How Can a Methadone Maintenance Program Help My Spouse Overcome Addiction?

The effects of opiate addiction not only impact the addict’s life, but also those closest to him or her. While it can be easy to hope your spouse’s drug problem goes away on its own, addiction only gets progressively worse with time.

Chronic opiate addiction not only warps the way a person thinks, but also causes widespread damage to essential areas of the brain. Under these conditions, the behavior-based approach used by traditional treatment programs can do little to help the addict overcome compulsive drug use.

Methadone maintenance program treatment addresses both the physical damage to the brain as well as the effects addiction has on a person’s thinking.

If you need help finding a methadone maintenance program for your spouse, call our toll-free helpline at 800-678-5931(Who Answers?) for assistance.

Chronic Opiate Abuse & Its Effects

Methadone Maintenance Program

MMT can help restore your relationship.

During the course of a developing opiate addiction, the brain undergoes marked changes in terms of its chemical makeup. Opiates work by stimulating the release of large amounts of neurotransmitter chemicals, which not only causes damage to cell sites, but also creates pronounced chemical imbalances.

According to University of Utah Health Care, these changes leave the brain physically dependent on opiates to function normally. With continued drug use, physical dependence evolves into addiction, at which point the mind has come to rely on opiates to cope with daily life.

How a Methadone Maintenance Program Can Help

Eliminates Withdrawal & Drug Cravings Effects

More than anything else, persistent withdrawal and drug cravings make it all but impossible for recovering addicts to abstain from drug use. These effects become even more so pronounced in cases where chronic opiate abuse has diminished the brain’s functional capacity.

Methadone maintenance programs use methadone as a type of medication therapy. Methadone interacts with damaged cells sites and supports normal neurotransmitter production rates in the brain. As a result, withdrawal and drug cravings effects are greatly reduced and over time, eliminated altogether.

Eliminates Compulsive Drug-Using Behaviors

As withdrawal and drug cravings effects are the driving forces behind compulsive drug-using behaviors, once your spouse starts a methadone maintenance program, he or she is in a better position to manage addiction-based urges.

According to Harvard Health Publications, methadone’s therapeutic effects bring about several benefits, including:

  • Emotional stability
  • Enables a person to hold down a job
  • Enables full engagement in the recovery process
  • Helps restore family relations

Building a Drug-Free Lifestyle

While methadone does a good job at restoring normal brain functioning, opiates have nonetheless become a coping mechanism for dealing with daily life pressures, so a person can still fall back into drug-using behaviors. Methadone maintenance programs employ behavioral-based treatment interventions as a means for helping recovering addicts develop healthy coping skills.

Behavioral interventions also enable your spouse to work through the underlying issues that led him or her to seek out escape through drugs. In the process, your spouse can develop the types of behaviors and habits that support a drug-free lifestyle.

Please don’t hesitate to call our toll-free helpline at 800-678-5931(Who Answers?) to inquire about methadone maintenance treatment. Our addiction specialists can help you find a program that meets your family’s needs.

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