What Treatments Are Available for Cocaine Drug Addiction?

Cocaine drug addiction is a strong and intense state of being, so the treatment for addicts needs to be holistic and thorough. Treatment centres and specialists agree that a combination of approaches is the best way to target drug addiction. By combining pharmacological treatments with behavioural, emotional and cognitive therapies, addicts have the best chance of full recovery.

There are no approved cocaine treatment drugs currently, but pharmacologists are working to create a medication to combat the effects of cocaine. Researchers are currently looking into creating a drug that is tailored to cocaine’s specific impacts on the brain. One important aspect of developing such a drug is to come up with something that is non-addictive, so that addicts don’t simply become dependent on the recovery drug. There are, however, several pharmaceuticals being used to treat the symptoms of withdrawal and dependency. Some of the same medicines that are prescribed to alcoholics and users of other narcotics are prescribed for cocaine addicts. The way these drugs target the symptoms of addiction include:

• reducing cravings
• reversing the anxiety caused by cocaine with tranquilizers
• preventing and reversing depression through antidepressants
• diminishing mood alteration and disturbances
• stabilizing blood pressure
• preventing relapsing through cocaine vaccination, which disables cocaine’s effects on the brain
• handling emergency treatments for overdosing

There are many rehabilitation facilities for substance abusers, where they can detoxify and being their recoveries. For cocaine drug addiction, the recommended length of stay at one of these centres is six-to-twelve months. In this time, patients can reverse their dependence on cocaine by receiving holistic, integrated treatment that repairs their lives and prepares them to start new, productive, substance-free living.

Emotional healing is an important part of recovery because it targets the reasons why an individual became addicted to drugs to begin with. Combined with cognitive behavioural therapy, patients can learn to identify and recognize the situations which trigger their desires to use drugs, to avoid such situations, and to cope.

Many treatment centres and recovery programs integrate twelve-step programs into their processes. These programs advocate for accountability, as recovering addicts discuss their triggers, as well as their feelings, and share them with one another. Recovery is most effective when worked on in a community, together. Patients whose families become involved in their recovery journeys fare better because the damaged relationships can begin to heal, and recovering addicts feel supported. Because drug addiction can be a family problem, either in the way that the whole family is affected by the addict’s struggle, or that addiction might affect more than one family member, when the whole family is involved in therapy sessions, the process is significantly more effective.

Many drug users are chemical dependent on more than one substance, so treatment needs to target all aspects of the user’s addiction. Finding a program that will integrate several therapies will ensure the best chance at successfully recovering from cocaine addiction, and preventing relapses. The medications prescribed should be geared towards all of the withdrawal and dependency symptoms, and the therapy should deal with the underlying issues that initiated the substance abuse. Engaging in a treatment plan that supports holistic treatment and recovery is the only way to combat cocaine drug addiction.