Drug Addiction Treatment Blog

I would like to start by thanking Rick and David at the call center. I was at the end of my road when I contacted them. I am the person that usually falls through the cracks but Rick and David made sure I didn’t. I got to Lakeview and tour up from the ground up. I realy don’t remember too much of the first days but I remember that I wanted to go home. I was told by other patients to stay and that I would feel better in a couple of days. I would like to thank the staff and patients of Lakeview for being there for me. Lynn, Robin, Tonya, Michele, Joe, Lisa, walker… There is just too many people to list them all. Today I feel like a changed person and I owe it all to myself for doing the work and to everybody else for supporting me and helping me learn.

TF… I didn’t say your name in this letter, it’s not that I forgot you but it’s that my arm hurts and I am running out of time. You will all be in my heart every day and I love you all. Thanks for everything and I will be there to speak on the week of 8-30-06. My one year.

The New Joseph B.

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I would like to thank all the staff at Lakeview. When I came here, I honestly thought my life was over. I thought I didn’t have a chance to recover. I didn’t understand how anything could make people do the things we did for drugs. I thought I was the only one who did things wrong. Now I know I’m not alone. And there’s not a cure, but there is a better way.

The staff and community have given me self-esteem and self respect back. You’ve taught me how to become a responsible adult tyhat people will look up to. I’m learning to live so I can live to learn. I’m learning tools to keep me on the right path, and I believe in myself now. I can look in the mirror and love the person who is looking back. I’ve learned so much because fo all of you. There are no words to express the gratitude in my heart. You have literally given me my life back. Thank yoou so much. I only hope to make all of you proud.

Karen L.

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A core concept evolving over the past decade is that drug addiction is a disease of the brain that develops over time as a result of abusing drugs and alcohol.

Some of the consequences that a person experiences is a virtually uncontrollable craving for drugs and alcohol, the seeking and use of drugs and alcohol that interferes with an individual’s functioning within the family and society. In most cases, an illness such as this usually requires inpatient chemical dependency treatment.

• we understand the brain functions through which drugs acutely modify mood, memory, perception, and emotional states.
• Using drugs habitually over time changes brain structure and function in ways that can persist long after the individual stops using them.
• Addiction is conceived through an array of neuro-adaptive changes and the lying down and strengthening of new memory connections in various circuits in the brain.

We do not yet understand all of the actual functions, but the research demonstrates that those long-lasting brain changes are responsible for the distortions of cognitive and emotional functioning that characterize addicts, particularly including the compulsion to use drugs that is the essence of addiction. It is as if drugs have high jacked the brain’s natural motivational control circuits, resulting in drug use becoming the sole, or at least the top, motivational priority for the individual.
This brain-based view of addiction has generated substantial controversy, particularly among people who seem able to think only in polarized ways.

• Many people erroneously still believe that biological and behavioral explanations are alternative or competing ways to understand phenomena.
Modern science has taught that it is much too simplistic to set biology in opposition to behavior or to pit willpower against brain chemistry.
• Addiction involves inseparable biological and behavioral components.
• Many people also erroneously still believe that drug addiction is simply a failure of will or of strength of character.

Comprehensive research contradicts that position completely.
It is important to note, that the recognition that addiction is a brain disease does not mean that the addict is simply a hapless victim. Addiction begins with the voluntary behavior of using drugs and addicts must participate in and take some significant responsibility for their recovery. Thus, having this brain disease does not absolve the addict of responsibility for his or her behavior, but it does explain why an addict cannot simply stop using drugs using willpower alone.

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Gay Addiction Treatment Program: It’s About Time

As addiction treatment programs have sprung up across the country, there has been a focus on many different substance abuse populations. We have numerous eating disorder programs for women, countless drug rehab programs for men, sex addiction and sexual trauma programs for both men and women, but what about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population. Where do they seek drug/alcohol treatment? Why are they continually expected to fit into the same “addiction treatment model” (heterosexual) that resembles the life model which created so much shame for them. Some would suggest they fit into a same sex addiction treatment center, which is generally nothing more than a set up for relapse.

Drug Rehab Focus to be Population Specific

One of the major goals of any drug rehab is to create and environment where a patient can feel comfortable enough to be honest, can be treated with respect, dignity and not feel judged. Right or wrong, good or bad, history shows us that the gay / lesbian population is one that through the years has been criticized, ridiculed and misunderstood by the majority in the heterosexual community, the same community that makes up the majority of the population in an addiction treatment program. For this reason alone, the gay, lesbian population needs to have therapists that understand their specific needs, an environment that will affirm them as people and support them as they share their secrets of shame, humiliation and anger.

Addiction Treatment vs. the Real World

Philosophically, a person’s last day in drug rehab, should resemble their first day in the real world. A person does not stay in a drug rehab program forever. That being said, an addiction treatment program does not have to be completely “gay friendly” to be effective treatment for a gay person. While, specific clinical activities, groups, lectures etc. need to be gay specific in order to create a safe space for them to communicate, it is also their responsibility to learn how to communicate effectively and live in the heterosexual world without turning to drugs or alcohol. As such, there is no better place to begin this transition than in the addiction treatment program, where a person can receive ongoing support from their therapist and peers.

For additional information on gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender addiction treatment program, please go to www.recoveryconnection.org, www.lakeviewhealth.com or call 800-511-9225 and they will be glad to assist you

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