AHS Views

Are you looking for addiction help but can’t afford it? There are plenty of insurance companies that cover alcohol and drug rehab. You might even have one of these plans but are unaware that they could help you get treatment for yourself or a family member.

Here’s a list of possible plans: Aetna, Anheuser-Busch, APS Healthcare, Blue Cross, Cigna, Compsych, Corphealth (Lifesynch),  Connecticut General, Managed Health Network, Multiplan, Pacific Behavioral Health, United Behavioral Health, Value Options, Fedmed, Managed Care Systems, and American Mental Health Network.

This list is by no means complete but, if you do need addiction help services, and are on one of these plans, you’re in luck. If you have a different plan, check to see if you’re covered.

I read a news item about Baron Geisler, an actor in the Phillipines, who’s going to get addiction help for alcohol. The story says he lost an acting job because he showed up on the set with a few drinks under his belt. It also said he has a history of drunken brawls but, since his mother sent him to alcohol rehab, he’s ‘no longer like that’. He ‘slipped’ because his girlfriend left him. He said ‘never meant to hurt anyone or show any disrespect’.

But out of the blue (in his statement about the recent incident) he also denies his involvement in the shooting of a co-worker he’d recently nearly come to blows with – provoked when Baron insulted the other guy’s girlfriend - and he’s up on sexual harrassment charges filed by his roommate’s daughter.

So, in fact, he is still ‘like that.’

He says he’s just ‘very emotional.’  Sounds innocent enough, but it’s obvious that he’s causing his own problems. And until he stops doing that, it’s going to be virtually impossible for him to stay sober.

If he wants a girlfriend who will not get him ‘very emotional’ by leaving him, he’s going to have to stop doing things that result in sexual harrassment charges from other women, refrain from insulting people to the point of them wanting to beat him up,  and get himself into a position where he doesn’t have to deny his involvement in a shooting.

Maybe then his girlfriends will stay with him and he won’t therefore feel compelled to drink.

A facility that offers full addiction help services would have to help him handle those aspects of his personality.  That’s real rehabilitation.  If you’re looking for a facility that will do that, give us a call.

When a person has a problem with drugs or alcohol they’re sometimes not motivated to do anything about it. Despite the fact that they may be temporarily numbed to the issues that drove them to addiction in the first place, those issues are still there. They couldn’t cope with them before, so what reason do they have to think they can cope with them now? That’s why people need someone else to take the reins and get them addiction help.

Once they’re there, get off the drugs or stop drinking for a while, they can get into actual alcohol or drug rehab then they’ll start to change their mind. That is – if they get into a program that will find and directly address the things the person was having trouble with and help them figure out how to live happily.

But until they get into addressing those problems, they may not have enough motivation to find addiction help on their own.

Sometimes a disastrous occurence in life is enough to spur them on. People have been known to just quit, cold turkey, when the motivation is high enough. But that’s pretty unusual – they may want to quit but when they start going through withdrawal, the pain or discomfort pushes them in the other direction. And getting off some drugs, and even alcohol, can be pretty painful.

At Alternative Choices, the drug rehab program run by the drug court in Tooele County, Utah, there stands a suit of armor at the entry way. The message? “Prepare for Battle” The people doing this program have motivation – rehab or prison. And the program works well – 85% of those who start actually hang in there and graduate.

Your son, daughter, spouse, family member or friend, hopefully, will not need the threat of prison to get help, but expecting them to do it on their own is like expecting someone with the flu - fever, chills, aches and pains all over the place and exhausted - to run a marathon.

They need you to do the running for them until they’re up to it. At Addiction Help Services we can help you find the help, and strength, you need.

The holiday season is, among other, but good, things, a time to watch our friends and relatives who need alcohol addiction help knock over our Christmas tree, ruin our freshly cleaned carpet with egg nog and gravy spills, get fresh with our young nieces, get maudlin over the past and generally embarrass the rest of the family and make us uncomfortable.

It is also the season for alcohol-related deaths, accidents and arrests - and one of them could involve than annoying family member that you’re politely putting up with.

Most of us won’t say a word – not while we have company. And very few of us would ever consider taking the offender to a center where they can get addiction help. After all, it’s Christmas. Everything’s supposed to be peaceful, loving and beautiful. This is the time we forgive each other – or at least pretend to – and we leave the problem as it is, vowing that we’ll do something about it in the new year. But, usually, we don’t.

Does this seem somewhat misguided? Are we really doing that person a favor by letting them continue on their path of destruction? Are we really helping them, or their family or friends, by letting them ruin the holiday?

Wouldn’t it be more pleasant all around if the alcoholic was celebrating Christmas by getting clean and sober? By the time New Year’s Eve rolls around, the person would be through the detox end of things and actually looking at the world through less of a haze and able to make some New Year’s resolutions with teeth.

But people feel bad – as if they’re doing the person a disservice, somehow spoiling their fun – if they pack them off to rehab during the holidays. Geez, that’s the best Christmas present you could give them.

Find a nice addiction help services center with a good environment. Visit them, bring the family, bring them presents and turkey, and know you gave them the best present of all – a chance to get their life back.

According to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), about 5 million people in the U.S. are currently attending alcohol and drug addiction self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and so on. About 45% of the participants said they had been clean for the month prior to the study, and about 33% said they’d attended a drug rehab facility of some sort prior to going to the self-help groups.

I would think that those who attended the alcohol or drug rehab facility first would be more likely to also be the people who are staying clean.

There are several advantages to getting addiction help services in a residential treatment center before attending this type of meeting.

A good center helps you get through withdrawal and would also include some kind of nutritional and exercise program that would start to repair some of the physical damage.

It would also offer counselling as to why you got into drinking and taking drugs in the first place, and a program that would help you change the aspects of your life that need changing so you’re not tempted to get back into it.

The next step is always support of some sort when you leave. Especially if you’re going back into an environment where people drink and take drugs – you’ve got to find some people who don’t. That’s where AA, NA and similar groups come in.

Addiction Help Services can help you find a drug rehab facility or other treatment center that’s suitable for your needs, as well as a support group to help you afterwards.

A new study shows that alcohol shrinks the brain. Millions of people need drug and alcohol addiction help, and we’re spending millions finding out this useless information.

Why do we need it? We already know that just one drink can impair abstract thinking for a month, we already know it causes a gradual deterioration of the body and people die before their time, we already know it’s involved in most domestic violence incidents, we already know it’s ruins families, lives, careers. Shouldn’t we be spending our money making sure people get the addiction help services they need?

Williams Lake, a city in British Columbia, Canada, is taking some unusual steps to help handle alcohol addiction and abuse problems. The city council has been asking Interior Health, the government department responsible for the health of the entire province, for addiction help and not getting it. Last year there were over 1200 reported cases of public intoxication and 800 arrests. The population is only 12,000 – so that’s  a lot of arrests.

The police, specifically the RCMP, have decided to bill Interior Health for every related expense until Interior Health coughs up some help in one form or another. Williams Lake would like a detox center but, since they’ve made it clear they want effective addiction help, they should really get a full blown drug rehab center, not just drug detox.

The local mayor says these incidents of alcohol addiction and abuse are costing the city $150,000/year. I think he may have left a few expenses out. That’s only $125 per person found intoxicated. And with 800 arrests, you can be sure it’s costing more than $125. 

In any case, Williams Lake is a small (but extremely beautiful) town and $150,000 could be put to better use.

I don’t know if Interior Health will pay those bills, but this should certainly call attention to the fact that the city needs help and put a little pressure on the powers that be. In the meantime, someone needing addiction help should contact Addiction Help Services to help them find a facility that’s right for their situation.

September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery month but according to a recent survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, less than 2% of Americans who need addiction help are even attempting to get it.

While it’s true we need to help those who do get addiction help to recover, there has to be an all out effort to educate people on what alcohol and drug addiction or abuse actually are if we want to put anymore than a tiny dent in the problem.

Many people think they don’t have a problem. Who’s going to tell them they do? Their family members have probably been telling them, they’ve probably even realized it themselves – although they won’t admit it and continually deny it to others. Nevertheless, until they get addiction help, nothing’s going to change.

If you have someone in your life who needs addiction help services - whether the problem is drugs, alcohol, or even prescription drugs – make September the month you’re going to do something about it.

I’ve written a lot of blogs in the past about the dangers of methadone. Check out yesterday’s New York Times article about methadone-related deaths and you’ll find out more about the problem. And why people who are already taking other drugs or drinking alcohol, or could possibly do either, need to get addiction help before they ever do anything like take methdone or other opiate painkillers.

Methadone is dangerous enough all by itself, but when you combine it with other drugs or alcohol, you’re really taking a very big risk.

Imagine this scenario – you drink, or take drugs that aren’t really necessary for your survival. They’re not saving your life, they’re just enabling you to escape whatever’s bothering you. Tranquilizers, sedatives, etc. You could probably use addiction help, but you’re not getting it.

Then you’re in an accident or have an unexpected illness. The doctor has to give you prescription painkillers. But you’re also taking other drugs. Or drinking. Now you have to take a drug that could kill you.

Do you really want to be in that position? Do you want someone you care about to be in that position? No. So, get some addiction help now. Life is the school of hard knocks. To get through it, you need to be in good shape. And the better you’re doing mentally, emotionally and physically, the greater your chances are to be happy and make life what you want it to be. Don’t take drugs – become more able to handle your problems.

And the first problem you can handle is your addiction to or dependence on drugs. Start with drug addiction help services.

Oklahoma has it bad. Drug and alcohol addiction in Oklahoma contributes to 85 percent of homicides, 80 percent of prison incarcerations and 75 percent of divorce, and costs the state about $5.8 billion a year – which is enough to get about 10% of the entire population of Oklahoma through a long-term residential drug rehab program that will give them the addiction help they need.

Spending that money on addiction help would seem to be the best approach. You’d get 300,000 people off alcohol or drugs – that’s 10% of the entire state population. Instead, they spend about $1.4 billion dollars in direct costs – defined as trying to prevent addiction, locking up people who commit crimes because of addiction, and treating addicts. How much is spent getting addicts addiction help wasn’t specified but it’s obviously not anywhere enough.

The other $4.4 billion is “indirect” costs such as “financial losses from premature deaths, imprisonment and school dropouts.”

If the money was spent getting addiction help serivces for those who need it, very few of those other expenses would be necessary. And you pretty much would have handled at least those with serious addiction problems with one year’s budget. Then money can go into prevention so Oklahoma doesn’t get into that much trouble again.

Is spending money on effective addiction help services just too simple or something? What am I missing?