Alcohol, Tobacco And Illicit Drug Addiction Mechanism

Addiction from misuse of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs has not been recognized in the past as an illness or disease that affects the brain and needs to be addressed medically. It is a complex illness that is characterized by intense and uncontrollable craving and an individual can go to great lengths to satisfy such craving.

The first step to addiction of any kind is in the taking or using a substance. This develops into a habit and the brain becomes accustomed to the habit. After prolonged use of the substance, the brain's circuits become affected, leading to dependency on the substance. The parts affected in the brain include those responsible for memory, control, motivation and reasoning.

Treatment for any kind of addiction is not easy, more so if an individual uses several substances that he/she is addicted on. Addiction treatment is therefore not general. Several addiction treatment programs have been developed to address particular addictions. In all cases, addiction treatments are aimed at assisting an individual stop the use of substance and maintain substance-free lifestyle. Addiction treatment programs are not meant to last for a just a few days. They are for long-term, just as addiction builds over time. Some patients with severe addiction problems require long-term and repeated treatment sessions to completely recover from an addiction.

Addiction treatment is made more difficult by the fact that most addiction go without treatment. According to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports, over 23 Million US citizens used an illicit drug or misused alcohol in 2007. Of the 23 Million, only 2.4 Million people sought and received addiction treatment, with the remaining millions restraining from seeking any treatment.

Effective addiction treatment programs should take into account several factors for success to be achieved. These include:

- An addiction treatment program should take into account that addiction is complex illness but which can effectively be treated.

- That not one treatment program may be suitable for all addiction patients. While a patient may be addicted to only one substance, another may be addicted to different substances. These two certainly require different treatment programs or a combination of programs to be treated effectively.

- That an addiction treatment program needs to be readily available. This is important for patients going through treatment as interference in treatment may cause them to relapse.

- That the program should not only focus on treating the addiction. The program should go further and address a patient's other needs.

- That the program should include counseling as part of the treatment.

- Those medications assist patients in overcoming craving.

- That it is important to continuously assess a patient's treatment process and make changes where necessary if no positive effects are realized.

- Those addiction patients have mental problems that have to be addressed.

- Those lapses do occur in the course of treatment and patient substance use should continuously be monitored.

- That it is imperative to test an addiction patient for other diseases such as HIV/AIDS and offer treatment for the same.

- That addiction treatment program is not only effective in patients who undertake it voluntarily; it is effective to all so long as a patient is put on the right program.

An addiction treatment or alcohol rehab program that takes into account all these factors has high chances of succeeding.