Designer Drug Rehab

People who take designer drugs likely never intended to become addicted. In fact, it’s quite likely that people who began taking these drugs did so because they thought the drugs could help them to enjoy a party, connect with friends or make traumatic experiences a little easier to forget. Over time, as the addiction set in, the use of the drug became an issue of compulsion, rather than choice. Soon, people had to keep taking the drug just to keep from feeling terrible.

Overcoming an addiction like this is difficult to do without help. In fact, experts suggest that addictions can be so very strong, and the behaviors that support the addiction can become so ingrained, that it’s difficult to break the cycle alone. With help, however, people can learn more about why they began taking designer drugs, and they can develop important skills that can help them avoid drugs in the future.

A Social Lubricant

Rehab programs are designed to focus on the future, helping people to develop new habits and new ways of living. But it’s also important for addicted people to know and understand a little about the past. With this knowledge, they can develop new habits that can protect them from the call of drugs. When it comes to designer drugs, many of these lessons revolve around social cues.

Designer drugs are often taken in the context of house parties and concerts, according to a study in the journal Addiction, which seems to suggest that people use these drugs when they’d like to enjoy the company of their friends and those they feel close to. Over time, it may seem as though taking drugs is the only way that people can even connect with their friends at all. The drug use seems to dominate their interactions with others. In rehab programs, these patterns can be amended.

While rehab programs are tailored to the needs of the specific addicted person, and many therapy tools are used to help that person alone, rehab programs can also be quite social. People are asked to attend support group meetings, learning how to relate to others without the use of drugs, and informal conversations between people in treatment are also common. People swap stories, make friends and share personal information. Over time, people learn to make friends based on healthy attributes, such as shared interests and common backgrounds. In a designer drug program, people might learn how to make connections without leaning on drugs.

Easing Mental Distress

People can take designer drugs for all sorts of reasons, and those reasons might vary significantly from person to person. For women, however, the use of any type of drug is often associated with an underlying mental illness. Women who experience trauma, and then develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as they attempt to deal with that trauma, might be at the highest risk for developing an addiction issue, with the Journal of Traumatic Stress reporting that women with PTSD comprise 30 to 59 percent of those in treatment for a substance abuse issue. Designer drugs can make symptoms of mental illness seem to fade, allowing the person to feel altered or euphoric, and better able to cope with the illness and the damage it can cause. Unfortunately, the illness is still there, just waiting for the drug to wear off, and the symptoms of mental illness might even grow stronger each time the person goes through an intoxication/sobriety cycle.

Rehab programs can use a variety of therapy techniques to help people overcome their mental illnesses, and their addiction issues. For example, women with PTSD may be provided with multiple types of counseling, including:

Therapy Techniques

• Stress inoculation training
• Prolonged exposure
• Supportive counseling
• Cognitive behavioral therapy

The type of counseling provided is often heavily dependent on the wishes of the woman who needs care, as well as the severity of the mental illness she’s facing. In a study of three different types of therapy, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, researchers found that all types of care helped women to overcome their PTSD, which seems to indicate that almost any type of help could be of benefit to women. Drugs don’t seem to help, but counseling can really make a difference.

Soothing Lifestyle Distress

Some people turn to designer drugs because they’re experiencing difficulty in other areas of life. For example, a study of lesbian and bisexual women published in the Journal of Women’s Health found that lifetime drug use was associated with “current life problems,” and a whopping 16.3 percent of these women wanted help for an addiction issue but had received no such help. It’s likely that these women might be motivated to get addiction help if they knew the depth and breadth of the assistance they might experience in rehab. Here, they might learn how to overcome a designer drug addiction, but they might also obtain referrals to community programs that could provide assistance with.

• Job placement
• Legal issues
• Parenting skills
• Housing

Since a lifestyle issue is so closely related to the development of an addiction issue, this help is absolutely vital. Here, women will be able to strengthen all areas of life, and they may not be tempted to turn to drugs as a result.

Finding New Habits

A designer drug habit is often supported by the person’s lifestyle. As mentioned, the person might use the drug as a coping mechanism for a variety of problems. In addition, the person might view the addiction as simply inevitable, and something the person simply cannot control. A therapy technique known as cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful for people who need to break these habits and develop an entirely new way of living.

In a cognitive behavioral therapy session, an addicted person is given the opportunity to look closely at the behaviors that take place just before the person is tempted to use drugs. It’s a method by which people can step outside of their daily concerns and really think closely about why the drug use is happening, and devise new skills that can come into play when those triggers spring up once more. Cognitive behavioral therapy can even be helpful in the treatment of mental illnesses such as depression, with a study in the American Journal of Psychiatry reporting that only 15 percent of people who had a major depressive episode experienced a relapse in two years after being provided with this therapy. Understanding secret motivations, and learning how to deal with them, can be helpful for anyone living with an addiction or a mental illness.

Addiction therapy sessions like this are sometimes provided on a one-on-one basis, with the addicted person and the therapist working hand in hand on solutions. But, some programs also utilize group therapy sessions, in which people addicted to designer drugs and people addicted to other drugs all come together to learn about addiction, and practice new skills with one another. A study in the journal Addiction suggests that group therapy is no more or less beneficial than individual therapy, but some women may disagree. Working with others in a supportive, honest and open environment may seem less threatening than facing a therapist in a head-on session with no one else present. For these women, group therapy might be an attractive option.

Care at The Orchid

There are many programs that can provide addiction care for those struggling with designer drugs. At The Orchid, our services are unique in that we’ve made our program about women, and for women. We utilize group therapy techniques, as we know they work best with addicted women, and we only allow women into our program. All of our counselors are women. This tight focus on the needs of women allows us to deliver comprehensive care to our patients, and we’d like to help you. Please contact us to find out more.