Online Substance Abuse Treatment: Find Substance Abuse Recovery Today

Substance abuse is when you are unable to control your use of alcohol, prescription drugs, marijuana, or illegal substances. Your addiction is such that, even if you are being severely harmed by the effects of what you’re using, you find that you can’t stop.

This may cause numerous issues in your work, family, and/or social life. Yet the idea of giving up the substance can be threatening as your addiction is both physical and psychological, and using it provides comfort even as it causes you harm.

You may have a sense that you have let yourself or others down and feel a lot of shame about it. It is important to know that struggling with substances is an illness not a character flaw.

What is Substance Addiction?

Drug addiction, or substance use disorder, occurs when a person takes a substance like alcohol, medicine, or other illegal drugs and cannot stop even if they want to. Drug addiction is a disease that affects a patient’s brain and leads them to not be able to control their use and abuse of substances like alcohol, prescription drugs, and other illegal substances. When a patient has a drug addiction, they will continue using the substance even if they are severely harmed by its effects.

Symptoms of Drug Addiction

Drug addiction or substance addiction symptoms can include:

• Increasing intake of a drug to get the same high
• Having intense thoughts and urges for the drug that doesn’t allow you to think about anything else
• Feeling the need to take the drug regularly
• Spending some, most, or all of your money on a drug
• Missing obligations, such as work or personal, due to drug use
• Doing dangerous or illegal activities to obtain a drug
• Driving under the influence
• Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop taking it

Types of Treatment for Drug Addiction and Substance Addiction

Depending on the severity of the addiction will determine which type of treatment a patient will start with.  The types of treatment for substance addiction for a patient can be broken into four categories: Detox, inpatient, partial hospitalization programs (PHP), and outpatient. 

Detox

Detoxification is typically the first stage in treating drug addiction or substance addiction. Detox involves slowly reducing a drug intake in a setting that provides safety and security. The detox process can be extremely difficult for patients. Fortunately under medical supervision, patients can get through withdrawal symptoms safely over time. 

Inpatient

Inpatient rehab occurs when a patient stays in rehab centers, residential facilities, or hospitals for a period of time. Detox can occur in an inpatient setting or in an outpatient setting. During inpatient treatment, a patient may receive medical treatment depending on the facility type and the addiction type.

Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP)

Partial hospitalization programs require a less intense level of care than inpatient. However, a patient utilizing partial hospitalization programs will still stay in a rehab facility or similar, but will require less therapy treatment and may be allowed to continue activities like school or work.

Outpatient

Outpatient is typically the final stage of drug abuse treatment after a stay in inpatient treatment or PHP treatment. During outpatient, medication and therapy may still continue to a lesser extent than inpatient or PHP. 

Principles of Effective Treatment for Substance Addiction

Addiction is a serious medical disease that you should seek treatment for immediately. Substance addiction treatment can take place in a variety of locations, occur for varying lengths of time, and can involve different methods of treatment.

The substance addiction process begins when a patient voluntarily or involuntarily reaches out to a rehab facility, therapist, or hospital for treatment. 

Let’s review a few types of treatment for substance addiction.

Medication Treatment

Medications can help a patient with substance addiction by reducing side effects of withdrawal during detox from many different drugs or alcohol. Some medications for alcohol or drug addictions can include:

• Acamprosate
• Buprenrphine
• Methadone
• Naltrexone

Behavior Therapy Treatment

As a part of the drug addiction treatment plan, a patient will receive behavioral therapy, which can be performed by a trained psychologist, psychiatrist, or licensed counselor. Therapy can be individual, group, or family. During behavioral therapy, a patient can get:

• Help learning ways to cope with drug cravings
• Strategies to prevent drug relapse
• Advice with everyday life situations like family, relationships, jobs, school, legal troubles
• Help addressing other mental issues

Self-Help Groups

In addition to medication and behavioral therapy, self-help groups can help patients participate and get support from other individuals in the same situation as them. Self-help substance abuse group activities can help you decrease shame and the feeling of isolation that are common with drug abuse, which often lead to relapse.

Finding Substance Abuse Recovery

If you think you or a loved one needs substance abuse treatment, you’ve come to the right place. The first step to substance abuse recovery is acknowledging you need help and then seeking help. 

Treating substance abuse with a bio-psycho-social spiritual foundation, as we do, leads to incredible recoveries and transformations. Because there are so many varieties of substance abuse, and every individual is unique, we will design an approach uniquely tailored to work for you.

Depending on your needs, we may incorporate outpatient individual or group psychotherapy and behavior therapy, an inhouse treatment program, and/or pharmacological treatment.

Recovery from substance abuse and addiction takes courage and commitment. It is often not a straight path. But there is a pathway out of it for you—a pathway our team is ready to help you find and to support you on each step of the way.  

Get Online Substance Abuse Treatment

My name is Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, I am a consultant psychiatrist in Miami, Florida. I believe that compassion, when directed towards self and others, can lead to profound health and healing. If you need online substance addiction treatment, I can help! I have created a unique treatment model in which you will have the  opportunity to work with providers who I specifically refer to based on your current experience, diagnosis and needs.  I build this team around you and will coordinate your care with the goal to find meaning in your experience, and free you of your symptoms so that you can feel more at peace, and have greater capacity to adapt to life circumstances, to challenge yourself, to be creative, to develop intimacy and to have a fulfilling lifestyle With more than 20 years of clinical experience and a vast network of clinical partners, I’ve developed a unique treatment approach that delves into the underlying issues that place a person at risk for mental health conditions.  Together we will create a protocol and treatment plan that is well coordinated, and that can guide you on your healing process, toward health and inner peace. Contact me today!