Monday, February 16, 2009

crystal meth addiction treatment

Planning A Crystal Meth Treatment In Alabama

Author: Todd Lange

Crystal meth is a derivative of methamphetamine. If methamphetamine can be considered to be one of the most addictive drugs known to us, then crystal meth can be easily included in this category. In fact, being a more concentrated form of amphetamine than methamphetamine is, the chances of crystal meth being more dangerous of the two are quite high.

There are several centers for crystal meth treatment in Alabama, most of them following the rehab treatment policy. These centers are finding a high rate of admissions of late, which is making the issue seem to be more problematic than ever before. In addition, the age of the people that are getting into crystal meth treatment in Alabama is also quite low; it generally lies in the range of 18 to 25 years.

This makes it clear that crystal meth addiction is a youth-centric addiction in Alabama and that makes matters more serious because the younger the people are when they get into a crystal meth habit, the greater are the chances that they will enter into a full-blown addiction as they grow older, and the more difficult it will become to treat their condition.

The first step you have to be sure of when you are planning a crystal meth treatment in Alabama is whether the person is really in a crystal meth addiction or not. This can be difficult to find out, because several drugs have similar symptoms. If the patient shows a temporarily boosting effect such as feeling more happy than required, having a tendency to work surprisingly more, looking more bright eyed and cheerful than normal and having an elevated blood pressure, then it could be indicative of a crystal meth addiction.

You must read for detailed signs and symptoms of crystal meth addiction which you will easily find on the Internet. Visiting federal websites such as those of the organizations such as Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institute of Drug Abuse and National Clearinghouse can help you in learning more about these symptoms.

Get in touch with a counselor on substance abuse treatment in Alabama who will help you plan the addiction treatment. This is also important because it helps confirm whether it is actually a crystal meth addiction or not. The counselor will tell you how you can plan an intervention program to get the person out of the denial phase and into a treatment center. You might want to use an intervention specialist.

Using an intervention specialist, also known as an interventionist, for crystal meth treatment in Alabama is a good idea because they can accurately guide you on what you must do at every step of the treatment, including which treatment center you must choose for the patient's particular condition. They become of invaluable assistance because they will also help you convince the patient to accept that there is a problem and to seek treatment for the same.

Your next step, i.e. when the patient is convinced about getting into treatment, is to choose a treatment center. The interventionist and the substance abuse counselor both will guide you on this, but you have to make sure that the treatment center you are selecting has special expertise for dealing with meth rehab treatment. They must ideally have a license stating the same. You will also do well if you check the credentials of the treatment center as to since how many years they are providing crystal meth treatment. Check also the credentials of the treatment providers. Ideally, they should be qualified from an organization such as the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Distance is not quite important when you are planning a crystal meth treatment in Alabama. If there is a good treatment center with a good program in another city, you may consider enrolling the patient for a program there. Since most meth treatments are inpatient and will go on for several weeks, this will not be much of a problem. You can always shift the patient to a local center when the aftercare therapy gets underway.

You must remember that at every stage the crystal meth treatment proves to be more difficult than any other form of drug treatment. It is definitely much more difficult to convince a patient of this form of treatment, the detox program is quite long and a very elaborate counseling program needs to be used in which the family will also be expected to participate. Even so, aftercare is quite important, because there is always a very high chance of relapse with this kind of treatment.