TREATMENT AND INTERVENTION


INTERVENTION

An intervention is the process where a friend, family member, teacher, or colleague formally approaches an addict with the intent to initiate positive change.  Interventions many times include several people who work together to approach that particular person involved with a drug addiction, urging them to seek help in drug treatment and providing them with the resources available for treatment.

Below are resources for further information on how to perform an intervention.

The Partnership for a Drug Free America

http://www.drugfree.org/Intervention/

Intervention Center
http://www.intervention.com/ 

TREATMENT

Treatment for Methamphetamine Addiction

The effectiveness of treatment generally increases when the program draws on a variety of components. Because of the inability of many meth users to recognize problems related to their drug use, techniques that promote change in patients' thinking, expectations, and behaviors are emphasized.

The length of the treatment program also is important. Many users have a tendency to quickly drop out of treatment, but those who continue in treatment can achieve long-term, drug-free recovery.

Strategies to prevent relapse may include drug education, family and group therapies, and self-help groups. These strategies often include teaching abusers to identify behaviors that put them in situations where they are at high risk for using meth. This form of treatment provides a structure for actively involving patients in treatment and helping them stay off meth.

Treatment is often provided in intensive outpatient programs. Therapies may be combined with techniques to strengthen coping skills for stress and with medications, as needed. The clinical challenges related to paranoia, psychosis, agitation, and severe craving usually require knowledge and skills beyond those involved in traditional alcohol treatment.

More research is needed to focus on concerns related to sexual behavior, weight issues, and ongoing paranoia. Studies examining special treatment issues associated with pregnant women, women with small children, the gay community, and homeless populations also are needed.

Psychosocial Treatments
There are no medications currently approved for the treatment of methamphetamine addicted patients.  However, research has shown that effective psychosocial treatments for treating cocaine users are also appropriate in treating methamphetamine use.
Research studies have examined differences in characteristics and treatment outcomes among methamphetamine users by route of administration, which include: 

Intranasal (snorting)
Sinusitis, loss of sense of smell, congestion, atrophy of nasal mucosa, nosebleeds, perforation or necrosis of the nasal septus, hoarseness, problems  swallowing, and throat ailments. 

Smoking
Hoarseness, problems swallowing, throat ailments, and a productive cough with black sputum. 

Injecting
HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, lung infections, pneumonia, bacterial or viral endocarditis (inflammation of the lining of the heart), cellulitis, wound abscesses, sepsis (the toxic spreading of infection), thrombosis (blood clot), renal infarction (partial or whole kidney death), and thrombophlebitis (inflammation of a vein wall). Injection use is associated with considerably more detrimental health and psychological problems than non-injection routes. One study found that methamphetamine injectors are a high-risk group exhibiting more severe pathologies and poorer treatment prognoses than smokers and intranasal users.  However, smokers also had poor treatment engagement, retention and completion rates when compared to intranasal users. A Japanese study found differences between smokers and injectors.  Injectors used methamphetamine for longer periods of time, had lower levels of education, had more extensive criminal records, and experienced more auditory hallucinations compared to methamphetamine smokers. A study conducted in the United States in 2000 found that methamphetamine injectors reported experiencing more adverse consequences related to health, legal and psychological factors as compared to non-injectors.  


Psychiatric and Emotional Issues in Methamphetamine Withdrawal 

Psychotic Symptoms
Methamphetamine use is known to cause psychotic symptoms.  Most typical is paranoid thinking or paranoid delusions. Users become terrified that the police are after them or that they are being watched and someone is listening to them. These fears may be associated with panic reactions. This combination makes it difficult for these individuals to feel safe leaving their home.  Methamphetamine users sometimes experience other psychotic symptoms such as auditory, visual and tactile hallucinations.Depression The other common psychiatric issue faced by people withdrawing from methamphetamine is depression.  Methamphetamine impacts the dopamine system, which controls the feeling of pleasure.  When methamphetamine is removed from the user’s body abruptly, the result is significant feelings of depression. 

Neurocognitive
The neurocognitive impact of methamphetamine dependence is well-documented. Asindividuals withdraw from methamphetamine, key among the symptoms they experience are feelings of confusion, difficulty thinking or concentrating, and problems remembering things. Evidence is also mounting that, particularly early in the recovery process, users may have trouble making effective decisions due to methamphetamine’s impact on the prefrontal cortex.  Helping clients create a structure for themselves that includes scheduling their time can help reduce the need to think through complicated issues or to make important decisions. 

Environment for Methamphetamine Withdrawal
Because methamphetamine detoxification is not medically dangerous, people do notnecessarily need a hospital stay unless they are a danger to themselves or others or are so agitated or cognitively impaired that they cannot safely travel to the treatment center. In these cases, psychiatric hospitalization is indicated. In most instances, however, detox can occur in a residential program or in an intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization treatment program. Recovering from methamphetamine addiction is a life-long challenge. Very few people addicted to methamphetamine are able to successfully stop using permanently the first time they try. Even when people enter treatment, it is not easy for them to stop using methamphetamine and stay off the drug. For some individuals addicted to methamphetamine, learning how to remain off the drug is learning a new skill, like riding a bicycle. Nobody learns to ride a bicycle without falling off a few times (and sometimes more than a few times).  *Information taken from the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs


Treatment Resources in Wyoming

   Foundations Counseling & Consulting of WY (307)638-4092          Cheyenne       WY

The Chrysalis House	(307) 245-3444	Pine Bluffs	WY
Cheyenne VA Medical Center	(307) 778-7550x7698	Cheyenne	WY
Wyoming Substance Abuse Treatment and	(307) 673-2510	Sheridan	WY
Personal Frontiers Inc	(307) 686-1189	Gillette	WY
Riverton VA Outpatient Clinic	(307) 857-1211	Riverton	WY
Southwest Counseling Service	(307) 352-6677	Rock Springs	WY
Wyoming Substance Abuse Treatment and	(307) 672-2044	Sheridan	WY
Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center	(307) 674-7702	Sheridan	WY
Casper VA Outpatient Clinic	(307) 235-4143	Casper	WY
Wyoming Recovery	(307) 265-3791	Casper	WY
Curran/Seeley Foundation	(307) 733-3908	Jackson	WY
Cedar Mountain Center at	(307) 578-2421x421	Cody	WY
New Horizons	(307) 237-7077	Casper	WY
Reflections	(307) 237-5041	Casper	WY
Cheyenne Community Drug Abuse	(307) 635-0256	Cheyenne	WY
New Directions	(307) 237-6033	Casper	WY
Peak Wellness Center	(307) 632-6433	Cheyenne	WY