KCI The Anti_Meth Site

An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model

Sfj	An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model This is just an outline of what a good program might contain in the early days of treatment. A Treatment Model for Intensive Outpatient This is a typical program acceptable under CA prop 36. Month 1 - Personal Growth and Development. 1. Individual Sessions 2. Understanding Stages of Change 3. Communications Skills/Group Dynamics 4. Drug and Alcohol Abstention Skills Month 2 - Effects of Drugs on the Body 1. Disease Model of Addiction 2. Stages of Addiction 3. Psychological Effects of Drugs 4. Physiological Effects Month 3 - Preparation for Change 1. Re-evaluation (self, relationships, family, environment) 2. Self-esteem, Confidence, Problem –Solving 3. Setting Personal Goals 4. Making Plans and Creating Objectives for Change Month 4 - Taking Action 1. Managing Urges to Use 2. Triggers 3. Managing Thoughts 4. Anger, Stress, Depression Month 5 - Relapse Prevention. 1. Understanding Relapse Prevention 2. Identifying Relapse Cues 3. Social Support, Social Networks, 12-step Programs 4. Coping with High-Risk Situations and Cravings Month 6 - Maintaining Abstinence. 1. Clean and Sober Lifestyles 2. Recommitting After Relapse 3. Identifying Needs and Resources 4. Individual Sessions 5. Graduation From Phase II Aftercare and Continuation of Alternate forms of Recovery Support, Therapy and Treatment to Follow
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Sfj	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Let me give my opinion of recovery methods and looking for magic answers. Regarding supplements and herbs and pills and amino acids etc. They may help to a very small extent. A healthy diet is much better than a handful of pills any day. Well over ninety per cent of the “health food supplements” that people take are either worthless or harmful. Even the amino acids such as L-tyrosine and others in the same family do not have enough verifiable medical evidence to support indicated use as a cure or healing mechanism for meth addiction. When we see published results of double-blind, peer reviewed research, and conclusions supported by clinical trials, then, we can dance to another drummer. But until then, I seriously doubt if one per cent of the users will benefit. And even that one per cent may see a very small benefit. Again, a healthy diet is much better. Anti-depressants seem to work for some people. I’ve heard some “authorities” say that anti-depressants can help with meth withdrawal induced depression, up to forty-per cent. It is quite possible that some people get help from the placebo effect, but if that’s what works, that’s fine. But let’s be honest about what gets the credit - the pill or the belief. Experimenting with different SSRI’s, Wellbutrin, and other anti-depressants is very common among psychiatrists. It is not uncommon for a doctor to prescribe three or four or more different drugs in an attempt to find one that works. 12-step programs, such as CMA are very effective for some people. But 12-step programs are neither treatment nor therapy nor are they qualified to give any medical, psychiatric, or professional advice of any kind. 12-step programs claim to be spiritual programs. Religion works for some people. When it doesn’t work, the religious practitioners say that the person lacked faith or obedience to the Word of God. It is virtually impossible to argue with or convince a religious zealot of anything different. Although, that could be a good thing. Mother's Against Meth Treatment programs such as intensive outpatient programs can be helpful for many people. A good treatment program or rehab, such as S.T.O.P. will have trained staff, competent counselors, plentiful resources such as referrals for concurrent problems, psychological and psychiatric doctors on staff and liaison between other service providing agencies. Too many programs today are under-funded, staffed by untrained and uncertified counselors and unable to meet reasonable expectations of ethical professionalism. In-patient programs are usually not better than outpatient, but provide housing and a strict environment for people with little or no ability to take care of themselves. Private counselors, therapists, psychologists, and medical doctors can provide a degree of personalized care that may be absent in other venues. Private treatment is often more costly and client or patient doesn’t get as much time with the provider as with other plans. Family support can often be very promising. In most cases however, family members are not trained in dealing with the severe emotional and psychological damage caused by meth addiction. Family members have often been hurt themselves and consequently have too much difficulty to act as an unattached and objective source of support. There are thousands more ways of overcoming meth addiction.
sierra nights	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Sfj, off the beaten path here. You walked out clean and you have stayed clean. I believe I read where you used for a very long time. Is the desire to use still there? I read here where people are clean but still want it. Is it like that for you? One more question and I'll leave you be. If you answer yes, will the wanting always be there?
Sfj	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model I don't want it anymore at all. I've had it given to me, I even found a bag in the parking lot, about a gram, eighty dollars worth. I didn't use it. I gave it to my rehab counselor. In the last five years I have dedicated most of my time to studying meth and meth addiction. The result is that I feel I have a fairly good understnding of how and why it works. And with that understanding comes the simple fact that I have no desire to ever use something like that again.
danimal 55	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Same here, Homie don't want that shyt no moe. No cravings, no euphoric recall. When I quit wanting it, I quit wanting it. Make sense?
sierra nights	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Thank you for answering and please forgive me for high jacking your thread. I promise I will try to make this my last question. Heck, it seems one question leads to another. Is your being able to not use because you do have a good understanding of how and why meth addiction works? I grasping at something here and I'm not quit getting it.
Sfj	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model And I'm not sure what you are asking. Can you ask again, using a different set of words? Thanks. (You are not hijacking a thread, I enjoy discussions of this nature, I think that is the purpose of this forum)
sierra nights	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. I have all the thoughts in my mind today. I know I'm looking for answers but getting the question right is a different story. Okay, I'll try again. Danimal said he just stopped wanting meth. Okay, I got that. To me that sounds so simple. Can it work that way? You just don't want it anymore? For you, did you simply stop wanting it? Or......did you still want it but wouldn't do it anymore? Now, did you not do it because you learned so much about how addiction works and why addiction works? Thank you ever so much for bearing with me here and being patient. If this don't do it, I'll try something else. I promise you, it's in my head, just not getting it out right.
Sfj	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model It is a phenomena based upon pleasure, rewards, self-esteem, confidence and all the rest of the things that make us feel good and worthy. Those are the types of things that we really seek. Users and non-users seek the same things. Meth use mimics those feelings, and it does it very effectively. So it isn't the high, the euphoria, the zoomed out feeling that a hard-core addict is seeking when he has difficulty with abstaining. It is trying to avoid the feeling of despair, intense depression, suicidal thoughts, and pain. How Meth Addicts Think and Feel
danimal 55	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Not wanting it was a lengthy and miserable process. One day my dealer/friend/ neighbor died....that was it for me. Nothing "simple" about it. I owe not wanting it to my IOP experience as well as a devotion to 12 step recovery. Not wanting it did'nt come easy, I had to learn how to quit wanting it. If I want it, I'll do it....can't go there!
sierra nights	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model *Quote:* So it isn't the high, the euphoria, the zoomed out feeling that a hard-core addict is seeking when he has difficulty with abstaining. It is trying to avoid the feeling of despair, intense depression, suicidal thoughts, and pain. OMG, I think I'm onto something here. Okay, so a person is not able to achieve "good feelings" (things you listed on first line). This person does meth and they get the good they haven't been able to find. They keep doing it thus, an addict is created. Right? Baby steps here. I think I'm getting what's in my mind. This, for you, must be somewhat like teaching a first grader to spell cat. Thank you.
sierra nights	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Danimal, I am so sorry. I did not mean to imply that it was easy for you or that it was simple for you to stop. I have so much "stuff" in my head today about addiction and stopping, well, it's kind of making me crazy. Now, I dumb. What is IOP experience? Don't you laugh at me. How do we help someone to stop wanting it?
Sfj	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model By the time one reaches a certain level of addiction, and that can happen within a few months, the addict isn't using meth to get high. He is using to keep from going to abysmal depths of brutal agony pain, and depression caused by withdrawal. Stopping meth often results in: 1. Being Excessively Tired 2. Big Time Depressed 3. Overwhelmingly Lonely 4. Becoming Fat 5. Total Lack of Ambition and Motivation 6. No Sex Drive 7. Severe Feelings of Despair 8. Possible Suicidal Thoughts 9. Panic and Anxiety Attacks 10. Nightmares About Drugs and Drug Situations 11. Bizarre Sleep Patterns 12. Many more problems too numerous to mention.
danimal 55	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model Nothing to be sorry about Sierra, your questions are most welcome. Don't worry for a second about asking the "right" questions, they're all right. We're dealing with the outer limits of human logic here and we don't instinctively know how to approach meth addiction, but we're here to learn. TG Not wanting it is fairly simple, trying to re-train ourselves not to is the where the work comes in. Until we deal with the precursors that lead up to our addictions, odds are we'll find ourselves wanting it regardless of our most sincere efforts not to. IOP is abrv. Intensive Out Patient, a program that is highly reccomended to all meth addicts hopeing to recover.
sierra nights	Re: An Intensive Outpatient Treatment Model GRRRRR, this is so freakin' frustrating today. Why in the heck would a person want to stop? Got be better ways, better days. Thank you for all the info. I need to have a good cry and do some more thinking or maybe I need to stop thinking for today. To much for one day. Sfj, I'm sure I'll be back, pickin' at you brain.