Methadone Addiction Treatment

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Methadone is a long-standing treatment for opiate addictions but also carries its own addiction risks. While researchers and doctors are well aware of methadone’s dependency effects, the drug remains a safer and preferred choice when compared to ongoing opiate addictions. To mitigate the risks of addiction to methadone, healthcare professionals have come up with ways to administer and control methadone doses while preventing you from simply switching from one addiction to another.

Methadone addiction treatment involves a process of ongoing therapy alongside medicinal care as needed. Since methadone addiction occurs as a “side effect” from opiate addiction treatment, facilities use specialized approaches to help those in recovery wean off the drug as they progress toward sobriety.

Methadone Treatment

Methadone addiction treatment often takes place in an inpatient treatment clinic or facility.

Despite being used as a standard medication used to treat heroin, morphine and other opiate addictions, remember that methadone itself is also an opiate drug. Methadone is effective in how it replaces the effects of other opiates and reduces a person’s cravings. According to the National Library of Medicine, methadone blocks opiate receptors in the brain and throughout the body. This process creates a gradual, long-acting effect that stops short of getting a person “high.” This way, the drug prevents users from getting “high” on any other opiate-based drug of choice.

Since methadone is administered in controlled doses, it’s less damaging than an out-of-control drug habit. Oftentimes, methadone becomes the treatment of last resort for people who don’t respond well to other medication therapies.

Methadone Addiction

However, we should be wary that methadone itself can be addictive. The drug’s half-life in the body lasts three times longer than other opiates, and this makes a methadone addiction much harder to break. Even though the withdrawal effects from methadone are less severe than those from other opiate addictions, they still cause considerable discomfort for those in recovery. If the methadone treatment goes unmonitored, persons seeking treatment for other opiate addictions risk trading one addiction for another.

Methadone addiction treatment helps a person make it through the withdrawal effects caused by methadone while providing the necessary coping skills to maintain abstinence from the drug on a long-term basis.

Treatment Approach for Methadone Addiction

Much like the treatment approaches used to break other types of addictions, methadone addiction treatment requires an individualized approach that specifically addresses a person’s treatment needs. This may involve the use of medication, psychotherapies and group support as needed. The overall goal of methadone addiction treatment helps to free participants from any existing physical and psychological dependencies on the drug.

As each person experiences addiction in different ways, no single treatment approach will work for everybody. But methadone remains an option for many, and for those who worry that they may become dependent on their medication, know that methadone addiction treatment works to eliminate new dependency issues.

How is Methadone Addiction Treated?

Treatment can vary for each person, as each individual and their situation is unique. However, methadone addiction treatment generally involves a combination of behavioral therapy and medication.

Medication Treatment

Methadone addiction treatment programs use medications in much the same way methadone is itself used to treat opiate addictions. While this may seem like swapping one drug for another, the medications used for methadone addiction treatment have a considerably lower risk of addiction than methadone itself.

With any opiate addiction, the brain and body require time to recover from the damage done to brain and body chemical processes. The effects provided by these meds help ease the body through this repair process.

Treatment Facilities

Methadone addiction treatment facilities specifically address the issues and challenges that a person faces when trying to come off methadone. These centers operate as either inpatient or outpatient settings, though some programs may offer a combination of both.

Inpatient facilities provide 24-hour care and treatment so recovering patients can live at the facility while working through the recovery process. Some inpatient programs may also offer detox as the starting point for recovery.

Outpatient programs are best suited for people who work during the day and/or have family obligations to meet. Participants attend therapy and medication appointments around their existing work and family schedules. People recovering from severe methadone addictions may want to consider receiving outpatient care after completing an inpatient program.

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