What is Addiction?
An addiction is a medical and mental health condition characterized by a compulsive desire to engage in a behavior despite its negative consequences to one’s health. People can have an addiction toward the use of a substance (such as alcohol or illicit drugs), or a behavior (such as gambling). One is addicted when they experience a loss of control over their behavior and experience a physical “high” when experiencing the addiction, or conversely, an intense discomfort when lacking the stimulus they are addicted to.
Often, people confuse general compulsivity or unhealthy habits with addictions. For example, people can report themselves to be addicted to applying lip gloss, or addicted to cleaning their room. They may even report an extreme infatuation with another person as a “love addiction”. While these actions may not be ideal, and may even lead to unhealthy consequences, one crucial factor that distinguishes an addiction is that the body itself is dependent on the stimulus to function. Additionally, removing the stimulus creates real withdrawal illness symptoms. While someone may experience discomfort when not applying lip gloss, they do not risk extreme physical illness without it. Conversely, withdrawing from cocaine or alcohol may need medical supervision due to the seriousness of the body’s dependence on the stimulus.
How to treat Addiction?
Treating an addiction must be a tailored process designed and conducted by trained professionals. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to treating an addiction, and the type of treatment depends both on that which one is addicted to, the severity of the addiction, and other mitigating factors. For simplicity’s sake, one can think of treating addiction in three distinct levels of intensity.
Level 1: Mild addiction, maintenance.
Here one is addicted, but it not experiencing a full-blown addiction. They may also have experienced sobriety and may need maintenance work or may be dealing with a brief relapse. In this situation, outpatient psychotherapy, group counseling, recovery coaching, and personal development may be appropriate. One may also want to have a few appointments with a medical professional to explore medication management. This stage does not require inpatient hospitalization as the person is relatively high-functioning and stable.
Level 2: Moderate addiction.
In this level, one is addicted and is consuming the stimulus regularly. They may or may not have experienced a period of sobriety, and may not have gotten any treatment for their addiction. Or, they may have but have been relapsing into the addiction for a period of time. In this case, intensive outpatient or brief inpatient treatment may be necessary. Supervision by trained medical professionals is required, and a holistic assessment of a person’s mental and physical health must be conducted to design a comprehensive treatment plan. In this stage, it is important for the person with the addiction to consider that they may be too addicted to successfully withdrawal and abstain on their own safely.
Level 3: Full-blown addiction.
In this level, the person is fully addicted to the substance or stimulus. Their life is directly centered on the stimulus. They spend a significant part of their day consuming, or preparing to consume, the stimulus. They are physically and emotionally consumed by that which they are addicted to and are unable to function as normal. In this stage, inpatient treatment is most often the correct first step. They need to be entirely removed from the stimulus, and may need intense medical supervision to help them withdraw. Following a successful completion of treatment in this level, moving down to a Level 2 type of treatment is typically wise.
Types of Addiction we treat?
ALL IN Therapy clinic is an outpatient treatment clinic. As such, we can treat many types of addictions, but the person must be relatively stable and their addiction must not be severe enough to require intense medical supervision. For people experience mild addiction, or whom are working to maintain their sobriety, and are not using daily, the providers at ALL IN are able to assist clients with a variety of addictions including alcoholism, opioid addictions, amphetamine addictions, gambling addictions, and “sex/porn” addiction, among other types.