Medication-Assisted Treatment Live At Summit Florham Park
Not everyone will take the same path to end substance abuse and addiction. For people who could benefit from an approach that combines medication, various behavioral therapies, and counseling, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) can help them achieve the outcome they are looking for.
Summit Behavioral Health is offering medication-assisted treatment (MAT) at our Summit Florham Park facility to help people who wish to start on their recovery path.
Medication-assisted treatment uses FDA-approved medications to help treat alcohol and opioid use. These opioids also include the illegal drug heroin. Addiction treatment is effective when it aims to treat the whole person. Addressing addiction from the physical, mental, and emotional angles gives the person a solid chance of recovering from addiction and living in sobriety full time.
For many people who want or need to overcome addiction, it can be challenging to live life substance-free when the pull of drugs, alcohol, and other addictive substances make it hard to leave them behind.
MAT has helped many people successfully seek treatment because they do not have the pull of relapse, weighing them down and making them pick up the addictive substances when they try to quit them for good.
MAT participants can expect several things when they start treatment, including:
- How to address and manage alcohol or opioid withdrawal safely
- How to properly manage cravings for opioids
- How to reframe stress, anxiety, and triggers so that they can develop healthy coping strategies
- How to notice the signs of relapse and ways they can avoid it
- How to end or reduce their opioid or alcohol use with support and encouragement
There are concerns that MAT could encourage some people to trade one addiction for another since it uses drugs to help people end drug or alcohol use. However, federal agencies disagree with that perspective, saying that MAT can be effective because it combines several approaches and does not just rely on the chemical aspect to help someone overcome addiction.
MAT’s main goal is to help people quit using opioids, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It also gives the program high marks, saying it:
- Raises chronic opioid users’ survival rates, reducing chances of overdose
- Boosts treatment retention rates
- Discourages heroin use, other opioids use
- Helps cut down on criminal activity involving people with substance use disorders
- Improves employment outlook for people in recovery
- Improves outcomes for expectant mothers with SUDs
Federal agencies have given MAT high marks for these reasons and others. “MAT programs provide a safe and controlled level of medication to overcome the use of an abused opioid,” SAMHSA writes.
MAT Is Tailored To Each Person’s Unique Needs
Medication-assisted treatment programs assess each client’s needs before they start the program. The use of prescription medications that have received the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) helps block the potent effects of opioids.
MAT patients may be given either Suboxone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, or methadone, which can help them gradually wean off the stronger opioids they are using to give their bodies time to adjust to the changes taking place.
According to SAMHSA, these medications help stabilize the brain’s chemistry and result in the blocking of the effects of opioids and alcohol, which can ease cravings that keep many people trapped in opioid or alcohol addiction.
Interested In Trying Medication-Assisted Treatment?
If you think you or a loved one could benefit from a MAT program, call Serenity at Summit today. We can help you explore your MAT options as you weigh if MAT is right for you.
Each client’s needs and situation will be thoroughly reviewed to see if MAT could prove beneficial in helping them end substance abuse.
How far along someone is in their addiction will weigh significantly in where an addiction care professional will recommend you be placed. If opioid addiction is severe, an inpatient or residential program may be the right placement to start MAT treatment.
If the addiction is in the mild or early stages, you or your loved one can take MAT therapy during an intensive outpatient program. Call us today to speak with a representative who can help you with your next steps.
