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. This is because 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 stability. This gets worse when the body starts to tolerate the drug that enters the system, thus, resulting to a higher amount requirement the next time the drug is taken to achieve the desired result.
From its very classification, addiction is the condition of being enslaved to a habit , such narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. This distress 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 help. Because most withdrawal symptoms can be relieved instantly upon consumption of the drug that the body is withdrawing from, the desire to use that drug is remarkably high during this time, often resulting in defeat of the recovery before it can even begin.
As the addict recognizes the problem, the treatment process is another cross to carry. Curing substance dependence means taking away the dependency on the drug. This would mean that the person had to stop taking the drug. However, reducing the body of an addict from taking in the drug would lead to withdrawal symptoms. And it is not easy having to deal with these symptoms. The severity of the symptoms depends on the kind of drug the person is addicted to. Moreover, to ease the pain of the withdrawal symptoms, detoxification should be done.
The process of detoxification is the cleansing of the toxins in our body. Relating this to, it is the removal of the drug residues from the body and controlling the symptoms of withdrawal. The detoxification process is only the first step to recovery. Eliminating the toxins that have been controlling the body system of the patient should be done first before any behavioral based treatment which would treat the underlying factors of addiction.
Drug detoxification can be referred to as the period of withdrawal during which the person’s body eventually comes back to homeostasis 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 allows a close monitoring on the patient. Also, the contact to the substance of abuse could be avoided. Meanwhile, 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 relapse since 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. When the drug is emptied from the system and the pain and discomfort associated with ending its use have been alleviated, the other factors 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. More than intensive treatment, self-determination is also a requirement. The healing procedure is to be deal very hard everyday.
