Using pharmaceutical drugs to “cure” other drug addictions is just plain crazy. For example, Methadone is the drug that is most often used to treat heroine and opioid addictions. Meanwhile, Methadone is, itself, addictive. In other words, the Western drug addiction treatment protocols consist of trading one addition for another.
Why? Methadone is big-business for Big Pharma.
Interestingly, when you search the medical literature, there is a dearth of research discussing just how addictive Methadone is. Yet, there are many detox clinics that treat the widespread epidemic of Methadone addiction caused by our Western treatment protocols.
https://www.addictioncenter.com/opiates/methadone/
In addition to the use of drugs to treat addiction, the following are additional mainstream treatment protocols:
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https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323468#detoxificationrawal
Other common recommendations include:
· individual psychotherapy to teach the client how to handle the triggers that lead to substance abuse
· group counseling with other clients who also suffer from PTSD and an addictive disorder
· couples therapy or family counseling to strengthen relationships and educate family members about the disorder
· membership in a 12-step group to strengthen the client’s support network
· medication therapy with anti-addiction drugs or psychotherapeutic medications (antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications).
https://dualdiagnosis.org/mental-health-and-addiction/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-and-addiction/
As an aside, I have always been skeptical of the efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) in treating addictions because addictive behaviors are caused by underlying chemical imbalances. When the brain is under the influence of these chemical imbalances, it is impossible to trick or train the brain to think or act differently.
Until the underlying chemical imbalance is fixed, the thoughts and the behaviors that spring from these chemical imbalances are nearly impossible to alter. I’m reminded of an alcohol-addicted patient who I treated decades ago.
Alcohol craving and addiction is a symptom of low GABA levels in the brain, which triggers anxiety and addictions. In addition to craving alcohol when GABA is low, those with low GABA also tend to crave and become addicted to nicotine and sugary, fatty foods, all of which raise GABA. This explains why alcohol addicts often become addicted to sugar when they give up drinking.
The only way I could resolve my patient’s panic attacks and addictive behaviors was to prescribe GABA. My point is prescribing Methadone for drug addiction is treating a symptom not the cause of the addiction, which is the underlying brain chemical imbalance.