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Introduction
Different treatment approaches are designed to address specific aspects of addiction and its effects on an individual, family, and society. Some are used with other procedures, while others are used independently. These approaches include pharmacotherapies and behavioral therapies. Both methods can be used for Methamphetamine addiction; however, behavioral therapies are more effective.
Analysis of Addiction Treatment Approaches
Peer-based approaches relate social interactions of peers to addiction and treatment. They rely on receiving nonclinical assistance from individuals undergoing the same problems to achieve long term recovery. Peer-based approaches have proved to be significant in other existing recovery approaches, such as therapeutic communities, 12-step programs, and the reinforcement approach. They have emerged as an effective and powerful method of recovery popular in drug abuse.
Peer support is delivered using several modes: peers in health settings with roles such as advocates, peer specialists, and peer case managers. Peer operated services, peer partnerships, support groups from the internet, and in-person self-help groups. (Solomon, 2004). Usually, there is a mutual benefit among participants in a peer support group. These benefits include the ability to cope with challenges, improved self-poise, optimism in terms of accomplishments, and enhanced self-worth.
Harm reduction refers to policies and programs that aim at reducing the effects caused by the use of drugs. It focuses primarily on the prevention of impacts of a drug rather than preventing the use of the drug.
The approach:
- Avoids aggravating the harm caused by drug misuse.
- Treats drug users as usual and dignified human beings.
- Maximizes intervention options
- Prioritizes attainable goals
- Has neutrality on law and legalization
- Is different from an approach that fights against drug use
The harms prevented by this approach include overdose, dependence, accidents, aggression, physical and mental problems, crime, public nuisance, among others. Meth is among the most dangerous and addictive drugs. It causes brain cells and nerve endings damage, resulting in dependence, mental problems, and crime. Harm reduction approach helps users to control their use of the meth and therefore avoid the harmful effects.
The traditional treatment approach primarily includes the 12-step program, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, family systems, and case management. The 12-step program is an intervention that provides for twofold recovery from drug abuse and resultant psychological conditions. The twelve steps of the program involve:
- Admitting lack of power over the addiction
- Believing that higher authority than ourselves can restore sanity
- Living a spiritual life
- Searching for a moral image of oneself
- Acknowledging to God and others of our exact nature
- Letting God control one’s life
- Requesting God to work on one’s inadequacies
- Making direct amends to those hurt by one’s actions
- Taking a personal inventory and admitting one’s wrongs
- Improving contact with God
- Carrying the message to other addicts and practicing these principles in all of one’s affairs.
The 12-step program enables long term recovery and is a central component of the treatment of any addiction. These programs usually last between 30-90 days. Participation in this program is encouraged even after recovery to enable an individual to focus on sobriety. However, some individuals find the spiritual nature of this program and its absence of interaction discouraging.
Furthermore, staging an intervention has been used to help meth addicts. However, it may be difficult in situations where the addict is violent and does not accept that he has a problem, making open conversation difficult. In such cases, a professional can intervene. Interventions help users to begin recovery and rehabilitation. Methamphetamine abstinence for at least six months has shown a reverse in the effects of its first use.
Current treatment approaches primarily involve pharmacotherapies and behavioral therapies. They are an improved version of the traditional approach and are used regularly where the conventional approach has failed or in combination with the conventional methods. A detox is a form of meth treatment that involves the safe removal of meth from the body of an individual. It has to be supervised by medical professionals. Medications can be prescribed to make the patient comfortable. For instance, benzodiazepine is used for patients who get agitated as a result of their bodies adapting to meth absence.
After detox, the patients undergo counseling and therapy. They are helped to identify reasons why they used meth and are provided with emotional support to resolve those issues. Therapy shows patients how to overcome the temptations to relapse in tempting situations and helps them understand the behavioral patterns that led to their addiction.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used to treat meth addiction and related depression and anxiety. Narrative therapy, on the other hand, can be used to help the patients mend their thoughts and behavior through the use of personal life stories. The two types of narratives may be used supplementary.
There has been extensive research on the use of drugs that prevent or control epilepsy in the management of meth addiction. In meth users, topiramate was used (Elkashef, Kahn, Yu, & Dickinson, 2013). It reduced the number of drugs taken with active users and reduced relapse rates among those in recovery. An approach to treating drug users with monoclonal antibodies has been proved effective. An anti-methamphetamine monoclonal antibody (ch-mAb7F9) was found to be harmless and tolerable (Stevens, Henry, Owens, Schutz, & Gentry, 2014). These antibodies aid in the prevention of relapse among those in recovery and prevents overdoses, inactive meth users.
Recommendations
For policymakers to effectively enable the treatment of drug users, they should ensure that substance abuse treatment is readily available for those who need it. It can be achieved by:
- Increasing funds assigned to provide treatment for more individuals by the state. Treatment ought to involve services for the users and those affected by addictive behavior.
- Providing those requiring treatment with redeemable receipts for treatment services.
- Increasing the number of individuals that can use their health assurance to access treatment of drug abuse.
- Providing tax tributes for those paying for the treatment.
It is vital to support the women who are in recovery of methamphetamine due to the higher incidences of physical and psychological trauma. Furthermore, policymakers should invest in more replacement therapy options for the abuse of methamphetamine. There should be deregulation of the sale of sterile needles and the elimination of criminal penalties for possession of syringes to enable proper disposal of used syringes and avoid sharing of used syringes.
There should be no prohibition of housing and school loans for former drug offenders. It would enable them to make progress in their lives and avoid relapse. There should also be increased education and awareness of the abuse of methamphetamine and its effects. It will aid in the continual reduction of first-time users.
In conclusion, current treatment approaches have aided in achieving some of the recommendations. For instance, there has been increased research on replacement therapy options such as topiramate and monoclonal antibodies. More so, currently, in America purchase of syringes from over the counter is allowed. This thereby supports the harm reduction approach in addiction and treatment of Methamphetamine.
References
Elkashef, A., Kahn, R., Yu, E., & Dickinson, R. (2013). Topiramate for the treatment of methamphetamine addiction: a multi-center placebo-controlled trial. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3331916/
Solomon, P. (2004). Peer support/peer provided services underlying processes, benefits, and critical ingredients. – PubMed – NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15222150
Stevens, M. W., Henry, R. L., Owens, S. M., Schutz, R., & Gentry, W. B. (2014). A first human study of a chimeric anti-methamphetamine monoclonal antibody in healthy volunteers. – PubMed – NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25484042
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