Heroin Addiction Treatment

You’ve been using long enough to know the short term effects of heroin. What happens if you continue to use or have been using for a long time?

Heroin causes damage to your brain through neurochemical and molecular changes. Addiction–the compulsive, chronic need to have heroin–takes over your life. Getting your next fix preoccupies your thoughts and going without heroin is no longer an option.

Heroin detox can be life-threatening. Trying to go “cold turkey”, stopping suddenly, carries significant risk.

As early as a few hours after the last dose, users feel restless, insomnia takes hold and sleep is impossible. Diarrhea and vomiting begin, cold flashes with goose pumps wrack the body and muscles and bones ache. “Kicking the habit” now makes sense when you experience the involuntary kicking movements that can accompany detox.  Severe cravings make it nearly impossible not to seek out relief by giving up and scoring again.

If you’ve tried to kick heroin alone, you know the symptoms. If you tried and failed, do not give up. You did not fail, your method of quitting did. Without help from specially trained addiction professionals, it is nearly impossible to quit. Stopping without help is very dangerous.

Even those with the most serious heroin habit can quit, if they have the right heroin treatment program and are given the right tools.

Cliffside Malibu heroin treatment sets you up for success. A team of addiction specialists with access to state-of-the art technology, knowledge of cutting-edge therapies and years of experience will create a personalized program for your recovery.

Our intensive intake process helps us learn how you began using heroin, how much you used, and how often. Your health will be assessed to determine the best and safest methods of detox. If appropriate, FDA approved medication will be used to ease your symptoms.

Because the root of your addiction is in the psyche, you will receive regular one-on-one sessions with a psychotherapist to help you find the emotional and psychological components that contributed to your addiction. After finding out why you became addicted, you can begin to heal. You will work with your therapist and Cliffside’s incomparable team of addiction specialists to learn new ways to cope with life’s stresses and healthy ways to relate with those who are important in your life.

Heroin craving can persist years after you stop using. If you are exposed to the same triggers that caused you to being using – the same stresses, places, people and things that you associate with drug use – the desire to use may surface. You will learn strategies to learn how to handle these triggers during your time at Cliffside Malibu. You will be able to maintain your sobriety if you use the skill set you acquire working with our addiction recovery team on your sobriety maintenance program.