Addiction can come in many forms but one of the most common types of addiction is substance abuse i.e. alcohol and drugs. Cocaine is a particularly volatile drug that can have many adverse side effects on the user’s body. According to statistics released by Addiction Helper, cocaine is said to be one of the most prevalent and dangerous illegal stimulants in the world. For example, after long term abuse of the drug, certain symptoms can become clear, such as:
- Cartilage damage in the nasal passages
- High/elevated blood pressure
- Chances of fits or seizures
- High risk of heart attacks or heart failure
All of the above can naturally be worrying for the addict as well as the friends and family of the ill individual. Because cocaine addiction is such a worldwide worry, there are many treatments and rehabilitation centres available for addicts to help them get their life back on track.
As cocaine addiction is so extensive and damaging, the treatment can be quite intensive. There are several steps and programmes that one must undertake. But before booking in yourself or a loved one, always make sure that you have done thorough research about the programme you are entering yourself or others into, just to ensure that is the best option possible.
- The first thing you must do is to admit to having a problem, only then can an addicted individual start the long road to recovery. If they are reluctant to becoming clean, then the process will be so much harder, and they will be more likely to relapse in the future.
2. After that, the ill person should book themselves into a rehabilitation clinic wherein the first step to recovery will be detoxification. This is when the addict is completely forced to give up on the cocaine. Rehab centres will not allow any drug of any kind within their walls.
Most people will say that detoxification is the hardest step of recovery. This is due to the dependency that the body develops during drug addiction. Adverse effects of drug withdrawal can include nausea, headaches and mood swings. However, it is also the most important phases.
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3. As well as undergoing extensive detoxification stages, any respectable rehabilitation clinic will also offer exclusive behavioural and cognitive counselling and therapy. It will depend on the individualised needs of the patient when it comes to the therapy offered and needed. There are several different types:
- Cognitive: this is therapy that deals with the psychological reasoning behind an addiction. The therapist will enquire into a patient’s thoughts and what influences them. This is an especially useful treatment as a lot of addiction can have staggering psychological reasoning behind them.
- The Twelve Steps: This is when the patient is asked to mark their progress through a series of twelve steps. Some of the steps include admitting you are powerless against cocaine, admitting there is a higher power that can help you recover, making a list of those you have hurt and even delving deep into your own morality.
4. Medication is also an option; however, it is slightly more experimental than the other treatments. There is no concrete evidence that medication works as well as say, behavioural therapy or complete detoxification.
5. Aftercare will also be mandatory for any fully qualified and respected clinic. The first few months after rehabilitation will be when an addict is most likely to relapse, so an effective after care treatment is vital. This will be tailored specifically to the addict and can be a large variety of different treatments.
