The United States is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, that is leading to a decreased life expectancy across the nation, due to a rise in both suicides and overdoses.

In 2017, over 70 thousand Americans were lost to this epidemic in overdoses alone. A morphine addiction is a dangerous one and can be considered a leading cause of the despair crisis of America. But it doesn’t have to be for you or a loved one suffering from this dangerous disease.

Morphine addiction is a medical problem, and treatment can prevent you or a loved one from becoming one of these saddening numbers. Get your life back by taking the step of discovering the right treatment option for you today.

What is Inpatient Treatment?

Some addiction specialists consider inpatient treatment the most effective protocol for treating a morphine addiction. This includes a hospital or clinic stay that can last as long as three months or even longer.

Standard Length of Inpatient Treatment

There are three types of inpatient treatment.

One is a therapeutic community where the patient lives in a residence under a highly structured program. This can last as long as a year.

Short-term residential programs are also an option. The patient will receive detox support and counseling to prepare them for re-entry into the world as a sober person. This generally takes a few months.

Another form is recovery housing, wherein the individual undergoes an even shorter stay in a clinical setting. This type of inpatient program follows after a detox program and helps the patient to gradually work their way into the world with support and counseling.

In this case, the housing usually lasts as long as the individual wants it to.

During each of these treatments, the patient is treated with a multi-disciplinary approach. It’s an effective form of treatment because the detox stage is safe and supervised, and the inpatient process allows the patient to completely focus on dealing with this illness.

During inpatient treatment, medication combined with behavior therapies are used to help the addict win the war.

Behavior therapies can include group therapy, one-on-one therapies, and sometimes cognitive behavioral therapies. These therapies teach the patient new ways to think about life so they make better choices.

In some cases, underlying mental health problems can be a source of the addiction in the first place. This is very common.

Issues such as bipolar disorder, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or schizophrenia can lead to a painkiller addiction. This list is not exhaustive.

The combined approach of inpatient treatment with medications and behavioral support is a very effective treatment plan for a morphine addiction.

What is Outpatient Treatment?

Outpatient care for a morphine addiction is often undertaken after an individual has already detoxed from morphine. In some cases, rehab is court ordered and this may not be an option for you or a loved one.

Outpatient Treatment is ongoing treatment at a facility where you remain living at home on a regular basis.

Standard Length of Outpatient Treatment

After the patient has undergone several inpatient treatment sessions to detox they may be better equipped to decrease the amount of time in treatment and undergo a less intensive outpatient program.

Your chances of success in winning this war are greater with inpatient treatment first. Many outpatient programs will not accept you without an inpatient detox stage occurring first.

However, if you are committed to winning, a multi-disciplinary approach on an outpatient basis will also be a very effective strategy for you following detox.

The detox stage can take as long as one or two weeks. After that, outpatient care generally takes about 10 weeks on average, but the amount of time is different for each person.

Most of your outpatient treatment is focused on the psychological issues underlying the addiction. If there are other psychological issues to treat, outpatient treatment can take longer.

Intensive outpatient programs are available that can last as long as 16 weeks. For serious addicts or concerns, even longer treatment plans are available.

This is not a decision you would make on your own, but with your support team who would also provide recommendations.

In either outpatient or inpatient treatment, a prolonged follow up with your support team is likely to occur. This will include continued group therapy, with meetings such as Narcotics Anonymous.

Key benefits of outpatient treatment are that it will allow the patient to keep access with family and friend support, which could be critical to their recovery. It is also less costly in many cases.

Sober Living

Sober Living is a type of treatment that offers the best of both worlds to the patient. The patient has access to a residential facility, but with less structure than a hospital setting.

What is Sober Living?

Sober Living is a bit of a combined method of both inpatient and outpatient programs, however, this method of treatment is designed to put more control in the hands of the addict.

Sober Living is a residential form of treatment, wherein the patient pays for the costs of the residence and to stay there. Unless court-mandated, there are usually no requirements for length of stay.

What to Expect in Sober Living

The individual lives there as they would any other home, and contributes to both costs and upkeep, as well as chores and household errands. Every sober living arrangement is different, and their structure depends entirely on who is managing the residence.

There may be a head manager that applies and enforces rules and structure. In other arrangements, the group of patients living there democratically decide on house management.

Every patient is expected to follow the rules in order to stay there.

The philosophy behind this modality of treatment is that it offers patients the chance to take control of their own lives and addiction. There is an emphasis on the attendance of support groups and 12-step programs.

Studies on Sober Living find that active involvement in these groups was a predictor for a good outcome for the addict.

Ongoing Morphine Addiction Recovery

Battling the wars of addiction can feel like the most isolating and secretive experience, with few soldiers at the side of the addict. But the truth of opioid addiction is that approximately 2 million Americans are fighting this same war.

Morphine addiction is a medical problem and it must be treated with medical supervision in order to ensure the best and most lasting results. Whether it is you or a loved one struggling, you are not alone in this fight.

Taking the step to seek treatment means taking a step to getting your life back.

Finding the right morphine treatment program for you means that you win over the drug, and it doesn’t control your every move anymore. This is what every recovering addict celebrates.

You can too. Search by state to find the right morphine addiction treatment program for you.