Each recovering addict brings to heroin rehab a different set of circumstances. When did he or she begin using heroin? Why?  What this their first drug of abuse, or did they work their way to heroin from marijuana or prescription pain medication? Does the individual suffer from another mental health issue besides addiction?  Known as a comorbidity or Dual Diagnosis, these psychological conditions may have preceded the drug addiction, or they may have developed as a result of the drug addiction. Either way, it is imperative that both conditions be treated completely and effectively in order for the cost of heroin rehab to be worth the money and time invested.

What Factors Affect the Overall Cost of Heroin Rehab?

One of the first things to consider is what not attending heroin rehab will cost. Heroin is a devastating and dangerous drug that can result in terrible consequences to one’s health – even to one’s life. Unlike some other drugs, heroin overdose can be fatal, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which makes the financial cost of heroin rehab far more palatable than the alternative.

If an individual has medical insurance, it is possible that coverage may defray the cost of heroin rehab as well. In fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has listed rehab as one of their “Essential Health Benefits” that must be covered by the year 2014. Presently, every insurance policy is different, so it is important to look at the plan coverage to determine whether heroin rehab is a covered expense. A few questions to ask an insurance provider concerning this issue are:

• Does an individual have to complete or attempt to complete an outpatient program prior to being covered for a residential program?
• What percentage of the costs is the responsibility of the patient or the insured individual?
• Is there an annual or lifetime deductible?
• Is a referral needed from a primary physician to go to heroin rehab?
• Is there a requirement for preauthorization before any treatments are conducted?

If insurance coverage is available, a recovering addict or their family may be able to enlist the help of the treatment center for certain aspects of initiating a covered treatment plan as well.

Additional Ways to Offset the Cost of Heroin Rehab

Another way to help cover the cost of heroin rehab is to enlist the help of friends and family who have an interest in the health and happiness of the heroin abuser. Heroin addictions can cost a great deal of financial resources in terms of missed work, illness and the cost of heroin itself. In the event that the one seeking help does not have the resources to pay for treatment, families can come together to raise funds for the treatment. It is possible they have already been contributing to the illness through loans to cover rent or food expenses due to the individual’s lack of ability to do pay these types of expenses.

The final factor that will determine the overall cost of heroin rehab is the length of time the addict remains in treatment. One individual may need only a few weeks of intensive care, while another may need months of treatment in a residential or outpatient program. The important thing to remember is that active, intensive treatment may be temporary, and the financial burden of heroin rehab is also temporary. The life saved by the treatment, however, is priceless.

If you’d like more information on heroin rehab treatment here at Michael’s House, contact us today. We can also answer any questions you have about paying for care.

The second group — those who experienced the detox period while remaining awake — was treated with evidence-based medications to curb cravings and other symptoms. When used under the supervision of consulting physicians, drug detox medication can be quite helpful to some addicts going through the detox process.

Medications Help Individuals Remain in Treatment

According to the experts at the NIDA, a benefit of using medications during the detox period, and even longer in some cases, is their ability to gradually wean the recovering addict into a drug-free life. For instance, some drugs have such a powerful craving associated with the addiction that an individual in the early recovery phase may not be able to participate in effective counseling sessions. By prescribing a drug, such as Suboxone, to curb the cravings, the recovering addict may be in a better position, both physically and mentally, to gain the full benefit of the treatment program. This may, in turn, create more significant progress and encourage the recovering addict to stay in the designated treatment program long enough to receive the full benefits.

Drug addiction is a chronic disease, much like hypertension or diabetes, in that a relapse does not necessarily mean that treatment has failed. It means only that treatment objectives should be revisited and adjusted to meet the changing needs of the recovering addict. The goal of addiction treatment is to prevent relapse episodes for as long as possible – ideally, forever. The use of medications has been shown to prevent relapse for longer periods of time than for those individuals who were not prescribed medication. It is important to remember, however, that not every recovering addict is going to need medication. The determination of whether to prescribe detox medication for longer periods of time, or to continue with a personalized treatment program without medication, is a decision that is made between the recovering addict and his or her treatment providers on a case-by-case basis.

How Long Does the Recovering Addict Remain on Detox Medication?

The actual length of time that one individual may take a prescribed medication will depend on many factors, including:

• The severity of the addiction
• The length of time he or she remains in rehab
• Individual progress
• Tolerance to prescription medications
• Progress within the treatment guidelines
• Preference of the medical provider and his or her client

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has stated that there is no one, single treatment plan that will work for everyone when it comes to effective treatment. There are no guides that state that all recovering addicts must take a particular drug for a certain number of days or weeks. This is because the influences and experiences of each recovering or detoxing drug user are different.  You can be certain, however, that our professionals here at Michael’s House have the experience to help you through the entire recovery process. Call us today for more information.

The detoxification process begins as soon as the last usage of the drug occurs. The body begins to metabolize drugs immediately. Once the effects of the drug wear off, the addicted drug user may begin to crave the drug right away. To help an individual who wishes to stop using drugs through treatment, many drug treatment programs offer assisted detox. Here at Michael’s House, we offer detox with the supervision of consulting physicians, helping addicts free their bodies of drugs and alcohol before they begin the intensive rehabilitation process.

What Is Holistic Drug Detox?

The term “holistic” is a reference to treating an individual as a whole person, rather than a collection of individual symptoms, as referenced by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It is the process of care that involves not only the physical body, but the mind and the spirit as well.

Holistic drug detox is a method for assisting an individual through the first few hours or days of not using drugs by addressing the entire individual’s needs on the physical, mental and spiritual planes.

For some drugs, such as heroin or other opiates, medications may be required to treat some of the symptoms of withdrawal during the detox period. In a holistic drug detox setting, these drugs are used only when absolutely necessary and only for the best benefit of the individual client.

Meditation

Meditation is a mind-body technique that has historically been used to bring peace to an individual by focusing one’s attention on a particular mindfulness activity. This practice has been used for centuries in religious and spiritual settings, according to the National Center for Complementary Medicine. According to the experts, this technique is effective in changing how a person perceives their surroundings by altering how they relate to their own thought patterns and emotions.

For instance, an individual may be suffering pain from opiate withdrawal. If this individual doesn’t understand the pain (why it is happening and what it means for recovery), they may feel excessive stress. Stress can increase pain according to the Mayo Clinic, so using meditation to reduce stress can, in effect, lessen the perception of pain.

Acupuncture

According to the research conducted by the National Drug Strategy Network, acupuncture is a method of holistic medicine which deserves a great deal of consideration and attention. Because acupuncture is not a traditional Western medicinal practice, it is often difficult for some individuals to understand precisely what it is. The creators of acupuncture, many centuries ago, based the practice on the presence of invisible energy routes that run throughout the human form. These routes, known as meridians, carry qi (pronounced “chee”) from one point to another. Qi is the universal life force energy that brings balance and peace. If Qi cannot move freely through the body, pain and illness can be the result.

Acupuncture is the practice of inserting extremely thin needles just beneath the surface of the skin to arouse or “unblock” the meridians, thus allowing qi to pass freely along those lines.

In addition to holistic drug detox and addiction treatment, acupuncture has been used for:

• Chronic pain
• Headaches
• Arthritis
• Dental pain
• Nausea and vomiting

Holistic Drug Detox Is Not Drug Treatment In and Of Itself

The most important aspect to remember about holistic drug detox is that it, by itself, is not a treatment for drug addiction. The detox period prepares an individual to begin the treatment process by overcoming the initial and most severe withdrawal symptoms. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, once detox has been completed, the recovering addict must remain in treatment long enough to meet his or her individual needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about the detox and rehabilitation services we offer here at Michael’s House, don’t hesitate to call us today.

Unfortunately, heroin is still an opiate drug derived from the same sources as pure opium and morphine. While it was originally marketed as a non-addictive substance for the treatment of many illnesses and pain, time would soon tell a different tale. In the early 20^th century, the Dangerous Drug Act prohibited the sale of heroin, and distribution was regulated by the federal government.

By 1970, the Unites States enacted the Controlled Substance Act which controlled the manufacture, sale and distribution of certain types of drugs, including heroin. The University of Washington explains that, in 1973, scientists discovered that the human brain contained opiate receptors which began to shed light on why heroin and other opiate drugs were so addictive. When they discovered that our bodies create natural opiates, called endorphins, the picture became even clearer.

Heroin Epidemic Declines in the 1980s

Inner-city dwellers were not the only ones at risk for heroin addiction in the 1970s. One report, referenced by National Public Radio, indicated that as many as 15 to 20 percent of soldiers serving in Vietnam self-identified as being addicted to heroin. The epidemic started to change somewhat in the 1980s.

According to an article in the New York Times, published in 1986, the focus of concern was beginning to shift away from heroin to crack and powdered cocaine. For the previous 15 years, heroin has been the popular drug of choice in the inner cities across the nation, particularly in New York. While the number of heroin addicts was climbing in the early 1980s, it began to fall off after that for several suspected reasons:

• Changing trends
• The attitude that the younger generation will rebel against the older generation in other aspects, such as dress, music and drugs
• Growing HIV/AIDS epidemic led some new drug users to avoid hypodermic needles

The New Face of Heroin Addiction in the United States

In the 1980s and 1990s, other drugs of choice became popular with drug users. Cocaine and new “club drugs” became more fashionable for youth and the up-and-coming young professional. While MDMA, or Ecstasy, was created for use in the psychiatric field in the 1970s, by 1985 it had been banned by the Drug Enforcement Agency and placed as a Schedule I drug – which means it has no therapeutic benefits of any kind. By this time, drugs such as Ecstasy were showing up more frequently for recreational use. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, by 2004, there were more than 11 million users in the US, as young as 12 years old. This focus on other drugs took some of the focus off heroin; however, it was still in use across the nation.

Today, heroin has made a return as a drug of choice not in just urban centers but also in the suburbs. In fact, lower prices and purer forms have made heroin available to school-aged drug users and city-dwellers alike. In a report from ABC’s World News, a small packet of heroin can be had for as little as $5 in some places, making it attractive and easy to obtain for drugs users seeking to replace their very expensive prescription opiate habits.

Get Help for Heroin Addiction Today

Heroin addiction ruins lives, and there’s no reason why you have to continue to suffer. Contact us here at Michael’s House today for more information on how to get on the road to recovery.

The human body produces chemicals called endorphins. These are the chemicals responsible for making us feel good. They are directly linked to the pleasure center of the body and brain, created by very specific activities, including exercising or having sex. They are also created to combat pain at the most basic level. The brain communicates these feeling through neuron-to-neuron communication in the brain. One neuron releases endorphins, and the next neuron uses opiate receptors to acknowledge the signal. The brain then sends messages along the spinal column to the part of the body being affected.

Heroin Works Quickly to Achieve Results

Heroin is an opiate derived from morphine. When it is introduced to the brain through injection into the blood stream or inhalation into the lungs, it works incredibly quickly. Once inside the body, the heroin impersonates the natural endorphins. It passes through the blood-brain barrier, and each of the opiate receptors in the brain picks up the artificial endorphins. The result is a euphoria that reaches to every part of the body. Individuals feel good in a rush that is so intense, it can change their lives forever.

Another reason heroin is so addictive has to do with the quality of the available drugs in today’s illicit marketplace. In the past, according to a report from ABC World News, heroin on the street was expensive and only about 3 percent pure. This means that the actual amount of heroin an individual introduced into their bodies was roughly 3 percent while the other 97 percent contained dangerous fillers or “cutting” ingredients to increase profit margins for the drug manufacturers and dealers.

Today, heroin is less expensive and roughly 60 percent pure. In previous years, it was the “high” that kept a user coming back for more of the drug while tolerance and addiction developed slowly. With the higher purity, users have reported addiction traits after a single use. The more drugs introduced in a shorter period of time, the more likely it is that tolerance and addiction are going to develop.

Withdrawal Symptoms Can Be Severe Enough to Promote Longer Use of Heroin

Opiate withdrawal isn’t fun. Just a few of the symptoms an individual may experience as they begin to withdraw from heroin include nausea and vomiting, sweating, pain the muscles, insomnia, heightened anxiety and agitation. To eliminate the “illness” they feel, an individual’s body will crave more the drug. This then creates a cycle of use and withdrawal that can be indicative of addiction. Other symptoms of addiction include:

• Placing more importance on using heroin than meeting one’s responsibilities, such as caring for children or other family members, going to work, or attending school
• Continued use of heroin even though you know it is destroying your life and placing you in dangerous situations
• Spending a great deal of time searching for and using heroin
• Using more heroin than you initially intended at one time even though you’ve placed limits on yourself
• Being unable to stop using heroin until it is all gone

Early heroin withdrawal can begin within 12 hours of the last use. A heroin addict knows that their body will feel better – that they can “get well” if they use heroin – so psychologically they are addicted as well. They will crave the drug to make themselves feel normal.

Heroin Addiction as Compared to Other Drugs of Abuse

According to the experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there are several factors that go into just how addictive one drug is over another. These factors include aspects about the person using the drug, as well as the drug itself. For instance, the environment in which an individual lives can play a role in the risks of addiction. If an individual has a family member who suffers from addiction, he or she is more likely to develop addictions as well.

There are some drugs that are more addictive than others as a general rule, and heroin is one of those because of the power of the intoxication it delivers. The only way to ensure that you or someone you love will not become addicted to heroin is to not use it in the first place. If that is, unfortunately, no longer an option, there is help available. Contact us here at Michael’s House to find out how we can help.

Create a brighter future for yourself without oxycodone addiction with our oxycodone rehab program options here at Michael’s House. Our luxury drug rehab estates here in Palm Springs, California can provide you with all the medical and psychotherapeutic care you need to build a new life in recovery. Call now.

Recover Your Health in Treatment

Depending on the length of your oxycodone addiction, the dosage you were taking by the end of your experience, other drugs of addiction you took regularly and the state of your health when you begin, you can expect different amounts of success in regaining your health. One thing is for certain – almost every patient who begins the oxycodone addiction treatment process will experience health benefits as a result. Some patients report feeling better every day after oxycodone detox, regaining their energy and mental clarity almost immediately after they are released from the grip of physical addiction. The longer they address and work through psychological cravings and other mental and emotional issues related to addiction, those effects increase.

Those who are already living with chronic health problems will find that treating oxycodone addiction may not reverse the symptoms or stop the problem but will likely slow the progression of the illness. This can give the patient time to find a treatment that will slow it further, stop it altogether and potentially reverse effects over time.

Recover Your Financial and Career Goals in a Rehab Center

Few living with an untreated oxycodone addiction are able to hold on to their jobs, no matter how hard they worked for their positions. During oxycodone rehab, you can begin the process of getting back to where you want to be with your job, with your finances and in your career. This can mean updating your resume or creating one for the first time. It can mean researching and beginning the enrollment process for an educational program that will help you get a job that pays more than the one you had before oxycodone treatment. It can also mean just researching your options and taking a few exploratory classes to figure out the direction you want to head in next or creating a financial budget to deal with debt when you get out of rehab. However you choose to proceed, you recover control of your future when you treat oxycodone addiction at rehab.

Oxycodone Rehab at Michael’s House

Learn about all the things that you can recover after oxycodone addiction by enrolling in a comprehensive oxycodone rehab program when you call Michael’s House. Our counselors are standing by to help you begin the process of recovery here at our Palm Springs oxycodone rehab. Call now.

For reporters and novelists, having a photographic memory is an absolute blessing. At a moment’s notice, they can recall even the most mundane details about an event, and these little snippets can infuse their writing with the sights, sounds and smells that make the scene come alive for the reader.

Not everyone wants to remember scenes with this amount of detail, however. There are some situations that are simply too horrible, and too painful, for people to remember.

People with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, might be able to remember terrible scenes with perfect clarity, and they might even be plunged into living nightmares full of details they’d much rather forget. Drugs might provide a temporary sense of relief, as a large amount of drugs can obliterate all conscious thought, but addictions can quickly follow drug use with this pattern.

Deepening the Dysfunction

People who have PTSD often turn to abusive substances, and they often develop addictions in response. For example, the National Center for PTSD found that among veterans with PTSD, more than two in 10 also have a substance use disorder. In the beginning, turning to abusive substances might seem like a reasonable way to deal with the stress and dysfunction, but addictive substances can make symptoms of PTSD so much worse.

People who have PTSD often feel isolated and alone, as though they’re unable to truly relate to others on an emotional level. Addictive drugs can cause the same symptoms, forcing people into their own bubbles where communicating with others is difficult or impossible. Addictive drugs can also zap a person’s will and ability to set and achieve goals. People with PTSD often struggle with this same set of problems, and their lack of a healthy, productive life can contribute to an ever-deepening sense of isolation and depression.

Those with PTSD may also have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, but addictive drugs can change the quality of sleep, making a person with PTSD feel even more exhausted, and unable to sleep. Most importantly, numbing the mind with addictive drugs allows the person to “forget” the trauma, stuffing it into a box where it isn’t seen or dealt with. The only way that PTSD will resolve is if the person examines the issue critically and experiences some level of closure. The more the person uses addictive drugs and develops drug-related amnesia, even for a few moments, the more opportunities for closure will continue to pass by. Drugs allow the person to avoid the issue, and avoidance doesn’t lead to healing.

Processing the Pain

In the past, therapists felt that they could not address a person’s PTSD as long as symptoms of addiction were still in place. These therapists felt that pushing a person in therapy, and perhaps forcing that person to deal with topics that had long been deemed unmentionable, would cause so much psychic distress that a return to drug use would be inevitable. Now, according to research conducted in Australia, experts know that people who have PTSD can benefit from therapies, and therapy doesn’t tend to exacerbate an underlying addiction issue. Studies like this seem to suggest that waiting for sobriety isn’t always necessary, and that treatments for both PTSD and addiction can take place at the same time.

The standard treatment provided for PTSD involves exposure therapy. In essence, people with PTSD are provided with the opportunity to do what they’ve likely been trying to avoid since their symptoms began: They’re asked to focus on the incident. Slowly but surely, in therapy sessions that progress in steps that the person feels comfortable with, the person is asked to process the trauma through:

Dual Therapies

There are some forms of therapy that can be beneficial in helping people to control their symptoms associated with both addiction and PTSD. Cognitive processing therapy, for example, allows people to identify problematic thoughts or beliefs that might keep them trapped in a cycle of dysfunction. Therapists might pay particular attention to points at which the person seems “stuck,” unable to make progress or move past that particular thought or belief. These stuck points could be weak points at which the person might be tempted to turn to addictive drugs.

Through intensive therapy, including exposure and art/writing projects, the therapist can help the client to move past those points and develop a sense of peacefulness and strength that could allow the person to deal with the memory without reverting to abusive drugs.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in which people are also asked to identify their destructive thought patterns and develop new skills they can use to defeat this negativity without acting on it, has been the gold standard for addiction treatment programs for years. With this therapy, people can learn to:

This same form of therapy has also been proven helpful for people who have PTSD, as it allows them to learn more about when their attacks of memory might occur, and what they might do in order to keep those episodes from enveloping their lives. According to a study of this therapy in people with PTSD, published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy, researchers found that it produced a 53-percent reduction in PTSD symptoms, and those improvements were maintained at the six-month point. Programs that integrate therapy for PTSD and addiction might tweak their approaches so clients learn to control their symptoms of both conditions at the same time.

Ongoing Support

People with PTSD may benefit from support groups, although joining such a group may be especially difficult for people with PTSD. As the mental illness has progressed, people with PTSD grow more and more isolated and alone, and their social skills may deteriorate as they may feel as though they can never really talk about the issues that matter most to them. Support groups can help to break this cycle, as people will be exposed to others who have the same issues, and they’ll be encouraged to actually discuss and disclose all of those thoughts and feelings they’ve been keeping hidden for so long. People who experience violence due to war or some other traumatic event involving large groups of people may benefit from support groups, as they’ve all been through the same issue at the same time, and they may even share parts of the same memories. But even joining a support group for addiction might be beneficial for people with PTSD, as they’ll have the opportunity to discuss their trauma through the frame of their addictions.

People with PTSD may also benefit from family therapy sessions. The illness can cause some people to strike out with fear and anger at those they love the most, especially when a hallucination is ongoing, and addictions can drive an even bigger wedge between impacted people and their families. In therapy, these issues can be explored, and the person might feel comfortable discussing the original trauma with family members for the very first time. They may all develop a closeness that’s based on honesty and full disclosure, and they may all work together to help the person continue to heal. It can be a remarkable tool.

Taking the First Step

Schizophrenia is considered a chronic condition that can cause severe disruptions in a person’s health, happiness and peace of mind. The condition can appear at almost any age, but it typically appears during adolescence, when people are just learning how to function within the adult world. With therapy, people who have schizophrenia can keep their symptoms under control, but the condition can never truly be cured.

Living with a chronic condition like this can be difficult, and some people rebel against the schizophrenia label, refusing to participate in therapy for short periods of time, and relapsing back into poor habits as a result. Addictive drugs can make this process so much worse, exacerbating schizophrenia symptoms and counteracting the effect of medications that can be used to control the disease. While schizophrenia and addiction can go hand in hand, as this article will make clear, recovery from both conditions is possible.

Differing Paths to the Same Result

The number of people who have both schizophrenia and addictions is high, although the reasons that people have both of these conditions might be dramatically different. Some people use drugs in order to help them deal with schizophrenia and simply “feel normal.” In a study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, of the 48 percent of schizophrenia patients who had addictions, most had remarkably common reasons for using drugs. Many wanted to “get high,” feel less depressed or feel relaxed. These are much the same reasons anyone else would use addictive drugs, which seems to indicate that some schizophrenic people come to drug use in much the same way that anyone would come to drug use.

On the other hand, there are some drugs of abuse that cause changes in brain chemistry, and for people who have a family history of schizophrenia or some other risk factor for the disease, using drugs can cause schizophrenia to appear for the very first time. In a study of the issue, published in the journal Schizophrenia Research, authors found that 62 percent of schizophrenic patients reported using drugs before schizophrenic symptoms began. For these people, the drugs seem to turn on a switch, allowing symptoms to manifest where there had never been symptoms before.

Regardless of whether the addiction or the schizophrenia comes first, when both conditions are in place at the same time, they can strengthen one another. For example, people with schizophrenia may experience:

Medication Management

Programs that address an addiction as well as a mental illness are often referred to as “Dual Diagnosis programs,” and they can be quite helpful. In many of these programs, clients are encouraged to use the power of their minds, instead of the power of medications, in order to gain control of both conditions. While this type of therapy can be helpful in dealing with some types of mental illnesses, research suggests that people with schizophrenia need a slightly different approach.

Since schizophrenia is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, medications prescribed by consulting physicians can be effective in alleviating symptoms. There are a variety of different medications that can be used, and often patients and their doctors must go through a period of experimentation until they find a combination that provides good control and a low incidence of side effects, but the National Institute on Mental Health reports that most people feel significantly better within six weeks of starting treatment. In most cases, people simply must take medications in order to control schizophrenia, and they must take those medications for the rest of their lives to maintain a level of control.

Supportive Therapies

When symptoms of paranoia or psychosis have subsided, therapy can help schizophrenic patients to learn more about their disease and what they must do to keep it under control.

These are all vital steps that can help people with schizophrenia to develop healthy, balanced lives that are fulfilling and rewarding, and don’t leave room for substance use and abuse.

These steps can also help people to keep their schizophrenia under control, so they won’t lean on addictive drugs for symptom relief.

Some people with schizophrenia also need extensive help in order to help them integrate into the community. These people may need assistance in finding housing, completing an education or learning how to apply for a job. Intensive care involving a team of professionals and a case manager may be helpful, as all of these aspects can be addressed and the person can develop a healthier and more sustainable way of living as a result. Some addiction programs provide this level of care, while others refer their clients to community programs when they’ve achieved their sobriety and are ready to return to their homes once more.

The Importance of Care

It might be easy to assume that symptoms of addiction will magically disappear, once the proper treatment for schizophrenia is found. Unfortunately, addictions can be insidious, and people who are addicted to drugs might face such severe challenges due to their addictions that they simply cannot control their schizophrenia. Their brains may call out for the drugs, and their bodies are somewhat helpless to resist. This could be behind some of the relapse statistics found in a study in the journal Schizophrenia Research. Here, researchers found those who had schizophrenia and addictions accounted for 57 percent of all hospital readmissions. When one condition, or both, is allowed to stay in place, it’s difficult for true health to appear. That’s why therapy is so important. It’s the best way to help people gain control of all the issues they face.

If you have addictions and schizophrenia, we’d like to help you at Michael’s House. Our therapists know how to integrate mental health treatment with addiction care, and we focus on helping our clients develop constructive life skills they can use in the fight against schizophrenia and addiction. Family therapy is an important part of the care we provide, and we also provide an active alumni program that can help people to stay in touch once their formal treatment programs have ended. Please call us to find out more about any of these components of our treatment program.

When something dangerous is about to take place, or something important is bound to happen within the next few moments, the brain uses anxiety to turn up the heat. All of the senses are heightened, ready to take in new information and react at a moment’s notice to anything new that might appear. Feelings of anxiety can help people avoid a pedestrian crossing the road at an inopportune time, and anxiety might help a politician stay engaged and involved during a crucial debate with an opponent. Anxiety can also develop around changes that are positive. Ditching a terrible job in favor of fulltime self-employment might be thrilling, for example, but it also might cause symptoms of severe anxiety, especially when the monthly bills begin piling up in the family mailbox.

Anxiety is designed to function on a basic on/off switch. When a stimulus is there, the anxiety is in place. When the stimulus is gone, the anxiety blows away in the breeze. Unfortunately, some people develop broken anxiety switches, allowing their feelings to stay in place, even when there is no reason at all for those horrible feelings to persist. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, some 40 million Americans have anxiety disorders like this. Some of these people turn to drugs or alcohol in a desperate attempt to resolve their destructive feelings.

The Lure of Substances

Feeling consistently worried, jumpy or stressed can be simply exhausting. People with anxiety disorders may become so disabled that they simply cannot get through a standard day. Their fear paralyzes them. Substances of abuse might seem to provide some avenue of relief, at least temporarily. Substances like cocaine and heroin might help people with anxiety to fall asleep, and that’s something that they might find extremely difficult to do without help. Other drugs of abuse such as cocaine and methamphetamine might help people with anxiety to feel as though they’re powerful and in control, and this might help the anxious feelings to fade. Unfortunately, people who lean on substances for anxiety control may find that their coping skills cause more harm than help.

Substances such as alcohol and cocaine can cause an increase in feelings of anxiety when addicted people attempt to stop taking them. People who use these drugs for anxiety control may find that they’re on an endless roller coaster, using drugs to control anxiety, feeling an increase in anxiety when they try to stop using, and then reverting to drug use once more. It’s no wonder that the Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that 20 percent of Americans with an anxiety or mood disorder have a substance abuse disorder. This type of cycle is persistent, and it’s hard to overcome without help.

Breaking the Link

If suddenly stopping the abuse of drugs causes a spike in anxious feelings, it’s reasonable to expect that a tapered or assisted withdrawal from drugs could be a beneficial first step on the road to recovery. That’s just what structured detox programs provide. At the beginning of these programs, experts determine what drugs the person has been taking, and at what dosages, and then develop a reasonable plan, with the assistance of consulting physicians, to help the person get sober without experiencing a spike in anxious feelings. The methods used can vary depending on the drugs the person has been taking.

When the detoxification process is over and the person is sober, the real work of long-term recovery begins. In therapy, people can learn how to keep their addictions and their anxious symptoms in check, and gain control of their lives once more.

Medication Management

People who have anxiety disorders and addictions may have become accustomed to popping a pill or taking a drink when the stresses of life become overwhelming. In general, this is a habit that addiction treatment programs attempt to address, as they provide clients with lessons they can use to control their anxiety without resorting to abusive drugs. There are some people, however, who have anxiety disorders that are so severe that they simply cannot participate in therapy programs. Their mental illnesses put up roadblock after roadblock, preventing true healing from taking place. These people might need medications in order to start their healing.

In an overview of the topic, published in Medscape, the authors suggest that there are anti-anxiety medications that can be helpful for people with addictions, and these medications come with a low abuse potential. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (commonly known as SSRIs) have been proven effective in depression and substance abuse, the authors claim, although some people benefit more than others do, even when they’re both provided with the same therapy. In general, since the risk of abuse still exists and not everyone benefits from the therapy, medications aren’t considered mandatory for all patients with anxiety and substance abuse, and those who do use this therapy are monitored closely by consulting physicians to ensure that the treatment is working as it should.

Therapy Techniques

Anxiety disorders can cause people to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to the voices inside of their heads and believing the messages they hear.

There are multiple therapy types that can be used to treat anxiety disorders, and the therapy type chosen typically depends heavily on the type of anxiety disorder the person has. However, almost all therapy types attempt to challenge these negative thoughts and help people to come up with replacement ideas that are both positive and reassuring. For example, behavioral psychotherapy teaches clients to use breathing techniques when anxiety strikes, replacing the shallow, fast breaths that accompany fear with the slow, deep breaths that come with sleep. The heart rate slows, the muscles relax and the anxiety seems to fade. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy might also help people to label their thoughts as destructive and take them apart directly, confronting the destruction instead of masking the pain.

Getting Support

Anxiety disorders can be isolating, especially if people truly believe that there is no one else in the world that is able to understand the issue and provide needed guidance and help when things get bad. Support groups can provide meaningful help. Here, people who have the same issue come together to discuss their coping strategies, personal histories, stories of success and days of despair. Some support groups have an educational component, allowing people to more firmly understand the specific issues they’re facing, while other support groups are strictly supportive, providing emotional help without lessons of any sort. People with anxiety and addictions may benefit from addiction-based support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, or they may benefit from anxiety support groups. Some of these anxiety groups hold meetings in hospitals or health care clinics, while others hold their meetings online.

It can take some trial and error to find the right support group. Some meetings are targeted for specific age groups or specific cultural groups, and some meetings just don’t seem like a good fit. There’s no shame in experimenting, going to a few sample meetings of several different groups in order to find the right match. Most groups don’t require registration or attendance fees, so this experimentation is relatively easy.

We Can Help

At Michael’s House, we’ve helped many clients come to terms with both addiction and anxiety, and we’ve developed a tailored approach that allows us to provide just the right treatment at just the right time to help our clients recover. Some spend time in our detoxification center, where they are treated by consulting physicians, and then move on to our inpatient program. Others access help on an outpatient basis. Please contact us directly, and let us get the enrollment process started. We’d like to help you.

Many individuals have to deal with two foes at the same time: depression and addiction. Understanding why these two issues tend to go hand in hand, and learning more about how they can be controlled, can help people to undo the damage they cause in their lives.

Destructive Coping Skills

Sadness is part of the human experience. Disappointments, tragedies and loss tend to impact almost everyone at one time or another, and sadness is an appropriate response to this sort of stimulus. Even in the depths of despair, however, most people are able to experience a little happiness, even for a few moments, and the feelings of depression tend to be fleeting. By contrast, people with major depression experience a low mood for at least two weeks, and sometimes, the feelings last for months. These aren’t low feelings that are easy to work around. Instead, people with major depression may experience terrible symptoms, including:

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health reports that 10 to 25 percent of women develop major depression during their lifetimes. Men are also impacted, the Centre reports, and these men have a completed suicide rate that’s four times that of women. As these statistics make clear, depression is a serious issue for both men and women, and when pushed to the extreme with feelings that won’t seem to go away, some people are forced to make terrible decisions they might not ever contemplate if they’d felt happy and well.

Addressing the Issue

It’s quite common for addiction and depression to appear in the same person at the same time. In a study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, researchers found that 43.7 percent of people who entered treatment programs for addiction had been diagnosed with depression at some point during their lifetimes. This is a staggering number of people, and it would be reasonable to assume that all treatment programs would modify their programs in order to reach out to these people and provide meaningful help for the problems they were facing. While many programs might provide some treatments for addiction that could also be used to control depression, so-called “Dual Diagnosis” programs that cater to people who have both mental illnesses and addictions might provide therapies that are even more helpful. Through the help of these programs, people learn about their addictions as well as their mental illnesses, and they might be able to achieve a level of control that simply wouldn’t be possible with a standard addiction treatment program.

Dual Diagnosis programs for depression begin with an assessment phase in which the person is provided with a series of psychological tests. The results of these tests allow therapists to understand the severity of the depression symptoms the person is facing, and they may provide therapists with information about the length of time that depression has been an issue for that person. With that data in hand, therapists can build a treatment program that is tailored to the specific needs of that person at that time.

Related Topics

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• Alcohol Rehab

Medications May Play a Role

Since major depression is caused, in part, by changes in the chemistry of the brain, medications prescribe by consulting physicians may be helpful for some people. Antidepressant medications can boost production of specific chemicals that are associated with positive moods, and reduce the production of chemicals that are associated with feelings of anxiety. People with severe cases of depression may need medications in order to feel healthy and focused enough to focus on the lessons they’ll learn in their addiction and depression therapy programs.

Antidepressant medications are far from a cure-all for addiction and depression, as helpful as they might be. In fact, researchers writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association report that antidepressants have a “modest beneficial effect” for people with depression and substance abuse issues. The researchers report that some people do benefit from the drugs, but they do best when they’re provided with both medications and other forms of therapy.

Those who choose to participate in antidepressant therapies simply must not abuse substances of any sort, as addictive drugs can counteract the effects of the antidepressants, or cause drug/drug interactions that could be life-threatening. For example, the Mayo Clinic reports that mixing alcohol and antidepressants can lead to:

People might be tempted to stop taking their medications for a short period of time, so they can take in just a few hits of the drugs they’re addicted to without experiencing these side effects, but this can also be a poor decision. Antidepressant medications often require weeks to fully kick in, and skipping a dose could mean starting the adjustment process all over again. One should not stop taking medications or different doses unless advised by consulting physicians.

Harnessing the Mind

People with depression can sometimes get caught in a destructive pattern of thought, in which minor mistakes or tiny transgressions become major causes of stress and worry. People may feel critical of every step they take and every decision they’ve made, and their inner voices may be full of doubt and self-hatred. These thoughts can drive people back into the arms of addiction, as they desperately seek a method that can help to slow down their overactive minds.

In Dual Diagnosis therapy for depression and addiction, therapists can use a variety of techniques to help clients learn how to change these negative thought patterns. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions, for example, clients are asked to identify the thoughts that typically fill their minds before they take a sip of alcohol or snort a line of drugs. Clients are then asked to break these thoughts apart, challenging their validity instead of assuming they are true. Instead of reacting to the negative thought, clients learn to change the way they think.

Treatment Works

While it’s true that people who have both addiction and depression issues have a more complicated recovery process when compared to people who have only one of these issues at a time, recovery really is possible for Dual Diagnosis patients. Study after study has demonstrated the value of enrolling in a treatment program and getting help for the terrible distress these issues can cause. For example, a study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that of patients who were provided with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for addiction and depression, 47 percent were abstinent from alcohol both three and six months after treatment ended. This is an extremely positive sign, and it demonstrates how truly valuable it can be for people to enter treatment programs and get control over their habits.

There’s even some evidence that people with depression do better in treatment programs than people who have addictions alone. A study in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment found that depressed clients had a longer duration of abstinence, when compared to people who did not have depression and who received the same level of addiction care. In fact, this study found that people who had depression “…achieved almost complete discontinuation of primary substance use.” While their two conditions made their lives extremely difficult, therapy helped them to gain control.

At Michael’s House, we specialize in providing Dual Diagnosis programs for both men and women. We integrate our treatment programs, providing assistance for both addiction and mental illness at the same time. Our facility, located in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in California, provides a hacienda-style campus that’s been described as the perfect place to find peace and serenity. We invite you to call our experts and learn more about how our treatment programs might help you. We’re waiting for your call.