Drug Treatment Center

Finding the right drug treatment center is, to say the least, a difficult process. Indeed, it’s hard enough to even admit that you need drug treatment in the first place; checking yourself into drug rehab means admitting that you have a problem, and admitting that you can’t solve it on your own. But that’s only the first step of the journey.

What makes one drug treatment center different from the next?

After you resolve to seek drug treatment, you’ve still got to find a drug treatment center that meets your needs. For many individuals, this is a daunting task. In California, and in Los Angeles in particular, there are an almost limitless number of drug treatment programs, all with different philosophies and distinct methodologies. That sort of diversity lends itself to two particularly important questions:

First, how can you go about distinguishing one treatment from the next? And second, how do you know which drug treatment center is the right one for you?

The good news, for starters, is that diversity isn’t a bad thing. The number of drug treatment centers in California in general and in Los Angeles in particular ensures that drug addicts have a range of options in choosing among drug rehab facilities.

There is, simply put, something for everybody. The only trick is knowing how to find it.

But what makes a drug treatment program effective? What makes a drug rehab philosophy successful? What makes a drug treatment center the right one for you?

For drug addicts and their families, the answers to those questions can make all the difference in the world. With that in mind, what follows is an overview of drug treatment and drug treatment centers: a sketch of the entire drug rehab process, from drug addiction and drug abuse to drug treatment and drug recovery.

Hopefully, the information contained here will provide assistance and support as you and your loved ones explore drug treatment center options. Remember, educating yourself is the first step towards to healing. Recovery, after all, can only come with knowledge, and knowledge can only start with the truth.

At Cliffside Malibu, we’re here to help. And nothing could ever be truer than that.

What are the mechanisms of drug addiction?

In understanding drug treatment, and in choosing a drug treatment center, it’s important to understand what exactly it is that’s being treated: It’s important, that is, to develop a clear vision of drug addiction and drug abuse.

Drug addiction, for starters, is a disease. Again, for emphasis: Drug addiction is a disease. Drug addiction is a disease like cancer, or diabetes. Drug addictions is disease that can’t be cured unless it’s treated, can’t be beaten unless it’s faced.

The fact that drug addiction is a disease means that drug addiction is not, importantly, a moral issue. Drug addiction is not a character flaw. Drug abuse is not a sign of personal weakness. Even more to the point, drug addiction and drug abuse are not choices. Drug addicts don’t decide to be addicted, anymore than cancer patients decide to have cancers, or diabetics decide to have diabetes.

More to the point, drug addicts can’t just decide to get better. Drug addiction, like all diseases, can’t be willed away. Cancer patients can’t wish their tumors into submission; diabetics can’t hope their insulin levels back to normal. And drug addicts, no matter how dearly they’d like to believe otherwise, can’t want their way to sobriety.

On the contrary, drug addiction, like all diseases, can be eliminated only with the help of qualified drug treatment experts. The most effective drug treatment centers are those which address addiction as it actually is: as disease, with real causes and a real cure.

In more concrete terms, we can say that drug addiction operates on two levels: the physical and the psychological. Successful drug treatment is that which confronts each of these roots, both individually and in tandem, in order to help patients achieve a lasting, meaningful state of sobriety.

Physically, drug addiction works by changing the chemical composition of an addict’s brain. Chronic drug abuse has a profound effect on human metabolism, ultimately entailing the substitution of drug byproducts for natural biochemicals in the body’s “normal” metabolic processes. What that means, in plain terms, is that drug addicts literally need drugs to survive. Again, addiction is addiction because it’s not a choice; a drug addict uses drugs for no more or less a reason than that he has to.

The psychological dynamic of drug addiction is no less oppressive. As an addict’s body comes to rely on a drug to sustain its “normal” chemical processes, so does an addict’s mind come to lean on drug highs as a source of “normal” emotional stability. Simply put, drug addicts lose the ability to face the world and themselves on sober terms. Chronic drug abuse, in this sense, is an exercise in bondage, in slavery; chronic drug abusers sacrifice their freedom to their drug habits, with the obvious implication that, as noted above, chronic drug abusers can’t simply “choose” to stop using drugs.

But that doesn’t mean healing is impossible.

What are the keys to overcoming drug addiction?

To this point, we’ve painted a rather stark picture of drug addiction and drug abuse. And that’s as it should be, really, because drug addiction and drug abuse are stark things. Drug abuse wrecks lives, and ruins families; drug addiction turns drug addicts into shells of the people they used to be, leaving them unable to live life as they used to know it. Drug abuse and drug addiction, by any standard, are nothing less than the most serious of problems, and anyone who deigns to underestimate them is bound to regret the decision.

But, again, that isn’t the end of the story. Drug treatment centers are places of hope, of healing. Done correctly, drug treatment saves lives; what drug addiction destroys, drug rehab builds back up again.

Drug treatment often begins with an intervention. Because drug addiction is such an oppressive condition, and because drug addicts often lose the ability to relate to anything except their drug habits, the decision to enter drug rehab is often a difficult one to make. Indeed, many chronic drug abusers are slow to recognize the scope of their destructive behavior, and loath to admit that they need the sort of help offered by professional drug treatment facilities. Before they can get better, that is, they have to be made to see that they’re actually sick.

Drug interventions work through honesty. A successful intervention is one in which an addict’s loved ones level with him about his behavior: about how it’s impacting him and the people he cares about; about how it can’t continue without serious consequences for all parties involved. The goal of a drug intervention, of course, is to convince a drug addict to enter drug treatment; with honesty comes the truth, and with the truth comes the beginning of the healing process.

In the broadest sense, drug treatment aims to combat drug addiction as it actually is: as a disease with physical and psychological causes. Only by addressing both of these roots can a drug treatment center program reasonably promise success for its patients.

From a physical perspective, drug treatment aims to break the chemical need associated with drug addiction. In practical terms, that means weaning a drug addict off his drug dependency, a process that can be a traumatic one for the recovering patient. With that in mind, drug detox programs are designed to manage the physical pain of withdrawal symptoms: Drug detox facilities, usually incorporated in larger drug treatment centers, employ a sophisticated regimen of medical and therapeutic techniques to ensure that the early stages of drug recovery are no more trying than they have to be.

Equally important is the psychological component of drug rehab. At a drug treatment center, patients develop the skills and self-esteem necessary for sustained sober living. The most successful drug treatment programs are those that provide extensive emotional counseling for their clients, with the ultimate goal of helping recovering addicts rediscover themselves as they used to be, and life as they used to know it. Again, what drug addiction destroys, drug rehab seeks to rebuild. Anything less doesn’t deserve to be called healing.

What defines Cliffside Malibu’s approach to drug treatment?

At Cliffside Malibu, we know what works.

Our track record of success is a testament to our unique drug treatment philosophy, which is grounded in a firm conviction that no two drug treatment patients are alike. Our drug treatment program emphasizes individuality at every turn, with a special emphasis on addressing the unique needs of every one of our clients.

After patients have been enrolled in the Cliffside Malibu program, they meet with a primary drug treatment therapist who manages their care throughout the entire course of their recovery. At Cliffside Malibu, drug treatment is a comprehensive proposition: Our drug rehab programs address both addiction itself and the broader mental health issues associated with it, and strive to provide support for addicts and their families through the entire extent of the healing process.

Cliffside Malibu offers each patient an individualized clinical treatment plan, which can include individual and group counseling sessions, 12-Step education programs, and family therapy sessions.

Cliffside Malibu also offers a wide range of extracurricular activities, including yoga, surfing, and horseback riding, to support and enrich patients during the drug treatment process. We also meet the daily needs of our patients with gourmet meals, laundry service, transportation, appointment-scheduling, Internet access, and the accommodation of special requests where appropriate. At Cliffside Malibu, we understand the importance of comfort in facilitating the drug treatment process, and we pride ourselves on offering only the finest luxuries to all of our drug treatment patients.

How can Cliffside Malibu’s drug treatment program help me get better?

And so we’ve said our piece. You know everything there is to know about us: You know that Cliffside Malibu is a residential drug treatment center offering drug treatment services to adults who need them. You know that our drug treatment programs incorporate a range of philosophies and methodologies to construct individualized care plans for every one of our residents. You know what we’re about, and more importantly you know what successful drug treatment is about…and at this point there’s really only one question that could ever be worth asking:

What about you?

In the California drug treatment center market, Cliffside Malibu outshines its competition, but that shining doesn’t count for much if there’s no one there to see. Cliffside Malibu, like any drug treatment facility, exists only and entirely for the individuals whom it serves. Without our patients, we wouldn’t exist; without people who need them, our drug treatment services wouldn’t be good for anything at all.

At Cliffside Malibu, we’re different from other California drug treatment centers in that we focus our care on each individual patient. We also offer a uniquely idyllic location; while most California drug treatment centers are located near major urban areas, Cliffside Malibu is tucked away in the serenity of Malibu’s Zuma beach, where our patients can devote the full extent of their energies to the drug recovery process.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to approach drug rehab in California. As noted above, deciding on a drug treatment center is a daunting process, one fraught with doubt and uncertainty. Remember, though, that healing can only start with the truth, and that educating yourself is the only way to ensure that your drug treatment program serves you as it should.

At Cliffside Malibu, we know how it works. We can only hope that you’ll let us prove it to you.