Meth Addiction Treatment

Crystal meth resembles glass.

The most effective way to treat a meth addiction is to go through the detoxation process. Once the user has gone through this process, the meth addiction treatment will insist of addressing the psychological and physical effects of the meth addiction. Which meth addiction treatment that is the most effective will depend on the user and their needs. There are different types of treatment for meth addiction including cognitive behavioral therapy, contingency reinforcement, 12 step programs, family involvement and education. At this time, there isn’t any medications that can treat a meth addiction.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This type of therapy takes an approach to understand the thoughts and feelings that influence negative behaviors. Cognitive behavioral therapy is mostly done on a short-term basis and deals with a specific problem. When the user goes through this types of meth addiction treatment, they will learn how to locate and change their destructive thought patterns that are causing the negative behavior and their meth addiction

Contingency Reinforcement

Contingency reinforcement is a type of therapy that rewards on positive reinforcement for meeting certain meth addiction treatment goals. Some treatment programs will use gift certificates for restaurants, movies and other positive events that will be clean of any drugs for the patient to use. Also, some programs will involve the family in different ways to help encourage the meth user to want to stop using the drug and overcome their meth addiction.

12 Step Program

Many meth users will need more comprehensive treatment than just a 12 step program, but this program is a good resource to combine with another meth addiction treatment. It has been proven that people use the 12 step program along with another treatment, had better recovery outcomes, than people who didn’t attend the program at all.

Family Involvement

When a meth user has family and close friends to be their support and back bone, they are more likely to stay in meth addiction treatment longer. Family and close friends give support that other may not be able to since they have closer ties to the meth user. They can offer stories and a unique support and approach to the treatment and recovery.

Education

A very important part of meth addiction treatment is to educate the meth user about the drug and how it is effecting their body. When the user understands the drug and how it ruining their body in different ways, they will be more likely to overcome their meth addiction and stay in treatment longer than a meth user who never received meth addiction education.

Medication

There are currently no medications that can be used to treat a meth addiction. There are medications that are used to treat meth addiction symptoms. Some of the symptoms include severe head and body aches, excessive body fluid drainage, digestive problems and insomnia. If you or a loved on is currently experiencing any of these symptoms or meth addiction withdrawal, you should seek medical attention immediately.

Resource Box: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-approaches-drug-addiction