Is Professional Meth Addiction Treatment Better Than Attempts to Treat Meth Abuse at Home?

There is an ease and simplicity to doing things in your home rather than paying someone else to do it for you. Making your own bread, sewing your own pants, and crafting a present are all fulfilling activities that make you proud of yourself for tackling a task that most people are happy to pay someone else to do. Do it yourself appeals to the American ideal of pulling up your bootstraps and making it happen.

But, this attitude, this boot strapping, is the same detrimental mindset that makes people feel like their meth addiction is a failure of their willpower. There are things that require the assistance of a professional because they cannot be controlled or fixed at home. Most people call in an electrician to rewire their home. And, most meth addicts should treat methamphetamine abuse at a professional meth addiction treatment facility.

The Dangers Associated with Withdrawal

The withdrawal symptoms associated with detox from meth are relatively mild when compared with those experienced by alcoholics and opiate addicts. However, there is one symptoms that can be fatal: dysphoria. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, this overwhelming feeling of sadness and pervasive negativity can lead to suicidal thoughts and attempts. A person tying to treat methamphetamine abuse at home isn’t equipped to deal with this risk.

Co-Occurring Conditions

People with a diagnosed substance abuse disorder are approximately two times more likely than the average person to suffer from mood and anxiety disorders, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The treatment plan for a person with more than one mental health disorder is complicated and requires expertise to implement. This is commonplace in a meth addiction treatment center.

Cravings

One of the primary issues people deal with in recovery is meth cravings. This is why so many people who make an effort to treat methamphetamine abuse at home slide right back into using meth. A professional meth addiction treatment program teaches patients strategies they can use to combat cravings.

Treat Methamphetamine Abuse with Mindfulness at Meth Addiction Treatment Programs

When you are a meth user, there is persistent mental noise or chatter. The relentless hum of this activity is constant but very rarely are people aware of what is actually happening. They let it drive their behavior without being conscious of it. A lot of the time, the noise is unforgiving, critical self-talk and it causes distress, triggering people to escape into meth use and other risky actions.  Mindfulness practices help people in meth addiction treatment to gain awareness of these patterns and to foster the ability to choose from a wider selection of responses, ideally healthy ones. Although this is a relatively new way to treat methamphetamine abuse, it is proving quite effective.

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is generally a form of meditation that is used as therapy for addictive conditions. Originally rooted in Buddhist meditation, the practice asks people practicing it to purposefully focus on the present moment without applying judgement. This get people to raise their awareness and to accept their feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations as they develop.

How Does Mindfulness Treat Methamphetamine Abuse?

One of the primary contributing factors to meth abuse is stress. Quite often, meth use is increased by stress and it also hastens relapse. Mindfulness helps people in meth addiction treatment and later recovery to cope with stressors as they arise. And, the coping skills are healthy and beneficial. Further, reviewing the elements of your compulsive behavior nonjudgmentally weakens its power.

Mindfulness also has a positive impact on:

• Concentration
• Decision making
• Regulation
• Impulse control
• Self-care

Can Mindfulness Help with Cravings?

Yes. If we accept that an individual lacks responsibility for cravings, these feelings become foreign visitors in their minds and that means the person feeling the craving doesn’t have an obligation to respond to it. A person practicing mindfulness can watch cravings appear and disappear. This impermanence demonstrates cravings will go away and that addicts don’t need to use to satisfy them.

How Do Meth Addiction Treatment Centers Use Meditation to Treat Methamphetamine Abuse and Address Cravings?

When you have an addictions to meth, you are subjected to insatiable cravings. The rates of relapse among recovering addicts points to just how intense cravings can be. It’s more than just liking meth or wanting a bit more of it. Sure, people can use the word craving in those circumstances, but that usage pales in comparison to true addictive cravings. These can drive people completely committed to their sobriety back to meth use and can cause continued meth use even when facing grave consequences because of it.

In recent times, meth addiction treatment facilities have begun using mindfulness meditation to help people cope with their cravings. They have found it an effective way to treat methamphetamine abuse.

What Is Mindfulness Meditation?

In simple terms, mindfulness can be defined as observation free from judgement. People practicing it train themselves to focus on the present moment deliberately. If they begin to think of the past or of the future, they correct themselves and return to the present.

There are three elements to mindfulness:

• Awareness
• Attention
• Remembering

The person meditating has awareness of the object they choose to focus upon. They will devote all of their attention to this object and will remember to maintain it.

What Benefits Does Mindfulness Meditation Provide?

The benefits of meditation are both tangible and intangible. And, some of them are directly related to meth addiction treatment and some of them contribute to it less directly. Consider the following:

• You become less judgmental
• You become better at existing in the present moment
• You feel more connected to other people
• You are less upset by unpleasant experiences
• You deal with stress better
• You have far less anxiety

How Does Meditation Help with Cravings?

When you practice mindful meditation, you can observe your cravings and overcome them. You can treat methamphetamine abuse. You won’t be able to escape the cravings, but you can live with them and manage them. You develop improved control over your mind.