The nation is largely focused on the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic. By startling numbers, the amount of addiction and fatal overdose due to the abuse of opioid drugs has increased. Heroin, prescription painkillers, and synthetic opiates have taken America and many other parts of the world by storm. In the midst of the opioid epidemic, there are still many other drug addiction battles needing to be fought with the same earnestness and compassion, like meth addiction.
In some areas of the country, meth use is increasing. Local enforcement agencies and officials are discovering larger quantities of methamphetamine than ever before. Concerned about the quality and potency of the drug, small governments are taking action to call attention to the still prevalent issue of meth addiction.
What Is Methamphetamine?
Methamphetamine is a synthetic stimulant substance. Created entirely out of a chemical process, methamphetamine has no natural root. Commonly called meth, crystal meth, crystal, glass, or ice, the chemical byproduct produces highly erratic side effects which can be highly addiction. Meth is a central nervous system substance, meaning it infiltrates the bloodstream more quickly than other substances causing a quicker and more impactful high. Though meth addiction can cause drastic side effects like dramatic weight loss, long term insomnia and psychosis, the euphoria of the high is enough to cause a deeply rooted addiction.
Treating Meth Addiction
Despite the psychological, physiological, spiritual, social, and inter-relational damage meth addiction frequently causes within one’s life, they find leaving the drug behind challenging. Meth addiction stems beyond chemical dependency. Writing about a growing meth addiction problem in Wisconsin, the Post Crescent poignantly explains that “With methamphetamine, a piece that happens that makes it more complex is there becomes a bigger mental health component to treat because people are really degraded psychologically — they’re not sleeping, they’re not eating, they’re being traumatized a lot, so their systems are really beat up.”
Meth addiction especially requires integrative treatment for mind, body, and spirit. Often, one is broken when they come to a point in their lives asking for help with a meth addiction. The brain becomes so dependent upon the volatile and erratic pleasure produced by meth that creating new happiness is a seemingly impossible challenge. Through a unique blend of holistic and therapeutic modalities, residential treatment programs can heal meth addiction. Cypress Lakes Lodge offers medical detox and residential treatment for meth addiction in addition to dual diagnosis issues. For more information, call 1-877-938-1577.