Alcohol addiction treatment

The method of treatment of alcohol addiction currently used in Slovenia can be seen as a result of rich experience and great efforts by a number of experts throughout almost fifty years. The method is based on the concept of addiction as a disease. The treatment can be presented as a sequence of phases. The preparation phase is followed by intensive treatment phase and then maintenance phase. We always try to find for each individual a suitable combination of pharmacological, psychological and social interventions, which are needed in different phases of addiction treatment. As far as pharmacological treatment is concerned, three groups of medicaments are used: medication for the withdrawal syndrome, for abstinence maintenance and for co-morbidity treatment. Psychotherapy in different modalities (psychodynamic, systemic, family, RT, CBT, TA …) and in different contexts (group, family, individual), sociotherapy, psychoeducation, occupational and other therapies are practiced as part of the treatment. Considering that addiction involves problems on the level of relationships, inclusion of the patients’ relatives is considered very important. Thereby, the role of the family members of the treated person changes from the role of the helper to the role of someone who needs help. Programs with a clearly defined structure are more effective as they enable managing compulsive behavior, existential emptiness, and anxiety. Combining intensive emotional support with some external control mechanisms provides the patients with the best possible opportunities to learn new ways of fulfilling their basic psychological needs without manipulations. There is evidence to support that the duration of rehab models should be three months, and that is approximately the right time for the brain to be “reset” and get rid of the direct influence of drugs. A longer period of time is needed to establish the automatization of new, different, more self-protecting and healthy ways of patient’s behavior.