The effectiveness of addiction treatment process

September 11, 2015

The effectiveness of addiction treatment process: What happens during the treatment process?

The effectiveness of addiction treatment process should be all inclusive bringing everyone on board including the professionals, the victims and their loved ones.

When talking about the effectiveness of addiction treatment process we must always consider the degree of professionalism involved. It is only treatment that is done by real experts that will stand the test of time and deliver the much needed lasting solutions to the addicts. By now we all understand the damage caused by addiction whether it is substance abuse or chemical abuse. Therefore we must be on top of the game to realize our dream of defeating this scourge. Therefore to effectively do this we spoke to doctor Dalal Akoury a veteran addiction expert of several decades passionately delivering healing to all her patients professionally and timely. It will interest you to note that due to her passion in offering addiction solution, Dr. 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. Through this health facility, many testimonies of great success keep coming and you can be one of them if you are struggling with any kind of addiction today by scheduling for an appointment with the real expert for your break through now.

As we progress into the discussion, it will also interest you to note that doctor Dalal Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. This is the place to be for all your addiction treatment needs and you can reach out for her through telephone number 843 213 1480 today. Now doctor Akoury says that upon securing that appointment, it is important for you to note that on commencement of treatment, every person participates in a complete diagnostic evaluation that will culminate to an individualized treatment plan. Take note that the evaluation and treatment plan are used to determine the types, level and intensity of services to be given to that individual and to manage the course of the treatment over time.

She reiterates that normally what happens during treatment to any one individual will be unique and specific to his or her personality and life circumstances. Nonetheless, several typical treatment strategies may also be offered singularly or collectively to patients some of which may include the following:

Detoxification

Ordinarily detoxification should be the starting point in the treatment of drug addiction and more so when the toxic substances have been used for a long time. As such some may have serious physical dependency that they may be carefully withdrawn from the addicting chemicals with a view of addressing any potentially serious medical consequences of abrupt stopping of usage. In this case professionalism will be very vital and a qualified physician will often supervise this process. Even as detoxification is employed, it is important to note that because it does not treat the behavioral or psychosocial causes leading to the chemical dependence, detoxification often precedes involvement in behavioral treatment.

The effectiveness of addiction treatment process: Individual and group therapy through family Strengthening

Typically, individual patients will work with a professional therapist like counselors, social workers or psychologist to understand the factors contributing to the compulsive abuses of alcohol or drugs and to develop coping strategies to deal with the compulsions in order to cease the chemical abuse. Doctor Akoury is very categorical that when patients establish therapeutic trust with their counselors, strength is gained to learn about them, their addiction and new ways of living.

Most chemical dependence treatment providers make professionally led group counseling or therapy a central part of treatment. By offering mutual support, these sessions allow participants to use the group format to share insights, reinforce member therapeutic gains and to exert group accountability on individual behavior. Often, group therapy is provided to individuals who share some common experience or unresolved issue such as trauma survivors, gender specific focus, criminal justice involvement, parenting focus, etc. and because chemical dependence strains and sometimes destroy very important family relationships doctor Akoury reports that sometimes treatment programs may be applied to offer either directly or through referral services to strengthen family functioning and promote family reunion. These include a wide range of services depending on the individual’s circumstances and could include family counseling, parenting education, childcare and services to prevent or respond to domestic violence, trauma or child abuse.

The effectiveness of addiction treatment process: Pharmacological therapy, health and medical services

Some patients receive medication typically in combination with behavioral therapy to help decrease the physical craving for chemicals. By relieving the symptoms, medications allow persons with addictions to participate more easily in other aspects of treatment. The most commonly used and best known of these medications is methadone, a medication given orally, which is highly effective in treating heroin and opiate addiction. It is also important to appreciate that normally treatment programs will give a complete physical examination or arrange for one to be provided upon initial admission. They also monitor other health conditions and diseases. Treatment programs are especially alert for certain diseases that are highly prevalent among chemical dependence patients like sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The effectiveness of addiction treatment process: Case management

The multiple, complex needs of most patients extend beyond the specific chemical dependence services. For example, patients may need help with housing, transportation, court advocacy, childcare, or child welfare services. The treatment provider often works with the individual to arrange these critical services, make referrals, and assist in the exchange of vital information with other human service agencies. They help the person with the addiction overcome difficulties accessing or participating in such services.

Finally doctor Akoury states that it should be noted that historically alcohol and drug treatment programs have concentrated on returning each person to be a self-sufficient, productive member of his or her community which is very much in order in the fight against addiction. If you can revisit our introduction in this article, you will realize the immense input doctor Dalal Akoury is putting to make the effectiveness of addiction treatment process successful and productive. It can only be fair on your part that you do the same by scheduling for an appointment with doctor Akoury to be one of the millions of beneficiaries of her tender care and professionalism in dealing with all manner of substance and chemical abuse today.

The effectiveness of addiction treatment process: What happens during the treatment process?

Handling the teens substance abuse professionally

September 9, 2015

Handling the teens substance abuse professionally: What to do when your teen won’t stop abusing drugs?

Handling the teens substance abuse professionally is the best thing we all need to do in order to bring serenity in our college going children.

We are often faced with the challenge of handling the teens substance abuse professionally because may at times we are caught unaware of this new development. It is however very painful to have a son or a daughter who is lost in drugs and alcohol. The peace of mind run away and the worries of their conduct being adopted by their young siblings aches the heart beyond measure. Therefore we ask “what can you do when your ten just won’t stop abusing drugs?” This is what we want to focus on in this discussion and with the help of doctor Dalal Akoury M.D who is a veteran addiction expert and also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, we are going to deliver to you the very best health addiction information that will be of great help to you and your loved ones in handling the teens substances abuse professionally. This is something you don’t want to miss ones therefore we encourage you to stay on the link as we impact on you positively.

Ideally there are so many misconceptions about alcohol and drug addiction, these misconceptions have resulted into many people believing that the addicts have willfully chosen the path of addiction. Although behavior and personal choice represents an important factor in the development of addiction, the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are of the opinion that there are other components as well. Like for instance, it may be that for some individuals, it is a biological or genetic predisposition that makes them more likely to develop an addiction if they experiment with substance abuse; while many others are led down the path of addiction due to environmental circumstances. Nonetheless doctor Akoury reiterates that no matter how or why it occurs in the first place, alcohol and drug addiction is a chronic problem, progressive disease that initiates a dramatic transformation, turning good people into individuals who are only concerned about their next fix. This is not good for anyone and therefore it is very important that lasting solutions is found and adopted immediately.

Now to the focus of our discussion, it is important to appreciate that substance abuse is not dangerous for adolescents and teens but also very disastrous to the whole communities where our teens resides. Impressionable by nature, our youths are commonly curious about substance abuse and have traditionally experimented with alcohol and marijuana at young ages. This is a terrible mistake that anyone can do no matter the circumstance or situation. However, with a heroin epidemic having taken the globe at ransom with United States taking the lead, from the available statistics, there’s clear evidence of increased heroin use among high school and college-aged individuals. Doctor Akoury is professionally sounding an alarm that substance abuse at such a young age is especially dangerous since these individuals are not yet fully developed; and remember that when youths abuse alcohol and drugs to the point of addiction, they run the risk of stunting their physical and psychological development. Moreover and this is very important, addiction makes individuals more likely to resort to criminal behaviors and damage important relationships, which can have a major impact on the rest of their lives and that of their loved ones and the society in general.

For parents of teens who have been experimenting with substance abuse, the grim possibilities that result from teenage addiction can be terrifying. As such, it’s important for parents of teens who have been abusing alcohol or drugs to be prepared to intervene in order to divert the lives that would be lost to addiction. The following are some of the hints that such parents can employ in order to help remedy the situation. Therefore as a parent you must:

Be prepared and educated
Develop a plan
Choose the right environment & confront the teen
Explore substance abuse treatment options today

For the purposes of this discussion we are only going to share with you on the first hint of the need to be well prepared and be well educated about the substances if you are to be on top of everything. The remaining three will form part of our discussion in the next posting which you also don’t want to miss.

Handling the teens substance abuse professionally: Be prepared and educated

It’s often said that knowledge is power therefore when handling the teens substance abuse professionally we must be smart in all our approaches says doctor Dalal Akoury. She continues to register that one of the common characteristics of individuals suffering from alcohol and drug addiction is denial. This is very common with most addicts who often fail to come to terms with the realities and severity of their dependency. As such, teens who have been experimenting with substance abuse tend to not only be secretive about their consumption, but also tend to minimize the direness of the situation. It is therefore very vital that parents who want to help their teens to stop abusing alcohol and drugs must be well equipped with all the relevant skills they need to win this war. That can only mean that they get prepared by educating themselves about substance abuse and addiction. Doctor Akoury proposes the following as some of the potential knowledge that will be most beneficial in dealing with the problem at hand, addictive potential of the various chemical substances, the side effects and symptoms that accompany substance abuse, the difficulty addiction recovery process, and the lifelong journey of sustained abstinence. Besides that parents should also familiarize themselves with the signs of substance abuse in order to better identify when a problem is present. Now with these preparations and education you will be well placed to face the challenge nonetheless as had been registered above we will continue with the remaining three in our next posting. In the meantime if you have any concern about handling the teen’s substance abuse professionally, you can reach out to doctor Dalal Akoury for further deliberations.

Handling the teens substance abuse professionally: What to do when your teen won’t stop abusing drugs?

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism

August 17, 2015

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism: Alcohol dependence

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism with a view of finding the true root cause of alcohol addiction and its effects

While discussing the in depth understanding of alcoholism complications, we elaborately introduced ourselves to the knowledge of alcoholism and how it develops from a social friendly consumption to a very intoxicating health problem. We also found out that due to the addictiveness of the substance, users often find themselves to have drunk beyond what is considered to be moderate drinking into problematic drinking. With those findings well understood, we now want to focus our discussion on this article to exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism. We are aware that the alcoholic drink is not illegal and therefore when it brings some complications in the lives of its users, it concerns all of us. Therefore what exactly is the path way from alcohol abuse to alcoholism? We spoke to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. This facility was established by doctor Dalal Akoury a renowned veteran in addiction treatment solution for over two decades now. Professionally doctor Akoury registers that ordinarily not all alcohol users or abusers will become full-blown alcoholics. Even though this is an indication of a big risk factor, it may not always be true. Majority will progress into alcoholism but in many instances some alcoholism develops suddenly in response to a stressful change in life like for instance if one is declared breakup, retirement or any another losses. Other times, it gradually creeps up on you as your tolerance to alcohol increases. If you’re a binge drinker or you drink every day, the risks of developing alcoholism are greater.

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism: Signs and symptoms of alcoholism

Alcoholism is the most severe form of problem drinking. Alcoholism involves all the symptoms of alcohol abuse, but it also involves another element: physical dependence on alcohol. If you rely on alcohol to function or feel physically compelled to drink, you’re an alcoholic.

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism: Tolerance

Tolerance is the first major warning sign of alcoholism and when this is noticed both the users and their loved ones must take the initiative of remedying the situation before it gets out of hand. Therefore in handling such situations, you must be ready to respond to some of these questions like for instance ask yourself if you are compelled to drink a lot more than you are a costumed to in order to get buzzed or to feel relaxed? Or alternatively are you that person who will drink the largest number of bottles without getting drunk? If your answers to these questions are yes, then you have a greater risk of being a candidate of alcoholism. Doctor Akoury is confirming that these are the known signs of tolerance and a serious pointer to early warning signs of alcoholism. Remember that tolerance means that, with over time the user of alcohol will consistently need more and more alcohol to feel the same effects and this is therefore forms the first significant journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism and must be dealt with the seriousness it deserve professionally.

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism: Withdrawal

The 2nd major warning sign of alcoholism is the withdrawal effects. The questions you need to ask yourself in this would be, “do you need a drink to steady the shakes in the morning?” Doctor Akoury confirms that drinking to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms is a sign of alcoholism and a huge red flag into the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism. When you drink heavily, your body gets used to the alcohol and experiences withdrawal symptoms if it’s taken away. The following are therefore some of the consequences that may result from the sudden withdrawal of alcohol: anxiety, trembling, sweating, nausea and vomiting, insomnia, depression, irritability, fatigue, loss of appetite, and headache among many more not mentioned. Nonetheless in very severe cases, withdrawal from alcohol can also involve hallucinations, confusion, seizures, fever, and agitation. It must be noted that these symptoms can be dangerous, and doctor Akoury suggests that timely action must be taken to remedy the situation. Therefore if you are consuming alcohol and you noticed some of these signs, then it is very crucial that you talk to your doctor immediately irrespective of your degree of drinking.

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism: Other signs and symptoms of alcoholism

You’ve lost control over your drinking – This happens when you often drink more alcohol than you wanted to, for longer than you intended, or despite telling yourself you wouldn’t.

You want to quit drinking, but you can’t – Despite your persistent desire to cut down or stop and quit your alcohol use, all your efforts to quit have been unsuccessful.

You have given up other activities because of alcohol – You’re spending less time on activities that used to be important to you (hanging out with family and friends, going to the gym, pursuing your hobbies) because of your alcohol use.

Alcohol takes up a great deal of your energy and focus – You spend a lot of time drinking, thinking about it, or recovering from its effects. You have few if any interests or social involvements that don’t revolve around drinking.

You drink even though you know it’s causing problems – This is often the common practice with many users like for example, you recognize that your alcohol use is damaging your marriage, making your depression worse, or causing health problems, but you continue to drink anyway.

In conclusion in exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism, there will be times when you will be completely lost not knowing what to do. During such times it is very important that you step out and face the reality of what is happening in your life. We do appreciate that with the addictiveness of alcohol, you may not know where to start from and that is why doctor Akoury made a decision to create a medical 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. I strongly recommend that if this describes your situation, then this is the right professional to reach out to for help. Remember that Dr. Akoury’s practices focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. You can therefore call her on telephone number 843 213 1480 to schedule an appointment with her for the commencement of your recovery program today.

Exploring the journey from alcohol abuse to alcoholism: Alcohol dependence

Social skills training for the substance abusers

July 22, 2015

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Alcoholics and drug addict

Social skills training for the substance abusers is very instrumental in rehabilitating drug addicts.

The rate at which the prevalence of drug use is escalating is worrying that we can no longer keep quiet about it. The most valuable gift we can ever have is that of good health. If this virtue is under threat because of substance abuse, the all of us must pool together in finding lasting solutions. As an individual you can seek for social skills training for the substance abusers to make a difference in their lives by impacting knowledge of rehabilitation and treatment of this unhealthy condition. I know that this may not be very easy on many people since addiction is something many would not want to associate with. But the most important thing is that we lend a helping hand to drug addicts and all alcoholics. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are acknowledging that one common trait of many drug addicts and alcoholics are problems interacting with others in social situations. This is known as a lack of social skills. Sometimes this difficulty is what leads an individual into addiction in the first place. And some people have been addicted to substances for such a long time that it has affected their social development. Therefore if anyone is lucking social skills, then that calls for social skills training.

When opting for social skills training for an alcoholic or drug addict then these are some of the things that you must be ready to take the following into consideration: you must be ready to learn how to interact with friends, family members and even colleagues at work. You must also know how to interact in social situations especially when drugs and alcohol will be served or present and finally you must take a firm stand in declining any offer to use drug and alcohol in other words, you must be well armed with the refusal skills. That is to say when you say NO then it must remain that way irrespective of the prevailing circumstances. Doctor Akoury says that social skills training are closely associated with behavior therapy. Behavior therapy attempts to remove unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable behaviors. It must be noted that for desired result, social skills training may not be very effective on its own but when combined with other cognitive behavioral therapy treatments, then its effectiveness can be realized. From the professional findings, it has been established that social skills training can significantly decrease the relapse rate for alcoholics and drug addicts.

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Interpersonal relationships and substance abuse

Social skills training can teach drug and alcohol addicts how to relate with coworkers, friends, and family in a variety of social settings. Clients will learn such skills as:

Listening as well as talking; that is, two-way communication
Empathy
Understanding unspoken clues such as body language
Assertiveness, and how not to be taken advantage of

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Social settings in addiction recovery

After addiction recovery is complete, drug and alcohol addicts still face a lifetime of social settings where drugs and alcohol may be present. Social skills training can teach clients better ways to deal with these situations. Different skills that can be taught are eye contact and small talk. Some people drink or take drugs to overcome their awkwardness in social settings. Learning the art of small talk can help a recovering addict get past this awkwardness without relapsing.

The recovering addict can choose to avoid social situations where there will be alcohol or drugs. However, this is not always possible. In that case, the recovering addict can also learn skills to avoid drinking in social situations where alcohol or drugs are present. These are called refusal skills. Refusal skills training are often conducted by role-playing in group therapy. This way, patients in recovery can get experience in saying no, which makes it easier to remember when the patient is in the social situation. The following are some of the refusal skills that may be applicable to drug addict or alcoholic:

No phrases to use
Strategies to deal with peer pressure
Practice saying no at home, before the social situation
Ask friends and family to help with saying no by supporting your resolve to make your No to be No and your Yes to be Yes.

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Where to Find Social Skills Training

When you have made up your mind to get the social skills trainings, it is important to appreciate that social skills training in many cases will take place in group therapy. When you are finally there, in many instances one or two therapists will work with a group of patients in recovery to teach social skills. Clients will be taken through practices of drink refusal skills by role playing with each other. They will also practice small talk and drink refusal skills. Besides that clients in recovery can also learn these social skills in individual therapy. This is less common, as the group model is important for role playing. Finally in the explanation given above in response to the question “where to find social skills training I want to urge that do all it takes to be on top of everything that is threatening to bring your life down. This may be quite a challenge to many and therefore I want to introduce to you the best way forward that will be simpler for you. Your struggle will be no more if only you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for a much more lasting solution. It will interest you to know that on seeing the difficulties people were going through, Dr. Akoury made a decision to create a medical 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. So stop going for symptom patching and come to the place of solutions right now.

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Alcoholics and drug addict

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction

July 13, 2015

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction: Are you worried about the alcoholism?

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction is aimed at creating an awareness that will support preventive measures so that alcohol do not lead to block outs

I was walking along one of the street during my holiday and I was surprised at the name given to the street. Guest what, that street was called the pubs lane. Out of curiosity I decided to find out what was so special about this name and to my surprise, and as the name suggested, that was a liquor street. Both side of the street was drinking spots of about half a kilometer stretch. Not a single chemist for medicine, grocery shop, just bars and bars all through the 500 miters street. This left me wondering, was it the local authority policy to license drinking spot to one location! Being a writer about health articles I need to bring this to your attention, and I could see how alcohol was people’s little god in this street. It actually reminded me of the prevalence of alcoholism and drug addiction in most of our societies. Therefore I want to bring to your attention some of the realities around us. Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction should have been the concern of the authorities in this town because by licensing bars and pubs in one street like that, they were actually succeeding in elevating crime in that location of the town.

The only good thing that was evident with this street is that there were some health workers with their van offering the HIV test services to those who were willing to be tested and so I spoke to a few of these health workers and you could feel the pain of alcohol addiction. And so I want to raise certain concerns which doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center will help us to bring to perspective. Now looking at the happenings along this street I ask can alcoholism be treated?

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction: Can alcoholism be treated?

Doctor Akoury says that strictly speaking, there is no ‘cure’ for alcoholism. My eyes frown at the revelation nonetheless she continued, there are lots of ways that you can overcome your dependency and achieve sobriety once you’ve identified your problem. I noted from her expression that the first step is identification of the problem. To her different types of alcoholism treatment work for different people and the most successful route will depend on the cause of the drinking problem. This gives me hopes that the street of pubs can be rehabilitated. But that a side, are you struggling with alcohol abuse? If you are, establish the problem and seek for help from the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Akoury today and get your life back for greater productivity.

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction: Quitting drinking

The hardest part of beating alcoholism is stopping drinking in the first place. Your GP will be able to help you with this. Almost all alcoholics will suffer some sort of withdrawal symptoms, ranging from mild shakes and nausea to delirium tremens (or DTs), which can be severe and even life threatening. If you’ve been a heavy drinker your GP may recommend that you’re admitted to hospital for the detox process so that your vital signs can be monitored. While there are very few dedicated NHS detox facilities there are several private clinics in nearly all the towns and cities around you, where you can get services conveniently. Remember that the detox process takes between three and seven days, and you may be given tranquilizers, such as diazepam (Valium), to help you through. After this, alcohol is no longer a predominantly physical or chemical need, but will often remain as a strong psychological desire.

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction: How to stay sober?

The fact that you have stopped drinking is only half the battle worn, after this the problem of relapse will certainly be knocking from time to time. Anyway you need not to worry if it happens to you once or twice because it is bound to happen, how you deal with it is what matters most. Your GP will be able to offer medical help in the form of drugs that can help you overcome the cravings that come with alcoholism. These medications may include acamprosate calcium which helps to reduce cravings, naltrexone which blocks the effects of alcohol in the brain, and disulfiram which induces nausea, headaches and discomfort if you do drink. However, it should be noted that none of these is a ‘magic pill’ or cure for alcoholism. They simply provide help in overcoming the cravings experienced as you try to stop. A much more important factor is psychological support. Your GP may refer you to a counselor who will work with you to identify the root cause of your addiction, and help you deal with the stress, or other issues, which drove you into drinking in the first place.

There are also many support groups where fellow alcoholics support one and other in their battle with alcoholism. The most famous of these is Alcoholics Anonymous which holds meetings all over for people from all walks of life with all kinds of alcohol related problems. There are also support groups for the family and friends of alcoholics, such as Al-Anon to help them to cope with the difficult task of helping an alcoholic beat their addiction.

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction: Can alcoholism be cured?

The short answer to the question of whether alcoholism can be ‘cured’ is likely to be no, in most cases. Once you’ve identified a problem with alcohol, the chances are that this will be with you for life. Even if you never actually drink again the risk of relapse will always be there if you do. However, the good news is that there is a great deal of help and support available, both physical and psychological, to conquer your dependence on alcohol and achieve sobriety. So with all these supports coming your way, you need not to suffer in silence, come out of your hiding place and face your problem head on for the betterment of your life with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury today.

Raising concerns about dangers of alcohol addiction: Are you worried about the alcoholism?

Tag Archives: Alcohol dependence