Treating Addiction

Treating addiction: Nicotine (cigarettes)

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Introduction

Drug addiction is a serious issue in the United States of America as well as across the globe. It is a disease for everyone regardless of age, race, gender, or social status. In the fiscal 2012, about 23.9 million people were reported to be addicts in America and this was 9.20% of the population. The number rose to 24.6 million in 2013 (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2008). Nicotine is one of the abused substances. Self-change in smoking addiction is a very common choice of treatment, but it is the most difficult one. In most cases it is almost impossible. Only a little percentage of them is successful. Most of them end up going back to their smoking habits. This is a researched argumentative paper on treating drug addiction, particularly nicotine (cigarettes).

Main body

Treating addiction requires a detailed approach that is similar to other addictions. The best approach involves combing therapy with counselling and medication. Nicotine replacements are the most common form of medication. Counselling focuses on many aspects of the patient. It includes relapse prevention, mood management and how to manage craving and relapse (Orleans, 1993).

Cigarette smoking has been greatly ignored in many disorder treatment settings in America. Many medical practitioners are afraid that an addict will not want to quit. They also believe that nicotine treatment is complex. Most of them actually convince their patient to quit using other drugs first before quitting cigarettes since they believe that it may affect the recovery from other forms of substance abuse. They do not consider nicotine a drug as other drugs. It is for this reason that many smoking addicts opt to self-treatment (Prochaska, Delucchi & Hall, 2004). With no one to monitor them, this often fails.

There are many treatment programs for drug abuse use, but only a few of them aid nicotine addicts. What is most surprising is that many drug addicts are also addicted to smoking cigarettes. Many professionals do not believe that nicotine addiction is a serious issue. Besides, a number of them believe that if they help the addict in solving the nicotine problem, then their referral rates will decrease. A decrease in the referral rates means that there is an increase in the dropout rates. They believe in the traditional notion that an individual should quit using whatever drug they are using before quitting smoking. Actually, most substance abuse treatment programs do not even screen their patient for cigarette use (Orleans, 1993). They do not consider nicotine to be a drug as much as they consider other drugs like heroin, alcohol, cocaine and many others. Recent research though shows that it is possible to quit smoking. Attempting to quit it does not affect the recovery from other substance abuse in any way. This has made many treatment programs to incorporate smoking cessation in their treatment plans.

Whereas many people opt for self-treatment as an option for quitting Smoking, smoking cessation is the best option for treating cigarette addicts. The effectiveness of cigarette smoking cessation treatment has been thoroughly observed of late. Several studies have documented its efficiency with the current one being a study done by NIDA-funded National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. The study shows that quitting rates using the program is about 10.0%-15.0% by the time a patient completes the treatment (Prochaska, Delucchi & Hall, 2004). The percentage may be lower to the public, but to the clinicians it is very significant. It gives them hope that indeed the program is worth pursuing. Affiliated to this is the evidence of reduced smoking in non-abstainers. When smoking cessation is combined with mood management, relapse prevention, and cognitive behavioral counselling and has been proven to help smoking quit rates in drug dependents.

Many professionals do not like the smoking cessation treatment because implementing the program is not easy. It requires a committed leadership in management. The leadership has to be dedicated to ensure that all the plans are put in place. They also need to be the source of motivation to other employees. Moreover, they have to lead in terms of information. The leadership should know the health problems posed by nicotine addiction, the addicts who are in treatment for other addictions and interventions to put in place to ensure success. Another challenge is that of getting a qualified clinical staff that is committed. The staff always has their own opinion about the smoking cessation program. These reasons make professionals not to consider nicotine addicts in their treatment programs (Orleans, 1993).Thus, the addicts end up choosing the self-treatment plan.

Self-help is difficult. This is because if one becomes addicted to nicotine, the substance abused ends up taking control of an individual’s will power. The nicotine creates a situation where the individual feels that he or she cannot do without taking a puff. Nicotine makes one become a slave to the substance and always needing it. Most addicts start smoking when they are in a situation that makes them psychologically empty. Teenagers and adolescents often start smoking due to peer pressure. They want to feel accepted by those around them. Nicotine makes one value it more than other things in life (Prochaska, Delucchi & Hall, 2004). Thus, nicotine makes you fear that your life will be bleak and empty, making self-treatment to be a difficult decision to make.