Can Free Methadone Clinics Help My Loved One?
Chronic opiate addiction exerts a tremendous toll on a person’s overall functional capacity. The damaging effects of opiates leave the brain in a deteriorated state that can persist for years after a person stops using.
Free methadone clinics specialize in offering long-term maintenance treatment for people coming off chronic opiate addictions. Methadone treats the physical aftereffects of addiction, which enables a person to feel more like him or herself. In turn, these effects make it possible for a person to become more engaged in the overall treatment process.
Free methadone clinics also provide behavior-based treatment interventions designed to help those in recovery develop the type of lifestyle that supports ongoing abstinence. If your loved one has gone through multiple rounds of treatment to no avail, the treatment approach offered through free methadone clinics may well be able to help him or her overcome opiate addiction for good.
Methadone’s Therapeutic Benefits
According to the National Institute of Justice, methadone is a synthetic opiate drug formulated to produce slow-acting effects. Unlike addictive opiates, methadone’s effects last up to 36 hours as opposed to the one to four hour effects brought on by heroin or prescription opiates. This slow-release mechanism does not produce a “high” like addictive opiates do, so methadone carries a considerably lower risk for addiction.
Since methadone contains opiate ingredients, free methadone clinics can use the drug’s effects to relieve the persistent drug cravings and withdrawal effects so often experienced in recovery. As drug cravings and withdrawal effects can quickly drive a person back to drug abuse, methadone’s therapeutic effects greatly increase a person’s chances of maintaining abstinence on a long-term basis.
Comprehensive Evaluation Process
As no two people experience the effects of addiction in the same way, it’s essential to identify a person’s actual treatment needs before the treatment process begins. For this reason, free methadone clinics conduct a comprehensive evaluation process at the start of treatment.
According to the University of Hawaii, information gathered during the evaluation process includes:
- Length of drug use
- Past drug abuse history
- Mental health status
- Medical evaluation
- Family history of substance abuse
- Family history of mental illness
- Motivation for treatment
- Presence or absence of a support system
Information obtained during the evaluation process forms the basis for a person’s overall treatment plan.
Behavioral Treatment Interventions
While methadone plays a central role in helping recovering addicts maintain abstinence, addiction creates a psychological as well as a physical dependence on the drug’s effects. Behavioral treatment interventions work to help addicts replace the addiction mindset with the coping skills needed to live a drug-free life.
Free Methadone clinics can offer behavioral treatment intervention.
Free methadone clinics offer a range of behavioral treatment interventions, including:
- Group therapy
- Drug education
- Drug counseling
- Individual psychotherapy
- 12 Step support group work
- Family therapy
The combination of methadone’s therapeutic effects with behavior-based treatment interventions provides those in recovery with the tools and supports most needed to overcome the aftereffects of chronic opiate addiction.
Who Most Benefits from Free Methadone Clinics?
The effects of chronic opiate addiction leave many unable to hold down a job, making it all but impossible to afford drug treatment costs. Free methadone clinics provide no-cost treatment to those unable to afford needed treatment help. In effect, free methadone clinics offer the same level of care as any other type of methadone treatment program.