Substance use affects people from various backgrounds. Heroin is leading the way in terms of substances people are becoming addicted to today. Many people start using opioid medications for pain or after surgery. However, they can only get access to prescription medication for a short time. When they no longer have access to prescription opioids, they need something to help them deal with withdrawal symptoms.
This is when they turn to illegal drugs like heroin. Other people start using heroin because they are introduced to it by friends, family members, or at a social function. Use quickly transforms into an addiction. The prevalence of heroin dependency in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. Most heroin users will develop dependence quickly. Thankfully, there are heroin treatment centers that use evidence-based approaches to help individuals suffering find the help they need.
What Is Heroin?
Heroin is an opioid. It comes from morphine. Morphine is found in poppy plants that are grown in Asia, Central America, and South America. Characteristics of heroin include a white or brown color and a powdery form. It may appear as a black, sticky tar known as black tar heroin. When heroin is used, it affects the brain quickly by adhering itself to opioid receptors. Opioid receptors impact a person’s sensation of pleasure and pain and affect their ability to breathe and sleep. When a person uses heroin over a substantial amount of time, their brain stops producing endorphins and other chemicals that cause them to feel pleasure. So they reach a point where the only way that they can feel normal is by using heroin.
Heroin has some powerful effects, such as:
- Slowed mental functioning
- Lung, kidney, and liver disease
- Heart infections
- Lung disease
- Kidney disease
- Increased risk of infirmities from injecting heroin
Heroin, unlike prescription opioids, is unregulated. The people who create heroin may add other substances to make the mix more potent. Sometimes, they will fold in sugar, powder, starch, and other things that can clog blood vessels and stop your body from functioning as it should. But a person addicted to heroin must get the treatment they need to overcome addiction and prevent the long-term consequences of heroin use.
The Benefit of Heroin Addiction Treatments
A person who tries to break free from heroin on their own has a high chance of relapsing. This is because heroin’s withdrawal symptoms are brutal. Visiting a heroin addiction treatment center can give you a private, dignified, safe environment to go through the detox and withdrawal process.
Along the way, you will learn the skills needed to live without heroin and minimize your chances of relapse. Very few people can recover from heroin addiction without therapy. The support they get during the process makes all the difference. There are treatment options tailored to meet the needs of the specific patient.
Heroin addiction treatment will include group therapy, individual therapy, and family therapy. Gender-specific facilities allow people to overcome their substance use disorder in a safe environment without distractions.
Treatment options include:
- Adventure therapy
- Holistic healing
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Family counseling
Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Many people are battling heroin addiction because they have underlying conditions. Many start as a way of self-medicating to address mental health disorders, like anxiety or depression. They feel unable to cope with the symptoms their mental health condition produces. Additionally, people who use heroin can develop mental health issues.
These include antisocial personality disorder and depression. Whether the substance use caused the mental health condition or it is what led to it, people battling mental health conditions with addiction need simultaneous treatment if they are going to break free from substance abuse long-term. Dual diagnosis treatment, or treatment for co-occurring disorders, gives people the support and care they need to manage mental health symptoms, some of which they have been avoiding for years.
Get Help Breaking Free from Heroin Addiction
Breaking free from heroin can seem challenging. However, with the right tools, you can learn how to make heroin addiction a thing of the past. Are you ready to turn your back on substance use? If so, we can help. Call us today at 855-334-6120.
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