What Is Heroin Treatment Like?

What you experience during heroin treatment depends on individual factors such as how long you have been using your drug and the amounts you have been using. Your recovery will depend on understanding and coping with other challenges, too – such as underlying psychological problems (including depression or bipolar disorder) that may have caused or been exacerbated by your drug use.

There are two kinds of treatment centers: live-in (residential) or outpatient (live at home).

• Residential treatment centers can be very specialized, such as wilderness programs and therapeutic boarding schools for preteens and teenagers, Christian rehabilitation, or gender-specific programs. Some residential programs offer services for many kinds of addictions and psychological problems, while others specialize in one particular addiction or disorder.
• With outpatient treatment, you live at home and check with your counselors and doctors on a regular basis.

Step One: Withdrawal

The first step in treatment involves chemical withdrawal from heroin, or detoxification. Heroin detox has a bad reputation that dates to the early 1900s and gives us the terms “kicking the habit” and “cold turkey.” However, modern methods make heroin detox less intense and unpleasant then it was years ago.

• During detox, you usually remain at a medical treatment center for a few days. Within hours of stopping your drug use, all traces of heroin leave your body and withdrawal symptoms begin. Withdrawal feels like a terrible case of the flu. Depending on your level of drug usage, you experience chills and goose bumps (hence the term “cold turkey”), runny nose, sweats, fevers, insomnia, muscle and joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and twitching legs (“kicking the habit”).
• Not everyone experiences all symptoms. Your doctor may prescribe methadone or some other drug to ease your symptoms, and then gradually taper it off.
• The flu symptoms may last up to a week, with the worst of it over after the first two days. One former addict said the main problem with withdrawal is knowing that if you took some heroin, the symptoms would end in minutes. This is why you need support to get through it.

Step Two: Therapy

Once you are through detox, you attend classes and therapy sessions with counselors, and support meetings with others in treatment. You learn how to deal with “triggers,” that is, situations and people that make you want to use heroin again.

Residential centers often offer outdoor activities like horseback riding, hiking, swimming and so forth, to help you learn to use physical exercise as a natural way to relieve stress. You may also learn other new coping techniques such as deep breathing, yoga and meditation. Most residential centers offer sports, journaling, art, music, and drama as forms of therapy.

Step Three: Maintenance

Once you return home or complete the most intensive period of outpatient treatment, you will still need follow-up care. This usually involves attending 12-Step meetings such as Narcotics Anonymous or other support groups, and keeping up with individual therapy.

The families of former addicts often enter into counseling themselves to help them deal with the changes in family dynamics that are necessary for a family member’s recovery from drug use.

How long does it all take? That depends on your individual case. Government studies show people who remain in treatment and support groups for at least a year, even on an outpatient basis, are more likely to permanently recover.

If you are ready to change your life, call 877.762.3768.