Causes And Treatment Of Addictions

Short explanation of the prevalent treatment methods

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:45:46 +0000

DETOX

Treatment focuses on augmenting the withdrawal process by suppressing the urge temporarily and purifying the body from drugs by using various chemicals. Patient is kept in an unnatural environment (in a special medical facility).

Link:
http://www.hbo.com/addiction/treatment/39_what_is_detox.html

MEDICATION TREATMENT

Patient is treated with medicines (methadone, naltrexone, buprenorphine and alike) which either try to balance the chemicals in the brain or appease the urge by giving a substitute

Link:
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/treatmeth.html

COUNSELING PROGRAMS

Patient is led through cognitive therapy, multidimensional family therapy, motivational interviewing, motivational incentives and other similar programs

Link:
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/treatmeth.html

HYPNO-THERAPY

Focus is on reinforcing behavioral changes and helping the patient cope with stresses through self induced hypnosis or hypnosis induced by a certified hypnotherapist.

Link:
http://www.beatingaddictions.co.uk/HypnosisForAnAddiction.html

12-STEP PROGRAMS

In addition to counseling support and support therapy, this treatment is also focused on relying on God and asking for His help in the process. Also it focuses on enabling the patient independently work on reducing one’s defects in personality and making amends for the wrongdoings. The person is also motivated to help others.

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program

SPIRITUAL HEALING PROGRAMS

Focus is on specific spiritual measures including specific energy chants and applying spiritual treatment materials onto oneself

Link:
http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/addiction

Comparable effectiveness of addiction treatment methods

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:37:43 +0000

Here is a comparable overview of the various treatment methods nowadays with their mode of operation and effectiveness explained. What is clear from this table is that there are numerous treatment methods but unless they focus on the cause the treatment will not be very effective. Unfortunately all the prevalent methods nowadays do not target the cause. There is only one method, albeit not a prevalent one, which targets the cause.

Technique	Mode of operation	Effectiveness	Explanation of effectiveness
Detox	Physical	Extremely low	Since it is done in an unnatural environment and not focusing on preventing the future use the patient usually turns back to drugs immediately after leaving the facility. This treatment does not target the cause of addiction.
Medication treatment	Physical	Very low	Compared to detox the treatment is more effective because it focuses on prolonged treatment. However since the treatment is gross, that is, focusing on the physical level, and is not treating the cause of addiction the effectiveness is very low. Also giving substitute is a false cure as the patient is still an addict just using a less harmful drug.
Counseling programs	Psychological (Conscious mind)	Low	The effectiveness of this method is slightly higher than the previous two as it also targets the psychological aspect of the illness and also motivates the person psychologically to fight addiction. In addition the treatment is helpful in making the patient more socially adaptable and by involving his loved ones in the process. Their support proves helpful. However, since it still does not target the cause of addiction the effectiveness is low.
Hypno therapy	Psychological (Subconscious mind)	Medium	Since the treatment targets the impressions in the subconscious mind it can be very helpful in treating the patient. However even this method does not target the cause of the problem completely as it does not include the spiritual aspect
12-step program	Psychological (Conscious mind), Spiritual	Medium	Since the treatment is focused on curing the mind and also focuses on the spiritual support the effectiveness is higher than other methods mentioned above. In addition, the act of helping others reduces focus on self which helps to overcome the addiction faster. However even this method does not focus on the actual cause of the treatment so it is still not effective in most cases.
Spiritual healing	Spiritual	Complete	Since the method targets the actual cause of addiction with appropriate treatment for the same it can guarantee permanent cure without relapse. The timing needed for the cure depends on one’s efforts and also one’s destiny, but if it is applied properly it is effective in 100% of cases.

What is the effectiveness of various treatment methods used nowadays? Data from scientific research:

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:59:55 +0000

According to the National institute on drug abuse (NIDA) about 30% of people relapse within 6 months of therapy. Many other researchers and authorities in the field mention figures of 40%-60% (Simpson, Joe & Lehman; Bell; Peters, etc).

Dr. George Koob, a professor with the Scripps Research Institute goes even further to show that approximately 80% of the addicts and alcoholics who experience detox return to drug or alcohol use within a year!

No one seems to research the percentage of relapses after 1 year but if we follow this trend, that percentage of relapse increases over time, it would not be surprising to find that 90% of drug addicts will relapse at some point in their life.

These are staggering figures. Imagine how our life would be if everything we tried to do in life had such a success ratio. Imagine if this was the success ratio of a plane flight. How many people would dare to fly? Actually this reminds me that in the early days of flying. Up until the 1950’s, the success ratios of flights were pretty low, maybe as low as the addiction treatment ratios nowadays, and the reason was simple: the planes were not designed properly.

The same stands true here. If something repeatedly fails it is obviously missing some key element and the methodology has to be changed. And this unfortunately applies to every single addiction treatment used in the moden world today.

A story of a successful treatment center

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:56:11 +0000

Before going into the reasons for addiction it is important to see the reality of the current situation and the current effectiveness of drug treatment in the world. The reality is that most drug treatments fail and they fail in great measure.

I once volunteered at a drug treatment center in downtown DC. Not a very nice area of town but in that area there was a rehab center with some very nice people. They were ex addicts themselves and they created one of the best rehab centers in town, renowned for their effectiveness. The patients were closed in for 6 weeks without contact with the outside world, without contact with the drugs, with daily consultations, meetings, games, support and daily prayers as well. People had to sacrifice a lot to become patients at this facility and the rules were tough. You try to smuggle even a sip of any sort of alcohol or a smidgen of any sort of drug and it was over, you would be permanently removed from the center. And with no chance of ever coming back. This was their general rule of tough love. Even if you completed the treatment and then had a relapse the door was closed for you forever. It was one chance so you better give it all you got. And it worked, to some extent. And due to this there was a backlog of people waiting to join, because they were renowned for their effectiveness.

But even this popular center with unique methods and what was considered high effectiveness did not really have a high effectiveness. They were far from curing every single soul and many people relapsed, some even on the day of leaving the facility. So, it made me wonder and I did some research. Lo and behold, the figures are very disappointing.

How difficult is it to get rehabilitated from drug addiction? Does it depend on our willpower?

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:52:09 +0000

Some people say to drug addicts “All it takes is strong will. If you really want to, you could stop cold turkey and never go back to it”. If it was really that simple then people would not have to resort to nicotine patches, there would be no need for anti alcoholism drugs, there would be no rehabilitation centers. But the reality is that getting over addiction is hard. Very hard. And one’s willpower is in most cases not sufficient to bring about a cure.

Have we all not tried to quit something very simple, like not eating chocolate in order to save that pound or two? And have we not found it mentally difficult to bear? If such a small thing was difficult for us to do then can we imagine how much more difficult it would be to overcome a disease which seeps through every aspect of our life? Which attaches itself to our physical, mental and intellectual existence relinquishing to let go despite the best efforts of that individual.

Will power is in most cases insufficient. Especially when we realize that in the case of addictions there is a much more sinister, sly and overbearing enemy which uses every opportunity to push the individual towards this addiction in order to fulfill its own desires. The enemy which lies in the spiritual realm and which can only be overcome on its own turf, by using spiritual means. But we will talk more about that later on.

Addictions – a worldwide predicament

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:11:48 +0000

Addictions are a worldwide phenomenon adversely affecting the lives of millions across all geographical boundaries and cultures. At a personal level, people’s lives are destroyed by their addictions and their loved ones also suffer the trauma from the negative ripple effect. At the level of society, despite efforts from governments and care institutions, addictions on the whole drain a nation, reducing its effectiveness and burdening it with extra costs.

There is no consensus as to the aetiology (cause), prevention and treatment of addictive disorders.
Many people consider addictive behaviors such as gambling and alcoholism as ‘diseases,’
But others consider them to be behaviors learned in response to the complex interplay between heredity and environmental factors.
Still others argue in favor of a genetic cause. Some researchers point out that, unlike most common diseases such as tuberculosis, which has a definite cause (a microbe) and a definite treatment model to which everyone agrees, there is no conclusive cause or definite treatment method to which everyone agrees for most of the addictive behaviors.
On one hand, we have billion dollar budgets to reduce substance abuse and on the other hand, we have no consensus as to the cause of addictions.
Through this blog we’ll try to understand some of the basic features of addiction, describe some prevailing methods of treatment, as well as introduce the importance of the spiritual dimension in overcoming addiction.

We’ll basically be aiming to give an overview of :

Basics of addiction
Types, causes and its ill effects of addiction
Prevailing addiction treatment techniques
Spiritual research into addiction
Significance of the spiritual dimension in overcoming addiction
Spiritual research and spiritual healing
Spiritual healing chants for addiction
Benefits of salt water therapy
Ghosts and addiction
Various sites for overcoming addiction with a spiritual perspective, and much more…

Watch for many more interesting details to come on this blog..

Introduction

causesandtreatmentofaddictions — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:58:50 +0000

Spiritual research indicates that 96% of the causes of addictions are due to ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.) or departed ancestors. The seeds of addictions are introduced in the womb itself by ghosts. Due to the spiritual nature of the cause of addictions, only spiritual remedies can successfully alleviate addiction.