When making the decision to live sober, treatment terminology can be a haze of choices and structures that you may not completely understand. It’s best to really take your time, and do your research to fully evaluate what kind of treatment would best suit your needs. Here is a little extra information to get you started on your journey.
Types of Programs
- Residential Treatment. It can be short term or long term. This type of treatment provides supervision twenty four hours a day. It’s what you would typically think of when considering “rehab”. The patient typically stays at least thirty to sixty days and sometimes more. Here, they will focus on your addiction stemming from you and your environment. They will help to reprogram some of your go-to thoughts into more positive and constructive thinking patterns. Each program is catered to fit the patient’s individual needs.
- Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP). Outpatient programs vary widely depending on the particular patient’s needs and what services are available in the area. This costs considerably less than residential treatment, but still requires a large commitment. Group counseling is the main component used for treatment in an outpatient program. You would also typically see a therapist on a regular basis.
- Counseling. This can be individual counseling, group counseling, or family counseling. Again, depending on the need of the patient, these can be used one at a time or in accordance with one another.
Addiction Terminology
If you didn’t know that you have the right to see every scrap of paperwork any mental health agency has pertaining to you, then you know now. Don’t be surprised if it all seems to be written in a foreign language. Here is a little reference guide to help sort out some of the confusion that may arise.
- Agonist: A chemical that binds to a receptor in your brain and activates it
- Antagonist: A chemical that binds to a receptor in your brain and blocks it
- Comorbidity: This is when you have been diagnosed with two disorders
- Psychotherapeutics: These are drugs that affect the function of your brain, they’re typically used to treat neurologic disorders
Tolerance: this isn’t how much you can put up with, it’s actually how your body ends up needing more and more of your drug of choice to reach the same high that you felt the first time
Related posts:
