Community Rehab

If you are considering a community rehab option it is important that you evaluate your own or your loved ones level of abuse or addiction. Abuse can sometimes be successfully handled in a community rehab center where the individual is considered at an out-patient and returns home each day. This has limited workability when it comes to full blown addiction. Addiction generally involves a drug or alcohol abuse pattern that is out of control and despite one’s best intentions he or she finds themselves unable to control or stop the drug abuse. At this stage the addict usually lacks the self control to return home each day and stay clean between community rehab visits. In such a case a long term residential treatment facility can markedly increase the odds of success and addiction recovery for lifetime.

Abuse and Addiction? Where is the line between the two and what is the difference? In terms of drug use, ‘abuse’ is the harmful or illegal use of non-medicinal use of drugs or alcohol. If we define addiction as a mental or physical dependence or drugs or alcohol we can see that the lines are often blurred. Many people feel Drug Rehab is only for those with an addiction. A comprehensive drug rehab such as Narconon Arrowhead will also address those with an abuse problem and in fact many people who feel they only have an abuse problem are in fact in the deadly grasp of addiction without realizing it. Drug abuse is always part of the addiction cycle. A quality rehab program is able to evaluate the underlying causes of substance abuse problems and help the abuser put workable solutions into place before their entire life crumbles around them. Narconon Arrowhead successfully helps the individual help themselves – no matter the stage of abuse or addiction.

All drug rehab programs are not created equal; there are many different types and formats. There are long term, short term, in-patient, out-patient, traditional 12 step, and non traditional to name but a few. One big difference to be aware of is whether or not the drug rehab programs you may be looking at are drug free or whether the program embraces the use of other or substitute or additional drugs and ‘medications’ in an effort to control or alleviate addiction. Narconon Arrowhead is a long term, non traditional, drug free approach to the problems of abuse and addiction. These points set us apart from many of the other drug rehab programs available. We start with the assumption that the being is basically good and despite any appearances to the contrary actually wants to attain a completely drug free productive life. The Narconon program embraces many, many different factors that stop or inhibit the individual from reaching this goal. The majority of Narconon staff are ex-addicts and alcoholics themselves and know what it takes to get lasting results – we’ve been there! When examining the various drug rehab programs look for one thing – LASTING results and success.

Any treatment for addiction usually includes handling alcohol abuse. There is of course alcoholism itself, which is simply the name given to alcohol addiction. In addition to this, statistics at Narconon Arrowhead show that alcohol abuse quite often accompanies other drug addictions and must be handled as well. The idea that one can quit his drug of choice but still abuse alcohol is a dangerous idea. As drugs or alcohol are generally used as crutches for painful situations (mental or physical) in ones life, substituting one drug for another (including alcohol) can be seen as no solution at all. Effective handling of alcohol abuse, or any other substance abuse, involves confronting and controlling those life situations that are creating the need or desire to escape through alcohol or drugs. When one can be more comfortable in life without drugs or alcohol than with them, then the need or desire for them will cease.

With chronic use, tolerance for methamphetamine can develop. In an effort to intensify the desired effects, users may take higher doses of the drug, take it more frequently, or change their method of drug intake. In some cases, abusers forego food and sleep while indulging in a form of binging known as a ‘un’, injecting as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days until the user runs out of the drug or is too disorganized to continue. Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behavior, characterized by intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behavior. Although there are no physical manifestations of a withdrawal syndrome when methamphetamine use is stopped, there are several symptoms that occur when a chronic user stops taking the drug. These include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and an intense craving for the drug.