Ready for de-addiction! what next?

When dealing with drug addiction, most of us focus on what a rehabilitation centre can do for the individual. However, Dr Ch Siva Kumar, Assistant Professor of Psychiatrist, Institute of Mental Health opines that most of the effort needs to come from the patient.

One needs to identify ‘Drug Dependency Syndrome’features, he says. “This includes tolerance. At the initial stage, the person stars with a small dose of drugs. But gradually he increases it to double and triple. Ultimately, h/she will require grams of substance to get a high because of tolerance,” informs the doctor.

“Another major thing to watch out for is withdrawal. If the addicted person does not take the drugs they will get irritable, anxious and there will be shivering of hands till they take drugs,” he says.

“One also needs to look out for functional impairment. This means that the addicted person cannot manage relationships with family or colleagues. There will be lack of concentration at office that may lead to loss of job,” says Dr Kumar.

Once these points are identified, an addict should self-impose a few “treatment options”. “Normally, detoxification takes about two to three weeks during which medicines will be used for controlling of withdrawal symptoms,” shares the doctor.

“However, during that time, de-addiction symptoms arise (like the one discussed above). If these are moderate to serious the patient can be treated with ‘Motivation Enhancement Therapy’ (MET).”

“MET is a directive, person-cantered approach to therapy that focuses on improving an individual's motivation to change. Those who engage in self-destructive behaviours may often be ambivalent or have little motivation to change, despite acknowledging the negative impact of said behaviours on health, family life, and social functioning,” he adds.

“The next important step is psychotherapy or counselling. This is also called Aversion Therapy in which behavioural approach principles are used. This means that new behaviour can be 'learnt' toovercome addictions, obsessions,” he informs.

But, most importantly, it is about self-control and will power. “One can begin meditation to control cravings. There are a number of breathing exercises as well to help with this,” motivates the doctor.

Despite all the steps being taken by both the doctor and patient, one must not underestimate the psychological pull of drugs. Consequently, one or two relapse episodes are bound to occur.

“After stopping using drugs relapse is common. To treat this, there are ‘prevention techniques’ used.In this external ‘cues’ to stop interacting with friends who take drugs. One should avoid places where they may have access to drugs,” says the doctor.

Having said that, the most difficult step is the first one that is to acknowledge that an addict needs help. Once that’s done, the road to de-addiction is easy.