Drug Addiction and Rehab in Cincinnati, OH

Overcoming a drug addiction is more than a matter of sheer willpower and determination. While these are important factors in a person’s ability to successfully recover from drug addiction, the National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that they are not enough to guarantee success. Drug rehab and drug treatment, on the other hand, paired with that determination and will to succeed can and will help a person overcome their drug addiction. Do not be one of the many people who make the mistake of trying to take on a drug addiction alone when there are so many drug rehab and treatment options available through Drug Detox Centers Cincinnati.

Understanding Drug Dependence

Drug dependence is an aspect of a drug addiction. It is the physical dependence that a person develops on a substance through chronic and repeated substance consumption and abuse. The reasons that a person develops a dependence upon drugs or alcohol have to do with the ways that the substances interact with the brain and central nervous system.

When a person consumes an addictive substance, that substance begins to send instructions to the brain, telling it what actions to perform and which to cease performing. These are actions, like the release of dopamine (the brain’s feel-good chemical), that the brain would normally perform on its own as needed. However, when the drug indicates it, the action is quick and usually much more powerful than the body and brain would do on its own.

Because of these interactions and the intensity of the actions the brain takes due to the signals it receives from the drug, repeated substance abuse will cause the brain to change its structure and functions so that it awaits instructions from the drug to perform specific actions. When the brain makes these adjustments and begins to consider the presence of a drug to be “normal,” this is drug dependence.

Discerning Drug Dependence and Drug Addiction

When a person is addicted to drugs or alcohol, drug dependence is one part of that addiction. There are also mental, emotional, spiritual, social, relationship, and other factors to an addiction that are not entirely physical in nature. Many people mistake drug dependence for addiction and only seek to overcome that physical dependence. However, if the other aspects of a person’s addiction are not properly addressed and dealt with, relapse and future substance abuse are a virtual certainty.

Treating Drug Addiction

The treatment of a drug addiction starts by breaking the physical dependence a person has on the addicted substance. Medical detox is the most successful and safest option to break that dependence. This treatment allows all remnants of the drug to leave the body and gets the brain to function normally again without the drug, all while doctors and other medical professionals oversee the process. Medical detox is safe because doctors can monitor and treat withdrawal symptoms as they occur, using prescription medications and can use some of those medications to also shorten the detox process.

Once a person’s brain is no longer dependent upon the drug to function normally, a person can then begin to treat the other areas affected by addiction. Cognitive-behavioral therapy in individual and group sessions as well as other alternative therapies will help a person to determine the reasons they abuse substances and come up with ways to change those reasons, either by learning how to avoid them, getting out of negative situations or relationships, or developing coping mechanisms and strategies for those issues that are unavoidable (like stress or past trauma).

Drug addiction may be challenging to overcome, but is not impossible with the help of recovery options from Drug Detox Centers Cincinnati. Just give one of our recovery advocates a call at (513) 914-4554 today.