Drug Addiction Rehab Treatment

Drug Addiction Rehab Treatment: Drug Craving 

Successful treatment for any kind of addiction implies that patient physically and psychologically feels comfortable during the treatment even if he undergoes through withdrawal from narcotics and is not on substitution therapy. It is useless to convince a person about pernicious aftermath of the drug use, while every cell of his brain is craving for a drug. Psychological therapy can be effective only in state when such basic psychological processes as sleep, mood, volitional mechanisms are stabilized, when drug craving, nervousness, anxiety, aggressiveness are medically reduced to a certain level.  Neurochemical disturbance in the brain of the patient must be «calmed down", and only then it becomes possible to correct his mental condition by psychotherapeutically methods. Otherwise all the attempts of joint readings the truths from the "12 steps" prompt nothing but the protest and annoyance from the patient.

Psychological dependence

Few words about psychological dependence. This term refers to an intense, sometimes irresistible desire to be under drug influence (“craving”).  It is a state of mental and physical condition when all the man’s thoughts are focused only on drugs, when it is impossible to control your own behavior, to be distracted from obsessive thoughts about drugs. Such condition is often compared with a thirst or hunger. Many patients say, that the very moment you are awake your head starts working out a plan how to get “a dose”. And then you can’t get rid of these haunting thoughts. They are with you all along until you eventually get the dope. If not, you try to fall asleep or relax yourself by taking sleeping pills, sedatives or tranquilizers (such as benzos, for example), but such measures rarely help. Sedatives don’t provide inhibitory effect on opioid structures of the brain, and, as a rule, sleep doesn’t bring a relief.  Interestingly, that on a drug slang of different languages this state is described by similar expressions. The Russians say "a bullet in a head» or "a light bulb in a head", the Serbs say "the worm in the head", the Italians say “sbattimento”, the English call it “nail” or “hook”.
From a medical point of view this excruciating state of physical and mental condition reflects a significant imbalance in ratio of inhibitory and activating mediators, disintegrated bioelectric activity of the brain, hemispheric asymmetry and the altered reactivity of brain receptors.

New methods of treatment and new approaches in field of drug addiction medicine have come into sight in the last 15 years.  In addition to a traditional set of mood stabilizers, hypnotics, antipsychotics, tranquilizers, antidepressants, our clinic offers a full arsenal of modern technologies to get maximum positive result in treatment of addiction.

1. N.E.T.  

/neuro electric therapy/ - method of stimulation of endogenous opioid structures of the brain. Extended impact in form of shaped low voltage electrical signals on certain  areas of the brain gradually eliminates the deficit of endorphins and enkephalins and thus  significantly reduces the intensity  of drug craving, nervousness, irritability, dysphoria and etc.  Sleep, appetite, mood come back to normal.  Need for medications goes down. Several clinics in Switzerland  successfully use this technique for drug detoxification. The effectivness of the procedure provides protection to the patient from physical withdrawal by 70-80%. The technique does not cause loss of consciousness. It is not electroshock. It doesn’t lead to any physical or psychological detriments. During the session the patient experiences the light vibration and tingles in areas of contact with the device. The whole body is getting relaxed. Muscle tension, pain, goose bumps, chills, sneezing completely disappears.  The patient’s body is flooded with pleasant feeling of warmth, peace and comfort.

2. Cholinolytic blockade. 

The wish to forget the effect of heroin is a dream of every addict. The real help in this regard you can get from ibogaine therapy and cholinolytic blockade. Cholinergic receptors play an essential role in many physiological processes. In fact, some medications acting on this type of receptors are used to improve neurological and psychological state of the patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic cerebral dysfunction or stroke. In addiction medicine we use the dosed introduction of cholinolytics to achieve the point where chemically altered cholinilytic receptors lose the ability to maintain pathological inter-neuron associations responsible for formation of craving for drugs.  Sessions of cholinolytic blockade last about 4-6 hours during which the patient is immersed into a particular state of medical sleep.   Dry mouth and blurred vision (similar to that of using the eye drops) are possible after procedure. These side effects completely pass out the next day. Impressive changes in mental state of the patient are seen almost immediately after procedure.  Obsessive thoughts about drugs disappear. It becomes difficult for the patient to reproduce sensations that were under drug influence.  Former anxiety / depression, nervousness, aggression is reduced drastically or disappears completely straight after procedure.

3. Ibogaine treatment.

Ibogaine is the wrapped in an aura of mystery alkaloid produced from the roots of the African bush of Tabernanta Iboga. Since the 60's it is being used in drug addiction treatment, in kind of spiritual experiments and in psychotherapy of deep in-personal conflicts.  The therapeutic potential of ibogain is under NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse. USA) investigation over the past 20 years. Ibogain treatment is officially recommended for use in several countries.
Under the influence of ibogaine people experience very specific feelings. The important moments from their past  kaleidoscopically  change each other and turn into a kind of optical illusions that leave deep imprint on their subconscious and have subliminal effect towards creation of  negative attitude to drugs.  For many such a "trip" is a revelation, followed by a stiff denial of drugs once and for all. Lots of our patients eventually retrieved a drug-free life after ibogaine treatment, when the other treatments didn’t work for them (video).

4. Hypnosis, pharmacological hypnosis, methods of subliminal influence.

 All the attempts to explain the man rationally that he had better stop using heroin, go for sports or sing in choir are often unsuccessful due to a number of reasons. One of them is a resistance to such talks. The patient had heard similar entreaties from relatives, acquaintances and friends many times. Therefore, when a doctor or psychologist starts the same talk, the patient involuntarily turns on protective mechanisms and doesn’t go into the sense of what is said. At best, there is a formal nod of agreement. Even if the conversation were able to cause genuine interest of the patient, to rouse his motivation to cooperate, it does not exclude the situation when the same evening after the session he will do absolutely opposite things and will break all given promises. The reason for that behavior is pathological changes in personality, ambivalence and weakness of volitional mechanisms. Therefore the most effective techniques are those which affect both the consciousness and the subconscious of the patient. With the help of hypnosis, equipment for audio-visual stimulation, media-filed  technologies in form of the 25th frame messages we can achieve much more pronounced adjustment in behaviors, skills, habits and interests of the patient.  It often gives a hand to turn off from the beaten track to death and find a new way to a drug free life.

The results of psychological correction are evaluated by psychologists with the help of special psychometric scales and projective techniques such as Luscher, Hamilton, Beck tests wich reflect the degree of craving for drugs, level of depression, nervousness and etc.  Observation of the patient’s behavior, his reaction to new patients admitted under  drug influence  or in a state of withdrawal, his interest to drug  talks are also essential for correct assessment. Compliance, cooperation, motivation, ability to work towards achievement of the objectives of the treatment is important prognostic markers in a psychological dependence treatment process.