How the Effects of Cocaine Are Minimized with Treatment
An addiction to cocaine can be a frustrating and exhausting ordeal, leaving a person feeling overwhelmed and helpless to take action. Cocaine takes an aggressive hold over the brain’s chemical system, creating an environment that depends on the drug to function.
Cocaine rehab treatment offers much needed support and guidance for people wanting to overcome cocaine’s effects in their lives. Over time, the medical and behavioral interventions offered by rehab programs account for how the effects of cocaine are minimized with treatment.
The Effects of Cocaine over Time
Physical Dependence
A physical dependence on cocaine can develop within a short period of time. When ingested, cocaine forces dopamine-producing brain cells to produce large amounts of this essential neurotransmitter chemical, according to Bryn Mawr College.
Dopamine plays an important role in regulating the body’s pain and pleasure sensations and also works to stabilize a person’s emotional state. Before long, the brain requires cocaine in order to regulate these processes. How the effects of cocaine are minimized with treatment hinges on addressing the hold this drug has on the brain.
If you’re considering treatment and you’re not sure if your insurance will cover your treatment costs, call our helpline at 800-934-3781(Who Answers?) for more information.
Addiction
Cocaine’s ability to disrupt dopamine production processes account for this drug’s high potential for addiction. According to Macalester College, disruptions in dopamine output have a direct impact on the brain reward pathway, an area that determines a person’s psychological makeup in terms of his or her thinking processes, motivations and behaviors. How the effects of cocaine are minimized with treatment rely in large part on helping a person “retrain” the brain reward pathway.
How the Effects of Cocaine Are Minimized With Treatment
Professional treatment helps you build a drug-free lifestyle.
Breaking the Body’s Dependence
Detoxification treatment becomes a mandatory first step in overcoming cocaine addiction. As stopping drug use brings on a range of distressing withdrawal effects, detox programs administer medications to help relieve much of the discomfort experienced.
Detox also brings on considerable emotional turmoil, so drug education training and ongoing emotional support are provided as well. These interventions account for how the effects of cocaine are minimized in treatment during the initial stages of recovery.
Developing a Drug-Free Lifestyle
More than anything else, developing a drug-free lifestyle becomes the driving force behind how the effects of cocaine are minimized with treatment. This part of the treatment process works to retrain the brain reward system by helping a person develop the types of habits and behaviors that can support a drug-free lifestyle. Treatment interventions commonly used include:
- Intensive psychotherapy
- Motivation-based therapies
- Support group work
- Group therapy
Considerations
The psychological effects of cocaine addiction can stay with a person for years after he or she stops using the drug. Ultimately, equipping those in recovery with the knowledge and coping skills needed to overcome addiction’s effects plays a central role in how the effects of cocaine are minimized in treatment.
If you or someone you know struggles with cocaine abuse and need help finding treatment that meets your needs, please feel free to call our toll-free helpline at 800-934-3781(Who Answers?) to speak with one of our addiction specialists.