Drug Treatment Clinic: Relapse in Drug Addiction

Has the face of addiction changed? Addiction is becoming more readily identified. There is so much more evidence positively impacting recovery outcomes for our patients/clients.

I recall when the Community Room at the Farley Institute was filled with individuals, recently intervened upon, who had never been treated including many who had interpreted their powerlessness as insanity or something immoral or weak. Our patients came to us having experienced years of illness, isolation and dependency without hope or answers. As a result of quality intensive residential treatment being offered as a first treatment experience, outcomes improved, knowledge of disease & its treatment improved, awareness rose and the stigma of addiction lessened.

As the public and we, the providers of healthcare, become more knowledgeable and aware, addicts are not only getting to treatment earlier, they and/or their families are seeking help more. Now our Farley Hall is filled with professionals who need our help. They come to us often having experienced outpatient therapy, even intensive outpatient programs, while trying to mange life stressors and remain abstinent. Some of our professionals were referred and/or sought out primary residential experiences. They were able to become abstinent and even to live recovery before relapsing and again harming themselves and those around them.

The Relapse Dynamic in the recovering patient is complex and subtle, and like active addiction, cunning, baffling and even more powerful than untreated addiction. Relapse to intoxicant use is complicated by intense feelings of shame and failure. The addict is now affected by yet more loss and now his/her active addiction is defended by “treatment sophistication”: an ability to talk to the talk, but crippled by the shame & depth of relapse fearing that they will forever be unable to walk the walk. Our skilled therapists have become sensitive to this changing dynamic. Our program reflects this. Our dedication to doing the right thing and stick to what we know works despite external pressures has enabled us to help over 4,000 addicts return to their lives, their families, and their professions.

We know that the pressure of undiagnosed co-occurring disorders, characterological overload, disruptive behaviors and the stress that comes from deepening shame and even more loss can be helped and effectively treated. We know the key element for full recovery from a single relapse, even repeated relapses is Time spent on more intense treatment directed at uncovering diagnoses, treating true factors which lead to the relapse. Time to peel away the layers; to touch the wounds that require healing. And like all its sister chronic illnesses, treating Addiction takes expertise, experience and Time. These are the qualities that a drug treatment clinic staff has to offer patients. In addition, when recidivism and relapse are synonymous, meaning that the client has experienced residential treatment in a peer based therapeutic community; we have a specialized group for that population.

Here, we offer the individual, intimate, and intensive therapy that the client deserves and the Time to develop the critical skills necessary to make relapse to intoxicant use much less likely.

Please let us help. Let us help you find the answers to your questions about relapse. Has the face of addiction really changed? Not really, we are just able to notice it sooner, prevent it more effectively and give it the attention it deserves. Please call a professional today.

Beyond Beliefe 2008 -15- Sally Satel 1-2 – Sally Satel Human Flourishing, continued Date: October 4, 2008 Speakers: Sally Satel Topics: Addiction, Human Behavior, Human Flourishing, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy Sally Satel is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and staff psychiatrist at the Oasis Clinic in Washington, DC She has published articles on cultural aspects of medicine and science in The New York Times, New Republic, Commentary, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, and Wall Street Journal. Dr. Satel is the author of PC, MD: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine; Drug Treatment: The Case for Coercion; and coauthor of One Nation Under Therapy.