Who Needs Outpatient Morphine Rehab?
Morphine, a natural derivative of the opium poppy seed plant, carries powerful analgesic properties that offer an effective treatment for conditions involving moderate to severe pain. As one of the strongest opiate drugs in existence, morphine’s pain-relieving properties also produce addictive effects that alter brain chemical processes over time, according to Dickinson College.
Anyone struggling with an addiction to this drug will likely require morphine rehab treatment to break addiction’s hold on the brain and body. As physical dependence marks the first step towards full-blown addiction, outpatient morphine rehab can benefit both the physically dependent as well as the long-time addict.
Addiction attacks the brain and body in stages, impairing vital processes and weakening the addict’s will and motivation. While morphine rehab typically includes detox, inpatient and outpatient treatment stages, people coming off long-term addictions will likely require ongoing outpatient treatment as well.
Physical Dependence vs. Addiction
Outpatient rehab helps you stay close to your loved ones.
Though used interchangeably, there’s a big difference between being physically dependent versus being addicted to morphine, or any drug for that matter. Someone addicted to morphine has prioritized getting and using the drug over everything else in his or her life. Someone who’s physically dependent retains a certain degree of control over their life’s priorities.
While addiction represents the worst-case scenario, conditions involving both physical dependency and addiction warrant outpatient morphine rehab treatment. In effect, someone who’s addicted has developed a psychological dependency; however, the body’s physical dependency is nonetheless difficult to overcome.
Since morphine rehab programs treat the effects of addiction in stages, people dealing with a physical dependency can still benefit from the types of services offered by outpatient programs.
Long-Term Morphine Use
Outpatient morphine rehab helps a person deal with the psychological effects of addiction. For people coming off long-term morphine addictions, old mindsets and behaviors can persist long after a person completes detox and inpatient treatment. For this reason, chronic morphine users need outpatient morphine rehab most of all.
Outpatient treatment services can vary depending on the program. Most programs offer the following services:
- Individual psychotherapy
- Drug education
- Vocational assistance
- Legal assistance
- Group therapy
As many addicts in recovery have lost jobs, gone through divorces and had run-ins with the law, outpatient programs work to address the various challenges and struggles addicts encounter throughout the recovery process.
Considerations
More than anything else, a person’s ability or inability to control his or her need for morphine determines whether there’s a need for outpatient morphine rehab. Even in cases where of physical dependency, an unexpected relapse episode will only work to feed the addiction cycle. In the process, the mind grows increasingly more dependent on the drug’s effects.
According to the Journal of Clinical Investigation, signs of a growing psychological dependency include:
- Loss of interest in once enjoyed activities and pursuits
- Neglecting important relationships
- A growing disregard of negative consequences that result from drug use
- Failing physical health
Opiates in general have a way of luring users into a web of ever-increasing dosage amounts coupled with uncomfortable withdrawal effects. Outpatient treatment enables those who are addicted, as well as those battling physical dependency, to remain engaged in the recovery process.
