TYPES OF TREATMENT
1. Pharmacotherapy
Although no drug has proven to be effective in treating cocaine addiction,
different medications are currently being tested. Antidepressant drugs are
being used to ease the mood changes present during the early stages (withdrawal)
of rehab. In addition, medications to help deal with immediate emergencies
from cocaine overdose are being created. Pharmaceutical companies are currently
creating drugs to block cocaine euphoria and post-use dysphoria, to curb drug
cravings, or to control depletion of dopamine from nerve synapses.
• New Concepts in Cocaine
Treatment:
A very hopeful new treatment for cocaine called Ibogaine stems
from an African Shrub called Tabernanthe Iboga. This drug is non-addicting
and administered in single doses. It has been proven to help addicts stay
free of cocaine from two weeks up to three months because it is a chemical
dependance interruptor. The probability of patients who remain drug-free for
atleast two years after one dose of Ibogaine is ten percent. This same statistic
represents the number of patients who resort back to drug use within just
two weeks after administration of the drug.
• Study
Opens Promising New Approach to Developing Medications To Prevent Relapse
to Cocaine Use (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
2. Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is widely used in the treatment process but has shown no real
successful results. The most hopeful form of psychotherapy is interpersonal
therapy. The focus of this intervention is to get the patient to realize that
costs of drug use and accept the need to stop, to manage the impetuosity of
the cognitive craving of cocaine, and to recognize the situations which prompts
drug use. Other psychotherapy programs take the form of psychodynamic therapy,
where the therapist analyzes the patient's unconscious and childhood experiences,
couples therapy and family therapy.
3. Behavioral Therapy
Behavioral treatment is the most effective type of treatment for cocaine addiction.
The different forms of behavioral therapy all work to stop the drug abuse
and prevent relapse:
- Contigency Management: This type of therapy is based on a voucher system
where rewards are given for positive steps made throughout treatment. If the
patients remain cocaine free, based on urine tests, points are awarded which
can later be cashed in for rewards that encourage a healthy lifestyle. These
rewards could be free membership to a gym, a movie pass, dinner, etc…
- Modeling: By watching a model using helpful strategies for ridding cocaine abuse and then practicing these strategies themselves, patients can learn ways which help them quit using. Role-playing with a therapist assists patients in changing their behaviors so that they can refuse a drug offer or distance themselves from influential users.
- Operant Conditioning: This form of therapy views cocaine as a reinforcer which controls a person's behavior. Therefore, therapists work with patients to come up with alternative reinforcers, like certain hobbies or friends to which patients can turn, so that they remain drug free.
- Classical Conditioning: The craving for cocaine (the conditioned response) will ultimately be extinguished with repeated exposure to the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus. Therefore, this type of therapy consists of the patient recognizing the conditioned cues that trigger cocaine use and working on ways to avoid these cues.
4. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive-Behavioral treatment analyzes the patient's specific beliefs which
lead to cocaine use, and attempts to alter these irrational beliefs so that
they can change their destructive behavior. The therapist will help to pinpoint
the patient's anticipatory (initial) beliefs, relief-oriented (those that
act as excuses to continue the drug abuse), and permissive beliefs (convincing
the user that abuse is okay). If the patient can learn the situations in which
they think this way, they can work to flip their thoughts to actually counter
drug abuse.
5. Self-Help
Cocaine Anonymous (CA) is a twelve-step program to which cocaine users can
belong to help them conquer their drug problem. This intervention provides
support through behavioral, cognitive, educational, self-control, and relapse
prevention strategies. The participation in a self-help program in addition
to inpatient or outpatient care will make becoming drug free that much easier.
6. Other Interventions
Social network therapy is similar to the self-help programs in that it involves
others in reaching abstinence. The combination of both a therapist and friends
or family provides the user with much support. Aversion therapy pairs the
act of snorting cocaine with a drug (oral emetine) that induces nausea so
that the user will learn to avoid their bad habit. Neuroelectric therapy consists
of applying an electrical current to help detoxify the body from drug abuse.
None of these treatments have been very effective in reducing cocaine addiction.
