment and Recovery

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Who Suffers From Sexual Addiction?

Over 80% of sex addicts report physical, sexual, or psychological abuse in early childhood years. Many people who become sexual addicts grew up in normal homes, but lacked attention or sufficient affection from loved ones, and later in life sought that affection erroneously through sexual behaviors. There are a variety of causes for sex addiction, but more surprising is the manner in which sex addiction affects the lives of addicts. Many sex addicts lead outwardly normal lives, having a spouse, family, stable jobs, and appear to be normal everyday people. The reality is for many sex addicts; a secret life of sexual behaviors is putting themselves and their loved ones at risk, and gains more and more dangerous potential with each impulsive act. Sexual addicts are common people and do not stand out with noticeable signs, that may be present in drug or alcohol addiction. Sex addicts often feel shame and guilt even more so than drug or alcohol addicts because sexual addiction is so misunderstood and unacceptable for many people. For this reason, sexual addicts often have a very hard time admitting to others that they have a problem, making the task of find sex addiction treatment more difficult from fear of judgment. The reason sexual addiction is not as common as drug and alcohol addiction is because of the secretive acts of sexual addicts. Many sex addicts engage in their impulsive activities in manners which are illusive to mainstream society, such as internet pornography, topless bars, solicitation of prostitutes and escorts, and anonymous sex (one night stands). The disease of sex addiction is one that is progressive with the addict’s selectivity in sexual partners and objects decreasing over time, putting the addict’s personal health more and more at risk. The very nature of this and any other addiction is the compulsive use or repetition of risky behaviors despite the ever-present and increasing negative consequences.

Is There Sex Addiction Treatment?

Like gambling addiction, sexual addiction is a treatable disease and there are several rehab centers equipped to provide sex addiction treatment. While sexual addiction can be efficiently treated in drug rehab centers, it may be a better plan to get sex addiction treatment in a rehab center designed to treat sexual addiction, gambling addiction, internet and gaming addiction. Even though the goal and message of treatment for all addictions is essentially the same, sexual addiction usually comes with early childhood trauma and could be coupled with dual diagnosis mental health issues that need to be addressed. In sex addiction treatment, addicts learn about the nature of their disease and learn the tools necessary for a healthy and compulsive free life after rehab. More importantly, sex addicts learn that their disease is not their fault and it’s not something for them to be ashamed of. Sex addiction treatment differs from drug rehab and other specific rehab center in the sense that they will place more focus on accepting sexual addiction as a disease and not a character flaw or indicator of the addict being a bad person or even a sexual predator. Because sex addiction is so misunderstood and badly judged by the majority of the public, sex addicts are often ostracized from family, society, and job settings. This kind of treatment leads to severe feelings of shame and guilt over a situation that is truly not under the addict’s control. When sexual addicts enter rehab, they find themselves in a safer, compassionate, and understanding environment where they will not be judged and can receive the help they need to lead healthy and compulsive free lives.

If you need help locating a sex addiction treatment program or rehab center, you can call the sex addiction helpline at 1-800-511-9225. The sex addiction helpline is toll free and there is no charge for their helpline services.

Cocaine Addiction Treatment Needed

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

There has been an enormous increase in the number of people seeking cocaine addiction treatment. Cocaine addiction treatment providers in most areas of the country report that it is the second most commonly cited drug of abuse among their clients. The majority looking for addiction treatment smoke crack cocaine, and are likely to be poly-drug users, or users of more than one substance.

The widespread abuse of crack cocaine has stimulated extensive efforts to develop addiction treatment programs for this type of drug abuse. Cocaine addiction is a complex problem involving biological changes in the brain as well as a myriad of social, familial, and environmental factors. Therefore, cocaine addiction treatment is complex, and must address a variety of problems. Like any good treatment plan, addiction treatment strategies need to assess the psychobiological, social, and pharmacological aspects of the patient’s drug abuse.

Through the use of sophisticated technology, scientists can actually see the dynamic changes that occur in the brain as an individual takes the drug. They can observe the different brain changes that occur as a person experiences the “rush and the high” and finally, the craving of cocaine. They can also identify parts of the brain that become active when a cocaine addict sees or hears environmental stimuli that trigger the craving for cocaine. Because these types of studies pinpoint specific brain regions, they are critical to identifying targets for developing medications and treatments to treat addiction.

Cocaine is a principal drug threat to the United States. Both powder cocaine and crack cocaine are prevalent throughout the country, and overall availability is stable. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Field Divisions report that powder cocaine and crack are readily or widely available, and most describe cocaine as the greatest drug threat to their areas. Obviously, many more residential and long-term addiction treatment resources are needed.

Cocaine addiction treatment can best be found through contacting the national cocaine addiction helpline. The cocaine addiction helpline can match your addiction treatment needs with the addiction treatment program able to meet them. The cocaine addiction helpline can be reached toll free at 1-800-511-9925. The service the helpline provides is at no cost and is available 24/7.

Dual Diagnosis Help Is Right Here

Monday, November 19th, 2007

Dual diagnosis help is not as easy to find as drug addiction treatment. While drug addiction treatment is advertised everywhere, dual diagnosis help seems to be a bit harder to find. Many of the drug rehabs in the country provide dual diagnosis treatment, but do not advertise this treatment compoent as much. The funny thing is that if a persons dual diagnosis is not treated while in rehab, the person will most likely relapse.

Dual diagnosis help can be found in a variety of ways. First, a person cal call the dual diagnosis helpline for help at 1-800-511-9225 or can go to the Yellow pages, but dual diagnosis is not always advertised there. The internet is probably the best place to go to locate dual diagnosis treatment as the search is much more comprehensive. Lastly, you can call a drug addiction treatment center to locate credible dual diagnosis help.

Make sure that if you are calling another dual diagnosis helpline rather than the one mentioned that it is a toll free helpline and does not charge anything for their service.

Vicodin Addiction Treatment Changes Lives

Saturday, November 17th, 2007

Vicodin Addiction

Vicodin addiction is a growing. Vicodin addiction could lurk right behind Heroin Addiction or Cocaine addictionas one of the most widely-abused drugs of addiction. In fact, the Drug Enforcement Administration believes Vicodin may be the most abused prescription drug in the country. Nationwide, its use has quadrupled in the last ten years, while emergency room visits attributed to Vicodin addiction soared 500 percent.

Vicodin® is a narcotic that can produce a calm, euphoric state similar to heroin or morphine–and despite such important and obvious benefits in pain relief, evidence is pointing to chronic addiction. Pure hydrocodone, the narcotic in Vicodin, is a Schedule II substance, closely controlled with restricted use. But very few prescription drugs are pure hydrocodone. Instead, small amounts of are mixed with other non-narcotic ingredients to create medicines like Vicodin and Lortab. This means they can be classified under Schedule III with fewer restrictions on their use and distribution.
Every age group has been affected by the relative ease of Vicodin availability and the perceived safety of these products by professionals. Sometimes seen as a “white-collar” addiction, Vicodin abuse has increased among all ethnic and economic groups. DAWN data demographics suggest that the most likely Vicodin abuser is a 20-40 yr old, white, female, who uses the drug because she is dependent or trying to commit suicide. However, Vicodin-related deaths have been reported from every age grouping.

Vicodin Addiction Treatment

Vicodin addiction treatment should take place within a addiction treatment rehab that has its own Vicodin detox program on the same premises. Every person addicted to Vicodin will have to go through a Vicodin detox which can be managed by dispensing detox medications. Vicodin detox may take up to seven days to be followed by Vicodin addiction treatment in the addiction treatment rehab program. This may last another four weeks.

Treatment for Vicodin addiction is not easy to overcome, but it is necessary if you are going to live a normal and useful life. Addiction treatment rehab for Vicodin needs to include a relapse prevention plan, family therapy and aftercare. Addiction recovery does not only take place while in addiction treatment but afterwards as well.

Vicodin addiction treatment can be found by calling a national addiction treatment helpline at 1-800-511-9225. This addiction treatment helpline will match your needs with the treatment program services. The addiction treatment helpline is available toll free and there is someone there to help you 24/7.

Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment and Drug Addiction Rehab

Friday, November 16th, 2007

Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment

Individual’s with drug addiction often use alcohol to medicate themselves. Often one or both of these problems are improperly treated or given the wrong diagnosis. Many people who are suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction have some form of diagnosed or undiagnosed psychiatric disorder. They are, in most cases, considered to be self-medicating their disorder with drugs and or alcohol. Having a dual diagnosis, co-occurring disorder is very significant to successful alcoholism treatment and drug addiction rehab. Unless the disorder is properly diagnosed and addressed, it will always be one of the primary reasons someone cannot maintain long term recovery from their drug addiction.

It is often difficult to know whether the mental illness or drug abuse problem occurred first. Someone with a psychiatric problem may drink or use drugs in an attempt to feel calmer, more energetic or cheerful. Doctors call this self-medication. Frequent self-medication may lead a person to a drug addiction. On the other hand, a person whose drug addiction problem has become severe may develop symptoms of a psychiatric disorder, including depression, rage, hallucinations, delusions or attempts at suicide.

Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment and Drug Addiction

Although dual diagnosis treatment or co-occurring disorder treatment has only been recognized in recent years, dual diagnosis is pervasive. It has been estimated that 37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness. Conversely, it has been estimated that 29 percent of all people diagnosed as mentally ill abuse either alcohol or drugs.*

Many suffering from drug addiction and mood disorders are a constant companion. Among cocaine abusers, for example, depressive disorders are the most common examples when it comes to dual diagnosis, co-occurring conditions. The relationship between psychiatric problems and drug abuse in these patients is often complex and interconnected: Drug abuse patients may develop depression as a result of the physical and psychological suffering associated with their drug use, and patients suffering from mood disorders may become drug dependent in attempts to self-medicate. For patients suffering from both drug abuse and mood disorders, the conditions once seemed impossible to untangle, but recent NIDA research suggests that treatment for the mood disorder alone also can have a positive effect on drug addiction rehab.

People with a mental illness are three to six times more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol than people without a mental illness. However, some mental illnesses occur more frequently than others. The most common are:
• depressive disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder;
• anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other phobias; and
• other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and personality disorders.
One NIDA-supported study found that drug use declined among teenage drug dependence patients being treated with a medication for bipolar disorder, which is characterized by alternating periods of depression. In a related study, chronic opiate-dependent adults reported less drug abuse when they were treated with the antidepressant imipramine for co-morbid depression. There are drug addiction rehab programs which do a good job of dual diagnosis treatment.

Dual Diagnosis Helpline

If you are looking for Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment, dual diagnosis treatment or drug addiction rehab, you can call the national dual diagnosis helpline at 1-800-511-9225 and those on the helpline will help you to locate a rehab that can make a difference in your life. Call the helpline NOW!

What Is a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center?

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Dual diagnosis seems to be understood as the co-existance of a drug addiction and mental health problem. Drug addiction also meaning alcoholism. Hence, a dual diagnosis treatment center must be at a minimum a drug rehab capable of treating both a drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health probem.

Depending upon the severity of the mehtal health problem, many can be treated within a drug rehab. When dealing with the more profound disorders such as schizophrenia, they might be better treated in a psychiatric hospital with a dual diagnosis treatment unit. Whether in a drug reha b or psychiatric hospital, they person will require drug detox, as well as, therapy and psychiatric treatment. They type of dual diagnosis treatment a person requires is different for all. From that standpoint, most people are better allowing a trained professional to help select the dual diagnosis treatment center for them. This way, they can match the persons needs with the dual diagnossi services provided.

For me, I know I needed a dual diagnosis rehab to get me on the right track. I had relapwsed too many times after drug rehab and I knew something else was wrong. As soon as I found a dual diagnosis rehab and met with their clinical staff and psychiatrist, I knew things would be different. I was scared, for sure, but I knew I was on the right track.

If you are looking for a dual diagnosis treatment center or dual diagnosis rehab, just try calling a dual diagnosis helpline such as 1-800-511-9925 and they will find a dual diagnosis rehab for you free of charge.