Deciding
on which clinic to attend is one of the
most important decisions you will ever
make.
Addiction
is defined as the continued use of a
substance such as drugs or alcohol, or
the continued participation in a
behaviour, even when it is clear that
the substance or behaviour is causing
you harm.
The
World Health Organisation define
addiction as ‘the repeated use of a
psychoactive substance or substances, to
the extent that the user (referred to as
an addict) is periodically or
chronically intoxicated, shows a
compulsion to take the preferred
substance (or substances), has great
difficulty in voluntarily ceasing or
modifying substance use, and exhibits
determination to obtain psychoactive
substances by almost any means.
Typically, tolerance is prominent and a
withdrawal syndrome frequently occurs
when substance use is interrupted. The
life of the addict may be dominated by
substance use to the virtual exclusion
of all other activities and
responsibilities. The term addiction
also conveys the sense that such
substance use has a detrimental effect
on society, as well as on the
individual; when applied to the use of
alcohol, it is equivalent to alcoholism.
Addiction is a term of long-standing and
variable usage. It is regarded by many
as a discrete disease entity, a
debilitating disorder rooted in the
pharmacological effects of the drug,
which is remorselessly progressive. From
the 1920s to the 1960s attempts were
made to differentiate between addiction
; and "habituation", a less
severe form of psychological adaptation.
In the 1960s the World Health
Organization recommended that both terms
be abandoned in favour of dependence,
which can exist in various degrees of
severity.
Treatments
Available
Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
is
an umbrella-term for psychotherapeutic
approach that that deals with
cognitions, interpretations, beliefs and
responses, with the aim of influencing
problematic emotions and behaviors.
CBT
is widely accepted as an evidence-based,
cost-effective treatment for many
disorders and psychological problems. It
is often used with groups as well as
individuals, and the techniques are also
commonly adapted for self-help manuals.
One of the objectives of CBT typically
is to identify and monitor thoughts,
assumptions, beliefs and behaviors that
are related and accompanied to negative
emotions and to identify those which are
dysfunctional, inaccurate, or simply
unhelpful. This is done in an effort to
replace them with more realistic and
useful ones.
A
twelve-step
program
is a set of guiding principles outlining
a course of action for the recovery from
addiction, or other behavioural
problems. A twelve-step program usually
and symbolically represent human
structure in three dimensions.
These are physical, mental, and
spiritual. The original Twelve Steps as
published by Alcoholics
Anonymous
are.
1. We
admit we were powerless over
alcohol—that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power
greater than ourselves could restore us
to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn your
will and life over to the care of God as
you understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless
moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves,
and to another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God
remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our
shortcomings.
8. Make a list of all persons we
had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9. Make direct amends to such
people wherever possible, except when to
do so would injure them or others.
10. Continue to take personal
inventory and when we were wrong
promptly admitted it.
11. Seek through prayer and
meditation to improve our conscious
contact with God as you understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His Will
for you and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as
the result of these steps, you try to
carry this message to alcoholics, and to
practice these principles in all your
affairs.
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