How Many Methadone Clinics Provide Counseling?

You might think that simply taking methadone in order to cure your drug addiction is all you need to get better.

However, this assumption is entirely false.

Drug addiction is about more than physical dependence. Often there are underlying emotional and mental problems that contributed to the initial drug use.

Without trying to fix these problems, you’ll just flock back to the comfort of drugs whenever times get rough.

In order to try and provide comprehensive treatment for your addiction, methadone clinics are required by law to provide counseling and behavioral therapy services for their patients.

This ensures you have a full recovery for all aspects of your health.

The MSC Model

By providing counseling, methadone clinics ensure both the physical and mental aspects of addiction are addressed.

One specific model that many methadone clinics use is the motivational stepped care (MSC) model. With this plan, programs can motivate their patients to attend counseling and decrease their chances of relapsing.

Overall, the MSC model is based on the idea that psychosocial interventions are effective and that more counseling greatly improves the effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment.

In fact, in a study done by scientists, patients who had a combination of methadone treatment, counseling, and on-site care from doctors and therapists had much greater outcomes than patients who simply had methadone treatment alone.

Utilizing this research, the MSC model is comprised of a few main points:

In order to receive early methadone dosing times, the patient needs to attend their scheduled counseling sessions.
The patient needs to pass drug urine tests.
If a patient misses their scheduled counseling, they are scheduled for even greater frequency of counseling.
If a person does not improve their drug use, they may also have increased counseling as well as counseling from more experienced counselors.
If a person still cannot comply, they are tapered off of methadone and released from the program.

By providing these rules for patients, it establishes the fact that methadone is not the primary treatment. Instead, it is part of a comprehensive treatment that is just as important as counseling.

Want to find a treatment center that uses the MSC model? Give us a call at 800-678-5931(Paid Advertiser) to learn about the best methadone clinics in your area.

Why Methadone Maintenance Treatment Won’t Work Without Counseling

People coming off chronic opiate addiction well know the ongoing physical and emotional discomforts that persist throughout much of the recovery process. While methadone maintenance treatment goes a long way towards alleviating the physical aftereffects of chronic opiate abuse, the psychological aftereffects remain well intact. Opiate addictions come with a high relapse potential regardless of ….

The Benefits of Combining Methadone and Counseling

Using methadone and counseling together can have many specifics benefits on your health. These include:

Increasing your chances of survival
Increasing your chances of staying in treatment
Increasing your chances of getting and keeping a job
Decreasing your use of illegal drugs and participating in criminal activity
If you’re a pregnant woman, increasing your chances for a healthy birth outcome
Decrease your risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis C

According to a 2006 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, there are around 1,400 methadone maintenance programs in the United States. This means that there are plenty of opportunities for you to find help for your addiction.

If you’re ready to experience the dual power of methadone treatment and counseling, call us now at 800-678-5931(Paid Advertiser) . We’ll help you find the nearest clinic so you can get started on a drug-free life.