Category Archives: Alcohol recovery

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Treatment systems tailored for dual diagnosis

Treatment systems

Treatment systems tailored for dual diagnosis can be effective when timely treatment solution is sought

Treatment systems tailored for dual diagnosis: Mental health treatment solutions

People with dual disorders who want to engage in the treatment systems tailored towards addressing the real problem often have serious challenges and so quite frequently encounter several treatment systems with each having its own strengths and weaknesses. These treatment systems have different clinical approaches.

Treatment systems tailored for dual diagnosis: The mental health system

Actually, there is no single mental health system, although most States have a set of public mental health centers. Rather, mental health services are provided by a variety of mental health professionals including psychiatrists; psychologists; clinical social workers; clinical nurse specialists; other therapists and counselors including marriage, family, and child counselors (MFCCs); and paraprofessionals.

These mental health personnel work in a variety of settings, using a variety of theories about the treatment of specific psychiatric disorders. Different types of mental health professionals for example, social workers and MFCCs have differing perspectives; moreover, practitioners within a given group often use different approaches.

A major strength of the mental health system is the comprehensive array of services offered, including counseling, case management, partial hospitalization, inpatient treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and a variety of residential programs. The mental health system has a relatively large variety of treatment settings. These settings are designed to provide treatment services for patients with acute, sub-acute, and long-term symptoms.

  • Acute services are provided by personnel in emergency rooms and hospital units of several types and by crisis-line personnel, outreach teams, and mental health law commitment specialists.
  • Sub-acute services are provided by hospitals, day treatment programs, mental health center programs, and several types of individual practitioners.
  • Long-term settings include mental health centers, residential units, and practitioners’ offices.
  • Clinicians vary with regard to academic degrees, styles, expertise, and training.
  • Strength of the mental health system is the growing recognition at all system levels of the role of case management as a means to individualize and coordinate services and secures entitlements.

Medication is more often used in psychiatric treatment than in addiction treatment, especially for severe disorders. Medications used to treat psychiatric symptoms include psychoactive and non-psychoactive medications. Psychoactive medications cause an acute change in mood, thinking, or behavior, such as sedation, stimulation, or euphoria.

Psychoactive medications (such as benzodiazepines) prescribed to the average patient with psychiatric problems are generally taken in an appropriate fashion and pose little or no risk of abuse or addiction. In contrast, the use of psychoactive medications by patients with a personal or family history of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) use disorder is associated with a high risk of abuse or addiction.

Some medications used in psychiatry that have mild psychoactive effects (such as some tricyclic antidepressants with mild sedative effects) appear to be misused more by patients with an AOD disorder than by others. Thus, a potential pitfall is prescribing psychoactive medications to a patient with psychiatric problems without first determining whether the individual also has an AOD use disorder.

While most clinicians in the mental health system generally have expertise in a bio-psychosocial approach to the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders, some lack similar skills and knowledge about the specific drugs of abuse, the bio-psychosocial processes of abuse and addiction, and AOD treatment, recovery, and relapse. Similarly, AOD treatment professionals may have a thorough understanding of AOD abuse treatment but not psychiatric treatment. That is why doctor Dalal Akoury made a decision to create a medical center (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) whose main objective is to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. Dr. Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. You can call her on telephone number 843 213 1480 for the completeness of your treatment.

Treatment systems tailored for dual diagnosis: Mental health treatment solutions

http://www.awaremednetwork.com/

 

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Drug addiction roots and triggers

Drug addiction roots

Drug addiction roots and triggers must be crushed if we have to kick out the scourge out of our communities

Drug addiction roots and triggers: The hurdles of stopping addiction

There is nothing that happens without it roots, for example we all have our roots where we came from, who our parents, grandparents etc. are and so when we want to talk about us we are able to identify with our roots and get into the story, in the same way the problem of addiction can also be understood from its known roots before we can talk of administering treatment. Understanding drug addiction roots will include looking at various triggers and why some people appear to be more susceptible than others. In spite of what people say stopping addiction is not easy and many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. Erroneously it’s assumed that those who abuse drugs lack moral principles or willpower and they could stop using drugs if they want to simply by choosing to change their behavior.

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center headed by doctor Dalal Akoury MD, the truth is that drug addiction is a complex and complicated condition. Stopping any substance abuse is such an uphill task that takes more than good intentions or strong will. It is important to know that drugs changes the brain in ways that foster compulsive drug abuse. However, with the advancement in technology much ground has been covered hence, drug addiction can successfully be treated to help people stop abusing drugs and lead productive lives. And that brings us to the true definition of drug addiction.

Drug addiction roots and triggers: What is drug addiction?

Professionally doctor Akoury defines addiction as a chronic problem, and a relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use despite all the known harmful consequences to the addicted persons and to people around them. When we are opting for drugs in most cases it is never done forcefully. The new user get in drugs on a willing basis, the problem that follows could be devastating in the sense that the alterations that take place in the brain over a period of time influences the addicts ability to practice self-control and hinder their will to resist intense impulses to take drugs.

Like has been mentioned, we’re much informed today of the availability of treatment procedures tailored to help people counter addiction’s powerful disruptive effects. Several studies have also established that mixing addiction treatment medications with behavioral therapy is one of the best ways to ensure success for most patients. Treatment methods that are tailored to each patient’s drug abuse patterns and any co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life free of drug abuse. All these treatment options are available with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center and upon scheduling an appointment with doctor Akoury, your life will never be the same again.

Finally, as you consider making that appointment, It is important to note that during treatment process just like any other chronic disease patients can relapse and begin abusing drugs again, when this happen, it does not indicate failure of treatment but rather it indicates that treatment should be:

  • Reinstated
  • Adjusted or
  • An alternative treatment is needed to help the individual regain control and recover.

This should not bring you down, pick up the pieces and remain focus to the said objective of recovering from the scourge of addiction

Drug addiction roots and triggers: The hurdles of stopping addiction

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Drug contents and how it affects the brain

Drug contents

Drug contents and how it affects the brain. that is to say, drug addiction stages in the brain includes pleasurable principle and that explains why the brain needs to be protected the most

Drug contents and how it affects the brain: What happens to the brain when one takes drugs?

The dangers of drug contents is significantly based on the chemicals they have  that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. And according to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury MD, we have at least two ways that drugs cause this disruption it can either happen by:

  • Imitating the brain’s natural chemical messengers and
  • Over-stimulating the “reward circuit” of the brain

Effects of substance on the brain

Some drugs (e.g., marijuana and heroin) have a similar structure to chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. This similarity allows the drugs to confuse the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.

Other drugs, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters (mainly dopamine) or to prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is needed to shut off the signaling between neurons. The result is a brain awash in dopamine, a neurotransmitter present in brain regions that control movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure.

The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs.

As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain get used to the irresistible surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lessening of dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit, which reduces the abuser’s ability to enjoy not only the drugs but also other events in life that previously brought pleasure. This decrease compels the addicted person to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to bring the dopamine function back to normal, but now larger amounts of the drug are required to achieve the same dopamine high an effect known as tolerance.

Long-term abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When the optimal concentration of glutamate is altered by drug abuse, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Brain imaging studies of drug-addicted individuals show changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision making, learning and memory, and behavior control. Together, these changes can drive an abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively despite adverse, even devastating consequences that is the nature of addiction. All these are not good for human health and that is why it is important that you seek expert’s opinion with the professionals from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center today.

Drug contents and how it affects the brain: What happens to the brain when one takes drugs?

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drug-abuse

Drug addiction uniqueness in its effects to the brain

Drug addiction uniqueness

Drug addiction uniqueness in its effects to the brain can cause more harm if not addressed professionally and in good time

Drug addiction uniqueness in its effects to the brain: Why do some people become addicted while others don’t?

Looking at the drug addiction uniqueness and how it affects people’s lives, we can authoritatively say that no single factor can predict whether a person will become addicted to drugs. Doctor Dalal Akoury and her team of experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center agrees that the risks for addiction is influenced by a combination of factors which may include individual biology, social environment, and age or stage of development. The more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. Like for example:

  • Biology – The genes that people are born with—in combination with environmental influences—account for about half of their addiction vulnerability. Additionally, gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may influence risk for drug abuse and addiction.
  • Environment – A person’s environment includes many different influences, from family and friends to socioeconomic status and quality of life in general. Factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, stress, and quality of parenting can greatly influence the occurrence of drug abuse and the escalation to addiction in a person’s life.
  • Development – Genetic and environmental factors interact with critical developmental stages in a person’s life to affect addiction vulnerability. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it will progress to more serious abuse, which poses a special challenge to adolescents. Because areas in their brains that govern decision making, judgment, and self-control are still developing, adolescents may be especially prone to risk-taking behaviors, including trying drugs of abuse.

Drug addiction uniqueness in its effects to the brain: Prevention is the key

Drug addiction is a preventable disease. Research findings indicate that prevention programs involving social networks like families, schools, communities, and the media are effective in reducing drug abuse. Although many events and cultural factors affect drug abuse trends, when youths perceive drug abuse as harmful, they reduce their drug taking. Therefore it is important to bring in experts like Dr. Dalal Akoury who is also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center where she is offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to everyone including other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. Finally besides what we get from doctor Akoury the general public needs also to be educated and in this area a collective effort from Teachers, parents, medical and public health professionals will be very essential in creating awareness that drug addiction can be prevented if one never abuses drugs.

Drug addiction uniqueness in its effects to the brain: Why do some people become addicted while others don’t?

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Alcohol poisoning

Categorizing alcoholism treatment solutions

Categorizing alcoholism treatment

Categorizing alcoholism treatment solutions primarily to defeat this addiction

Categorizing alcoholism treatment solutions: Inpatient and outpatient treatment

When addressing alcohol abuse problems, it is always important that patients have their conditions evaluated professionally before deciding on the treatment approach to take. And that is where categorizing alcoholism treatment comes in. experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury gives this problem two main treatment approach i.e. inpatient and outpatient.

Inpatient Treatment – this is usually a reserved for patients whose conditions of  alcoholism places them in danger normally this is done in a general or psychiatric hospital or in any other facility dedicated to treatment of alcohol and other substance abuse. Factors that indicate a need for this type of treatment include:

  • Coexisting medical or psychiatric disorder
  • Delirium tremens (a neurological condition associated with withdrawal that involves uncontrollable trembling, sweating, anxiety, and hallucinations or other symptoms of psychosis)
  • Potential harm to self or others
  • Failure to respond to conservative treatments
  • Disruptive home environment

A typical inpatient regimen may include the following stages:

  • A physical and psychiatric work-up for any physical or mental disorders
  • Detoxification – this phase involves initiating abstinence, managing withdrawal symptoms and complications, and ensuring that the patient remains in treatment
  • On-going treatment with medications in some cases
  • Psychotherapy, usually cognitive behavioral therapy
  • An introduction to AA

Some studies have established better success rates with inpatient treatment of patients with alcoholism. However resent studies strongly suggest that alcoholism can be effectively treated in outpatient settings as opposed to the inpatient.

Outpatient Treatment – People with mild-to-moderate withdrawal symptoms are usually treated as outpatients. Basically treatments methods are similar to those in inpatient situations and may include:

  • Psychotherapy or counseling
  • Medications that target brain chemicals involved in addiction
  • Social support groups such as AA
  • Cognitive therapies
  • Involvement of family and other significant people in patient’s life

The current approach to outpatient treatment uses medical management a disease management approach that is used for chronic illnesses such as diabetes. With medical management, patients receive regular 20-minute sessions with a health care provider. The provider monitors the patient’s medical condition, medication, and alcohol consumption.

Finally, treatment of alcoholism is a process involving many stages and serious commitment to the recovery process. When an addict makes the first and most important step of seeking for help the journey will be along one and a difficult one for that matter. Like indicated earlier treatment process may be complicated and fall back or relapsing may be the order of the day. But in all this you must take courage because you have chosen a worthy course for your life and that of people around you. Seeking for professional help along the way would be a good idea and calling Akoury is a must do thing for the commencement of your recovery process. Alternatively, you may visit AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center to have a direct contact with doctor Dalal Akoury who is a medical doctor of over two decades of practice.

Remember that doctor Akoury has been helping many people overcome their addiction problems across the state and the world over in the most natural and efficient way. Your addiction condition will be professionally handled in her care while focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE and you will have your life back and live it to the fullest.

Categorizing alcoholism treatment solutions: Inpatient and outpatient treatment

http://www.integrativeaddictionconference.com/wp-admin

 

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