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Anyone seeking methamphetamine detox will have to make the first move and they might have a hard time finding a suitable clinic to help them. Local and state budgets have been cut to the bone and shifts in health insurance have put a squeeze on rehabilitation services nationwide, especially in the case of the young. This, despite the fact that there’s certainly been no reduction in the need for such care, has created a great need for facilities to deal with meth recovery. Methamphetamine addiction has been a serious drug crisis for almost a full generation.

Military Use

Methamphetamines became prominent during the 1930s and 1940s but especially during World War II when they were given to both German and Japanese soldiers by their governments to help them stay awake for prolonged periods. The drug gave heightened alertness and energy but at a significant cost to health. Meth use is known to cause damage to the small blood vessels in the human brain, potentially leading to strokes. It also inflames the lining of the heart.

Symptoms

There are both short and long-term symptoms of methamphetamine abuse. The former include paranoid behavior, even violently so, skin damage running the gamut from rashes and sores to cracking lips, sunken, blood-shot eyes and frequent scratching of one’s skin. The most frequently mentioned symptom, staying awake for several days on end, perhaps ought not be considered a “symptom of abuse” since it is so often the effect users are seeking.

Long-Term

Over time, the long-term effects of methamphetamine abuse assert themselves. These include decay in all their teeth at once and dramatic weight loss. Further, the abuser will likely suffer hallucinations. These hallucinations, which may be of either the visual variety or the aural or both, won’t just occur as the abuser is smoking the drug. At this stage, they can appear at any time.

Emotional Addiction

Therapists have learned that in treating addicted patients, it isn’t enough to address only physical aspects of their addiction. They have learned that meth, the “party drug”, creates in its abusers an addiction to the lifestyle surrounding that abuse that is as significant as the drug’s pharmacological effects. This is an abuse that creates small, close-knit and mutually-reinforcing communities of abusers. Those within these communities grow attached to their late-night drug culture.

Negative Social Bond

Accordingly, it is ideal for therapy to take place somewhere outside the abuser’s familiar city or town. Separation is necessary so the therapist might work on disentangling him or her not just from the toxin, but also from the toxic social life that has become all too familiar.

Types of Therapy

Person to person treatment is most effective at uncovering, then addressing, the essential reasons the patient turned to methamphetamines in the first place. Reasons vary from individual to individual and may include anything from an exaggerated need to please other people to compulsiveness, from fearfulness of life’s challenges to low self-esteem. The meth addiction group counseling reinforced in the aftercare process is useful for uncovering the personal triggers that send the patient in search of the drug.