Importance of Continuing Care Following Heroin Addiction Treatment

When you commit to recovery, it's like a never ending dedication of effort and time. Following the heroin addiction cure, there's a need for continued care and aftercare programs for many years.

Recovering individuals may be torn between two big questions, why does the heroin drug abuse treatment and is recovery worth it? The answer is, whether it takes many months or years, succeeding in recovery is worth it.

Why Recovery Takes Time

Recovery following your heroin addiction cure is a long process. Heroin addiction treatment is a long process because it affects the mental and physical health.

Statistics revealed that 6 in 10 people with addiction are diagnosed with a co-occurring disorder. Treating heroin substance abuse and a mental illness don't just happen instantly. A continued care and aftercare programs are essential to attain a long recovery.

In some cases, someone who went for a treatment for heroin addiction relapses because their co-occurring mental illness is not diagnosed right away. This can lead to greater consequences because the recovering individuals have the tendency to relapse again and again until it is diagnosed.

Recovery takes longer because research has shown in the brain images of recovering addicts that their brains still undergo changes three or more months following their heroin addiction treatment. Patients with a long history of heroin addiction have more brain changes, including reduced dopamine receptors, and disrupts the chemical pathways that are responsible for a normal brain function.

Most often, other mental health issues are only discovered during the addiction treatment for heroin. During the interview with the recovering individuals, the therapist discovers that the patients went through marital issues, depression, were abused or neglected.

Heroin addiction is often aggravated by a co-occurring disorder. The co-existing mental health issue cannot be addressed until the patient goes through the heroin addiction treatment. Even the mental problems should be addressed from the very beginning of the cure for heroin addiction, some of the issues can only be treated and diagnosed after treating heroin addiction.

Heroin addiction and mental issues have almost the same symptoms. Sometimes, it can only be detected after the cure for heroin abuse when the normal function of the brain returns.

There's no "quick fix" treatment as the brain healing takes time. When the brain change functions, the heroin substance abuse treatment and the levels of support should also be adjusted.

As the patient recovers, the heroin drug abuse treatment should also be changed. If the patient is admitted to a residential or outpatient treatment for heroin addicts, the treatment should never end there. A continued care is essential through:

· Outpatient counseling sessions (group or individual)

· Phone follow-ups

· Direct communication with the treatment program after the patient leaves

· Counseling or family therapy for parents and adolescents

· Activities that take place in community support organizations

· Drug testing and feedback

· Case coordination

· Social skills training