Literature Review on the Treatment of Cocaine Addiction

Effectiveness of Outpatient Treatment of Asians Addicted to Cocaine

Abstract

 The study focuses on the review of literature concerning the effectiveness of the Asian treatment of the people addicted to cocaine. The report highlights the various treatment options utilized by the Asian outpatient department in the provision of rehabilitation care to the addicts. Cocaine addiction is considered as a health and social threat in Asia which result in a high rate of outpatient department visits among all the substances of abuse. The Asian healthcare system has a variety of approaches which it utilizes to manage such substance-related outpatient department visits. The report also addresses the structural organizations of the Asian outpatient department in the care and management of the cocaine addicts presenting to the health facilities. Various therapies are available in the outpatient department that helps to restore the affected individuals’ sobriety. Besides, the paper contains a discussion of the literature findings and the personal stand on the effectiveness of the Asian outpatient treatment of cocaine addicts. The report will also outline the recommendations for more improvement of the healthcare services and the references used.

Introduction

 Cocaine addiction is a great health challenge that affects many people all over the world. The psychiatrists consider the habit of abusing cocaine and other drugs as a mental disorder that can be treated with various treatment models to change a person’s way of life. Cocaine has been used in Asia widely as a recreational intoxicant and a medical substance (Spillane, 2017). However, the misuse of cocaine by Asian residents has resulted in increased addiction and effect on the lives of the people. People who have substance use disorders present with numerous varying physical and mental problems. In cocaine addiction, the core feature is the person’s difficult to control their substance-related problems related to its use (Hinneburg, 2019).

 Many laws have been passed by many nations including Asia to eliminate substance abuse. However, despite the decline in the number of persons with substance use disorder related to cocaine, it remains to be a very commonly abused drug in Asia. The Asian emergency room visits in the health facilities report cocaine as the most frequently implicated illicit drug. Recently, the National Institute of Drugs Abuse figured out that cocaine is the most common illegal drug responsible for most drug-related emergency department visits.

 The Asian healthcare system and the health facilities have devised means of ensuring that the people with cocaine addiction receive proper treatment to minimize the substance effects and improve the quality of life. The treatment options that are available in Asia include inpatient care, outpatient care, and utilization of support groups (Mills, 2018). All the treatment options have different approaches to treating the patient, but all have a common goal of helping the victim of addiction to be sober and able to maintain that sober state. The outpatient treatment of cocaine addicts has different medication and approaches to treatment that are discussed in the literature review.

Literature Review

 Substance abuse related patients presenting to the health facilities in Asia receive both inpatient and outpatient health care attendance depending on the presenting symptoms and the choice of treatment. Some principles direct the type of rehabilitation treatment that the patient is given including the effectiveness of the treatment option which should address both the person’s specific needs and the general recovery principles (Osborne, 2019). The other tenets state that medication-assisted treatment should only be used when considered by the medical professional, co-occurring medical and psychological conditions should be addressed alongside the disorders of substance use among others.

 The outpatient treatment options allow the patient to recover at home throughout the treatment period. In some programs carried out at the outpatient department, the patients are given the opportunity to choose the type of therapy they need; group, individual or another kind of therapy (Han et al., 2016). All the approaches are effective when used appropriately; however, people prefer individual treatment because it is more focused on the person, confidential, and allows the establishment of an effective personalized therapeutic relationship. Nevertheless, some prefer group therapy since it enables them to learn better during interaction with the other members of the group.

 The typical options of outpatient treatment in the Asian facilities outpatient department include detoxification whereby it is done better in the inpatient treatment than outpatient because of the presence of the medically assisted services in the inpatient. The second treatment option is individual therapy which involves a one on one meeting of the therapist with the patient to discuss the underlying addiction causes for the development of the plan strategies that can help to reduce the risk of relapse (Natacha & Pierre, 2016). Group therapy is used for cocaine addicts whereby the therapist leads the discussion among people in a group with a common problem of addiction (Osborne, 2019). In the group treatment, people share their stories and also discuss their differences and commonalities in an attempt to get out of the habit (Spillane, 2017).

 Mental health therapy and treatment is generally a treatment approach whereby the addict meets a psychiatrist or a counselor to discuss behavioral and emotional problems (Osborne, 2019). At this treatment, medications like antidepressants can also be administered to the patient. Aftercare planning on the other is a treatment option whereby the patient plans with the care provider on how to develop a long-term sobriety plan (Mills, 2018). For instance, the patient and the therapist can decide to decrease the hours spent in the professional treatment in the outpatient, starts attending 12-step meetings, or transitioning to weekly meeting with the therapist (Khalili et al., 2018). The 12-step meeting is a type of treatment that involves peer-to-peer groups as an alternative for professional contact treatment (Osborne, 2019). The patients increase the amount of time they spend with the peer groups and minimize the time they spend with professional therapists (Han et al., 2016).

 Despite the available treatment options for the cocaine addicts, the Asian healthcare system also has a variety of therapies that are employed and used together with the treatment options in the outpatient department (Mills, 2018). Some of the therapies commonly used include family therapy whereby the partners, children, parents, and other members of the family are brought together to discuss the relationship damages caused by the addiction and how it can be restored. Cocaine addiction often results in a list of chaos in the family, which the family therapy aims at resolving through open communication and discussion. 

 Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is used to focus on the patient thoughts, and behavior understand to determine what led to the addiction. The goal of CBT is the identification of negative thoughts and replacement with healthier ones as well as the adoption of the best behavioral response (Rudolph & Hatfield, 2019). There is also motivational interviewing among others which help in the discovery and strengthening of the personal motivator to become clean.

 The outpatient program in Asia for the people addicted to cocaine are designed in such a way that they target a particular special population to meet their unique needs. Some of the programs include teen-specific, which focus the adolescents’ individual needs. It is believed that adolescents are often freer and more comfortable with the other teens, hence the program is developed to encourage them to interact and get rehabilitated together (LaBar, 2017). The single-gender programs are exclusive to either women or men. There are also faith-based treatment programs which are tailor towards the members of a diverse gender identity-based community and sexuality who face their own daily unique set of issues.

Discussion

 Based on the literature review findings, Asian outpatient treatment of people addicted to cocaine is effective because of many reasons. First, it provides people with multiple options of care in the outpatient setting. An individual has a variety of treatment options to choose from based on a variety of factors. For instance, a person can decide to choose a treatment option based on its cost, effectiveness, and confidentiality among other things. A person can, therefore, choose the treatment approach like family therapy, or CBT among others.

 Asian has identified and categorized addiction to cocaine as a mental health problem that needs multiple approaches to manage and restore the sobriety of an individual. The knowledge has enhanced the adoption and encouragement on psychological attendance of the addicts. There are treatment programs which encourage the addicts to open up and speak out their mind. Doing so enables the therapists to study the thought process of the individuals and identify the reasons behind the addiction, hence be in a position to devise action plans that can be helpful (Hinneburg, 2019).

 Many people with substance abuse disorders tend to have a denial of health conditions and inappropriate behavioral patterns in society. The members of the society and the patient’s family members also tend to disassociate with the addicts of cocaine as a result of the adverse behavioral changes and health status. The Asian outpatient department has devised methods of involving and encouraging families and society to support people with addiction to enhance their rehabilitation process (Werb et al., 2016). Family and motivational therapies are some of the approaches which the Asian outpatient department has employed to ensure that the cocaine addicts are supported and encouraged by the family members and the society at large. 

 The outpatient department also offers the patients a continuum of care through the intensive outpatient treatment as well as the sober living in a supportive and compassionate environment which gives the patients a better chance of succeeding in long-term recovery. The patients who are close to recovery are detached from the therapists in a systematic way including joining the 12-step meetings which encourage adoption to the outside environment and change of the negative minds.

 I believe the effectiveness of any treatment lays in its ability to promote the wellbeing of the patient and restoring health. The Asian outpatient treatment of the people addicted to cocaine is outstanding as a result of the organization of the treatment approach. Even though there are treatment services which cannot be obtained in the outpatient department like drug assistance during detoxication, the system is organized in such a way that only patients who are not on high risk of addiction effect and have other obligations to meet at home are given those services. Doing so enables the patients to be more flexible in that, they can meet their daily duties and at the same time get the healthcare help they need.

 The outpatient treatment approach in Asia encourages social support and acceptance of the cocaine addicts who should play a primary role in the treatment and management of their mentally disturbed state. Most people who abuse substances are prompted to do so as a result of psychological disturbance caused by a variety of factors including social relations and economic factors. The care of such patients needs to focus more on the root cause of the problem rather than the problem itself; which is the primary task performed by the outpatient department. When the patients receive outpatient treatment and are allowed to go back home, they can adjust and learn with the society in a more positive way than when they are kept in the facility (Rudolph & Hatfield, 2019). The person will learn to solve the social problems when interacting with positively cultured family and members of the society hence fostering the change of the negative thoughts.

Conclusion

 Cocaine is among the leading substances abused by the people in Asia. The effects of cocaine among its users have resulted in it being ranked the top among the drug-related illnesses presenting in the emergency department. The Asian healthcare system is therefore tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the addicts receive quality healthcare attendance and successful rehabilitation from the substance use (Spillane, 2017). The healthcare system has a variety of approaches that are utilized to treat the cocaine addicts in Asia including inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, and utilization of the support groups in the community to encourage positive thinking of the members of the society.

 The outpatient department has a variety of treatment options it uses to attend to the cocaine addicts including detoxication, individual therapy, group therapy, mental health therapy and treatment, aftercare planning, and 12-step meetings among others. Besides, there also other therapeutic approaches used in the outpatient setting including family therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and motivational interviews. The outpatient treatment programs are organized in such a way that the unique needs of a particular population in the community are met easily. For instance, some programs are teen-specific, single-gender, and faith-based among others.

 The arrangement and organization of the Asian outpatient treatment of the people addicted to cocaine is useful because it provides the patient with a variety of treatment options and social support. The primary role of caring the substance abuse patients is restoring their sober state; hence, the treatment approaches used by the Asian outpatient supports the restoration of patient sobriety through the psychological treatment approaches.

Recommendations

 The Asian outpatient department needs to improve the quality of its services to ensure all the necessary resources allocated in the provision of the services in the department are available. For instance, the department needs to ensure that the medical support services are available in the outpatient treatment during the detoxication of the patients. Doing so will help to improve the quality of services provided to the addictive patient and their recovery process.

 The outpatient department also needs to adopt additional therapies of managing the addicts of cocaine like dialectical behavior therapy which encourages mindfulness and helping in recognition of negative behavior and emotion. When additional treatments are adopted, the management of the addicts will be more successful and more comfortable to achieve sobriety.

References

• Han, Y., Lin, V., Wu, F., & Hser, Y. I. (2016). Gender comparisons among asian american and pacific islander patients in drug dependency treatment. Substance use & misuse, 51(6), 752-762.
• Hinneburg, C. (2019). Cocaine addiction signs, symptoms, effects and help. MentalHelp.net. Retrieved from: https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/cocaine-abuse-and-addiction/
• Khalili, M., Rahimi-Movaghar, A., Shadloo, B., Mojtabai, R., Mann, K., & Amin-Esmaeili, M. (2018). Global Scientific Production on Illicit Drug Addiction: A Two-Decade Analysis. European addiction research, 24(2), 60-70.
• LaBar, K. S. (2017). Alcohol use primes cocaine addiction.
• Mills, J. (2018). Decolonising drugs in Asia: the case of cocaine in colonial India. Third world quarterly, 39(2), 218-231.
• Natacha, B., & Pierre, G. (2016). cutting of cocaine and heroin: A critical review. Forensic science international.
• Osborne, O. (2019). Aspects of outpatient programs to consider. Project Know. Retrieved from: https://www.projectknow.com/rehab/outpatient-programs/
• Rudolph, C., & Hatfield, PhD. (2019). Treating cocaine addiction. Project Know. Retrieved from: https://www.projectknow.com/cocaine/
• Spillane, J. F. (2017). The First Era of Cocaine Abuse and Control. Dual Markets: Comparative Approaches to Regulation, 55.
• Werb, D., Kamarulzaman, A., Meacham, M. C., Rafful, C., Fischer, B., Strathdee, S. A., & Wood, E. (2016). The effectiveness of compulsory drug treatment: A systematic review. International Journal of Drug Policy, 28, 1-9.