Treatment
An Interview with Jamie Deans: Professionals Treatment Program Manager
Jamie Deans, an Emmy-winning producer and editor for ABC World News Tonight, 20/20, and Dateline NBC, was introduced to drug addiction treatment through his own personal recovery, and has been working in the field of addiction for nine years.
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Supervision of Methadone Prescriptions Reduces Number of Related Deaths
Although the heroin substitute is known to effectively reduce heroin-related deaths among heroin addicts and facilitate better recovery during rehabilitation, use of methadone itself has raised concerns due to its potential for abuse, dependency, and overdose when misused by vulnerable patients. Because trends in heroin abuse and methadone prescribing among the UK population have continued to rise in recent years, Professor John Strang at the National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry in King’s College London and colleagues assessed the relationships between methadone-related deaths and the use of supervised methadone prescribing among the Scottish and English populations during 1993 to 2008.
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Women Have Special Needs in Substance Abuse Treatment
Gender differences come into play when it comes to treatment for substance abuse. Just as each patient’s needs are unique, and a treatment program must be tailored to address those particular needs, attention also must be paid to the special needs of women. What works for men in treatment doesn’t always work the same way for women. Here’s a look at some of the different needs women have in substance abuse treatment.
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Study Examines Power of Labels When Encouraging Addiction Treatment
A new approach to treatment may involve changing the associated lingo. According to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, the attitudes of health care professionals toward those with alcoholism or drug addicts could be altered with changing words.
A post in the Science Daily examines the findings of these researchers who surveyed health professionals. This survey included questions about a hypothetical patient that varied depending on whether the patient was described as a “substance abuser” or as “having a substance use disorder.”
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Benefits of a Trauma Recovery Program
Trauma recovery programs are designed to help individuals suffering from trauma or abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and/or sexual addiction/compulsivity. Such individuals may also be chemically dependent, and may even have co-occurring psychiatric issues. Some patients enter a trauma recovery program after they have completed traditional treatment for addiction and have relapsed. Research shows that there’s a high relapse rate among post-traditional addiction treatment patients who also have PTSD, unresolved sexual trauma or compulsive behaviors.
Common Reasons Why Those Who Need Treatment Don’t Get It
When you see someone on the street, passed out, clutching a bottle in a paper bag – whether it’s L.A. or Cleveland, New York or Topeka, Dallas or St. Paul – you wonder why they don’t just get help. Ditto the reaction to the co-worker who keeps embarrassing himself at office parties, the constant drunk at bars, the relative who ruins every family gathering, or the loved one on their second or third DUI. Chances are you know someone with a drug and/or alcohol problem, or someone who also has a mental health issue. Surely, you think, this person would want to get treatment. In all these scenarios, what are the reasons why people who need treatment don’t get it?
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Treatment for Women with Dual Diagnosis Addiction
If you are a woman struggling with alcohol or a chemical dependency and also have a simultaneous behavior or mood disorder, you have what is called dual diagnosis addiction. This is not all that uncommon. An estimated 53 percent of women who are chemically dependent have one or more behavioral or mood issues. Since either condition by itself can complicate treatment, the most effective treatment addresses both conditions at the same time in a coordinated treatment program.
Co-occurring Behavioral or Mood Disorders
Women admitted to a treatment program to combat alcohol or chemical dependency often have these behavioral or mood disorders:
• Depression, such as bi-polar disorder
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Anxiety disorders, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Panic disorder
• Phobias
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and personality disorder
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What is Equine-Assisted Therapy?
By Suzanne Kane
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the definition of equine is “of, relating to, or resembling a horse or the horse family.” It follows, then, that equine-assisted therapy involves horses. But what, actually, is equine-assisted therapy?
There are distinctive types of equine therapy, but they all involve the use of horses. There’s equine-assisted therapy (EAT), equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP), and equine-assisted learning (EAL), equine-facilitated learning (EFL), and equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP).
Equine therapy is practiced around the world. Originally used to help patients recover from traumatic injuries, it then became a widely-used therapeutic method to treat physically handicapped individuals. In recent years, equine therapy has branched off into other areas – treating a wide variety of psychological and mental disorders and addiction.
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