Which Chemical Dependency Programs Are Best For You?

Are you struggling with an addiction to alcohol or drugs? Or maybe it’s not you who’s struggling, but your family member or someone else you’re close to? Do you need more information about a chemical dependency treatment program? If so, keep reading.

Chemical Dependency … What Is It?

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) categorizes chemical dependency as a disease, which may be surprising, but it is, in fact, a disease of physical dependence on alcohol and/or drugs.

Like many other diseases, chemical dependency gets worse over time. Even when substance use leads to negative consequences, the addict will continue to use it. The results of addiction run the gamut from hepatitis C and liver damage to conflict and loss of relationships to financial and employment issues. Addiction can be so severe that it leads to death.

Alcohol and drug addicts don’t fit into just one stereotype. Anyone from any walk of life can be affected. Often, an addict desperately wants to be free of the addiction, or its harmful impact on their life, but they can’t stop using the substance(s) without help.

Chemically dependent individuals often attempt to create rules or boundaries for their substance use to limit the consequences, such as choosing a different substance, not using around their kids, only using controlled amounts, not using during the week or during work hours, etc.

Unfortunately, substance abuse typically becomes all-consuming. It’s not as easy to “just quit” as it may seem from the outside. Quitting takes more than willpower because addiction is by nature a complex condition.

Physical dependence on the substance means that when the addict stops using it, withdrawal occurs. This is why willpower alone rarely works for recovery. The addict almost always requires help from outside in order to address the deepest roots of this problem.

What does withdrawal look like? It depends on the substance that’s been used, the quantity the addict is used to consuming, and how long the addiction has been going on.

Here are examples of some of the symptoms:

• Agitation
• Anxiety
• Blackouts
• Convulsions/seizures/tremors
• Delirium
• Depression
• Fevers
• Nausea/vomiting
• Restlessness

Medical supervision is often required for the withdrawal period. This is where a chemical dependency program comes in.

Over the last few decades, more and more resources have been developed for addiction recovery. A trained professional can help determine what’s needed for an individual’s first steps in the recovery process.

Treatment Options: Chemical Dependency Programs

If you’re looking for a chemical dependency program, you have several options to choose from. Here are some of the types of programs that are most commonly available:

Detox

Detox facilities provide medical supervision from the withdrawal period, including the dispensing of medication to help the individual be comfortable. This allows the addict to get through the worst of the symptoms while the substance is eliminated from the body.

Depending on what substance the addict has been using, the typical length of a stay is between 3 and 7 days, including overnights. After this stay is completed, there’s usually a referral to an inpatient treatment facility.

Inpatient/Outpatient Treatment

Step one of a recovery program is to determine whether or not a visit to a detox center is needed before going to a treatment center. If you are not dependent, physically, with the potential for severe withdrawal symptoms, you can go directly to treatment. There are a variety of different centers available, no matter where you are.

After making the decision about whether a detox center is right for you, the next choice is whether to seek inpatient or outpatient treatment.

Inpatient treatment centers by definition include overnight stays. There are different kinds of inpatient treatment programs that serve various addictions. Most visits range from 28 days to 6 months or longer.

If the addict also has mental health problems or a disorder (which is very common), a concurrent treatment facility may be needed. Often, the substance abuse began when the individual used the substance to medicate themselves for anxiety, depression, or some other type of mental health issue. This is why concurrent treatment is frequently necessary.

Some individuals may opt for outpatient treatment after or instead of inpatient. These programs do not require overnight stays. If the addiction has not progressed very far, outpatient treatment may be the first step.

If the individual has already completed an inpatient treatment program, they will usually follow up with outpatient services, which focus on counseling, education, and creating a support network.

Outpatient services can vary from continuing care to day programs to intensive outpatient (IOP). Day programs tend to be the most intensive outpatient treatment option; they provide care for 5-7 days each week, several hours per day. As the client progresses in the program, the hours will gradually decrease. In IOP, you can still work and attend to your other responsibilities, but you’ll have the accountability and structure of a program.

Support groups, including such chemical dependency programs as Alcoholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Narcotics Anonymous, fall into the category of continuing care.

Continuing Care: Why It’s Important

Substance abuse by its very nature is isolating. Breaking the silence and solitude of the disease can be very powerful. This is the premise of 12-step programs, which provide support groups of people who are struggling with similar issues. These programs are also a place to build friendships with others who want to remain sober and can support you in your journey.

Each person at these meetings will be at a different place on their journey. One person might have a decade of sobriety under their belt, while someone else might have just joined the group and still be struggling with active addiction. Accountability has been proven to be useful in the recovery process. As you recover life and health, you can find in strength in numbers that helps you avoid relapse so that you can live free from the chains of addiction.

12-step chemical dependency programs consider belief in a “higher power” as a basic tenet. Christians know that Jesus is the true God and the higher power we worship. Celebrate Recovery uses 12-step principles along with biblical teachings to provide a holistic worldview for recovery.

The 12 steps according to Celebrate Recovery along with their Biblical support are:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors. That our lives had become unmanageable.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. – Romans 7:18

2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. – Philippians 2:13

3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. – Romans 12:1

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the LORD. – Lamentations 3:40

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.

Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. – James 5:16a

6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. – James 4:10

7. We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. – Luke 6:31

9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. – Matthew 5:23-24

10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! – 1 Corinthians 10:12

11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. – Colossians 3:16a

12. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. – Galatians 6:1

Reference: http://www.celebraterecovery.co.uk/the-12-steps-and-their-biblical-comparisons/

Recovery and the Christian

According to James 4:8 we are to “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

Having faith in Christ doesn’t mean that recovery will be easy, but it does mean we have his supernatural strength to do in us what we cannot do on our own. We can trust that God has the power over addiction and is able to set us free.

It can is comforting to know that in spite of the damage addiction brings to the addict and their loved ones, God can still use this brokenness for His glory and our good. He can refine and restore through the process of recovery and can use your testimony to help others. His Word provides the source of truth and hope for everyone struggling to recover from chemical dependency.

Contact Us Today

Whether you seek detox treatment, inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, or all of the above, individual counseling will be an additional powerful component of your recovery. There are usually underlying reasons why the addiction started that should be explored in therapy for long-lasting healing. Counseling is a way to make your recovery stronger and provide further protection against relapse.

Trained and licensed professional Christian counselors who are experienced in addiction can help you work through your recovery and any other issues you are experiencing. With honesty, a commitment to change, and persistence through the ups and downs, there is great hope for recovery and a flourishing future. Contact us today to learn more.