Evidence based addiction treatment
“If you really want it, you’ll do it.” “People who are serious about their recovery, don’t relapse.” “Medications are just a crutch.“
I’m going to ask you to cast off those old outdated ideas about addiction. I’d like you to instead try and understand for a moment that addiction is a disease. Yes, there are components of choice, just like how we handle many other diseases, but a disease nevertheless, is more than just a choice. People who struggle with addiction need care and understanding. They need people to understand that they didn’t choose to have their lives ruined by a substance and that if they could simply just STOP, they would.
Addiction is a multifaceted illness that requires a multimodal approach. In other words, it's really involved and requires a lot to effectively treat it. Sometimes (and really only sometimes) people require a high level of care, such as inpatient detox or residential treatments. Sometimes, they require intensive outpatient or partial hospital treatments. However, many individuals don’t need to completely uproot their lives for something that the evidence suggests is only a start to the treatment. Many people benefit from long term outpatient treatments with therapy, mutual support, and appropriate use of medications.
But how do you know who needs what? That’s where a professional comes in. A trained addiction specialist can help determine which level of care is most appropriate. They are also capable of offering much of the outpatient services directly – which means less steps to start getting what you need.
If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, or any other mental health issue, please seek treatment. There are a lot of good and effective ways to achieve this, so please contact myself (or someone else local to you and get help).
Some helpful resources include:
If you need treatment from an addiction psychiatrist, please contact me at 954-755-2885. I am located at 5551 North University Drive, Suite 202, Coral Springs, Florida 33067, part of Kimmel Psychology.