Benzodiazepines, or “benzos,” are a class of prescription drug depressants that have been used as medication to address anxiety, seizures, muscle spasms, or even sleep issues. However, while they have seen use in directed medical settings, they are still an addictive class of drug that is commonly misused, leading to substance abuse and the need for professional addiction treatment to address benzodiazepine addiction.
Benzodiazepine addiction and misuse can also be more widespread than many may realize, with an estimated 5.3 million people engaging in some benzodiazepine misuse in 2016 alone, with the drug affecting everything from physical and mental health to behaviors, relationships, and daily quality of life. Addiction is a powerful disease that can be difficult to overcome. These substances can fundamentally alter brain chemistry, leading to a physical and psychological dependence on the drug to function in daily life. However, treatment for benzo addiction is always possible, and Thrive Treatment can be your first step toward a healthy, drug-free life in California.
Recognizing the signs and symptoms of benzodiazepine addiction in yourself or a loved one is the first step in an effective healing journey. Benzodiazepines are depressants, slowing down the body’s natural processes and the brain’s ability to send and receive signals efficiently. This can result in several symptoms, from slowed reaction times, drowsiness, inability to focus, and slowed respiratory functions. Some other potential signs of benzo use and addiction include:
Those living with a benzodiazepine addiction can also express behavioral changes as a result of substance abuse or addiction. These behavioral signs of addiction can include:
Prescription drug addiction, like an addiction to benzodiazepines, can also lead to behaviors like “doctor shopping.” This is where a person goes to multiple doctors to procure multiple prescriptions to use more of the drug. Using a higher dose than prescribed at a time or using benzos without a prescription for them, even if self-reporting their necessity, can also indicate an unhealthy relationship with the drug.
An individual may also combine benzos with other substances, from other drugs to alcohol, developing into co-occurring disorders. Recognizing a change in behavior and an increase in the use of benzos alongside the use of other drugs, alcohol, or risk-taking behaviors can all indicate the need for professional treatment programs and rehab to address benzo addiction and its impact on daily life.
Using benzodiazepines, even under the prescription of a medical professional, can still come with risks. These drugs can have a high risk of abuse and addiction, especially in those with long-term prescriptions. In some cases, even those using benzos as prescribed for a genuine health condition can still develop a tolerance and addiction to these drugs.
Prolonged use of prescription medication, and especially illicit use of benzos, can come with a myriad of risks and challenges. Overdose can be common in those using these drugs against the direction of a medical professional and when combining these drugs with other substances. Increased mental health ramifications are also common, such as depression, anxiety, and frustration. Those using benzos in an attempt to address feelings of anxiety can find them inadvertently worsening these symptoms with extended use, especially as a symptom of drug withdrawal.
Benzo addiction can also lead to indirect risks and challenges, such as an increase in risk-taking behaviors like unsafe sexual practices, driving under the influence, and impacting social life and important relationships with friends, family, and loved ones.
While physical dependence on a drug and addiction are often terms that are used interchangeably, there is a key difference between the two. Physical dependence is when a person’s body becomes physically reliant on a drug to function “normally,” being seen by the body as a necessary part of homeostasis despite any unhealthy effects of drug use. Addiction often develops alongside physical dependence but indicates a change in behaviors to facilitate drug use, as well as urges, cravings, and more, as the drug hijacks a person’s reward systems in the brain. Addiction can cause a person to act against their own better judgment, even in the face of negative consequences of drug use.
Long-term use of benzodiazepines can lead to a myriad of health risks. While these risks can affect anyone, the chances of developing these health risks can increase if using benzos illicitly, more frequently than prescribed, or at a higher dose. These risks of long-term benzo use include:
Recognizing the signs of benzo addiction and taking action is not only crucial for preventing these additional risks, but effective rehab can also be instrumental in maintaining sober change for a truly transformed and healthy daily life.
There is nothing easy about overcoming addiction of any kind, and benzodiazepine addiction is no different. Benzodiazepine addiction can affect mental, physical, and emotional health and have profound effects on your daily life, relationships, professional life, and much more. Comprehensive treatment for overcoming addiction, from drug detoxification to continued residential and outpatient care, is crucial to address your comprehensive needs and goals in rehab. Thrive Treatment proudly serves the communities of California to create a place of change and acceptance to help you in your healing journey from your first step into effective drug treatment to your continued sober success.
Your journey with benzodiazepines and addiction will be unique. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to addiction treatment. Thrive Treatment personalizes each step of your recovery journey, from your time in drug detoxification to helping you transition to further levels of care. Each of our detox programs is also a blend of evidence-based therapies and holistic healing options, treating each of your needs while exploring mental, emotional, and physical healing in your recovery. Personalized therapies, medication as necessary, and skills are all available as you begin your healing journey.
Our treatment programs last from a few days to up to two weeks, depending on your unique needs, goals, and progress in recovery. Detox is difficult and is when withdrawal symptoms can be at their most intense, making relapse common during this difficult time without professional support. Professional support, therapy, education, and around-the-clock care are all part of our comprehensive approach to this first important step of your treatment.
Your journey with addiction recovery doesn’t end when you graduate from detox. Rather, transitioning to further levels of care is still important as you continue to develop personalized strategies and coping skills and structure your daily life. Effective detox from benzodiazepines and any other concurrent addictive substances is just the beginning of your sober healing.
Thrive Treatment is dedicated to your long-term sobriety. We believe in addressing the person beneath the addiction, not just treating a collection of symptoms. Helping you pursue sobriety and providing the skills, resources, and community to maintain these sober changes is part of a truly transformative approach to sobriety. We are prepared to work with you through each step of your healing journey from benzodiazepine addiction, whether you are just beginning your rehab journey or continuing to maintain a healthy, positive daily life through various program options.
Our PHP is a dedicated program designed to bridge detox or residential care and outpatient programs. These programs meet five days a week, for about six hours a day, helping you engage with a sober healing community while exploring life outside a created recovery space. Returning to daily life, work, or academics can come with a lot of stress and even unexpected triggers that can impact your chances of relapse on benzodiazepines or other addictive substances. PHPs empower you to confront and overcome these challenges while benefiting from comprehensive support and personalized care and engaging in a community of healing and acceptance to maintain your hard-earned sober change.
Evidence-based treatment modalities, holistic care options, experiential care and activities, and more are all used in our PHP, with a community of peers and professionals to make the most of your time in PHP and build a healthy, sober daily life.
Each step of your journey is personalized with evidence-based therapies, all working to support effective change. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, is one of these evidence-based therapies. CBT is a form of psychotherapy that explores the connection between your beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors. This form of therapy explores how your behaviors are, to some degree, influenced by potentially harmful self-beliefs or thoughts. Likewise, your thoughts are equally impacted by unhealthy learned behaviors. By challenging unhelpful ways of thinking or closely held beliefs, you can also change your daily behaviors to embrace a healthier, sober lifestyle.
Another evidence-based therapy championed at Thrive Treatment is dialectical behavior therapy or DBT. DBT is designed to explore your emotional well-being and resilience, not by bottling up unhealthy emotions but by learning to accept them, process them, and release them safely. This can challenge unhealthy behaviors and risky attempts at self-medicating, address triggers, and put you in control of your own emotional resilience and responses to stress for a sober future.
Lastly, acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, is another form of psychotherapy that empowers you to accept your thoughts and feelings without judgment, guilt, or blame and instead approach them objectively to actively choose how you respond to these feelings and thoughts healthily. By establishing core values and beliefs, you can better control your responses to otherwise difficult emotions.
Each of these evidence-based therapies is backed by holistic healing programs, empowering you to explore your comprehensive needs alongside peers, new experiences, and a community of acceptance to explore new perspectives for your own sober life.
We also understand that the journey with addiction recovery is never “done.” Rather, continuing to manage urges, cravings, and the effects of benzodiazepine addiction is part of your continued healing journey, even after graduating from our dedicated drug treatment programs in California. Personalized coping strategies, mindfulness practices, a community of peers, and strategies for identifying new stresses, engaging in self-care, overcoming triggers, and managing expectations are all part of crucial skills for relapse prevention.
Our dedicated staff is ready to help you develop the strategies and life skills to maintain your sober transformation or pivot to new strategies to address your changing needs and goals in sobriety. Continuing to refine your relapse prevention strategy, from detox through PHP, sober living, and outpatient care, is all part of a sustainable sober journey at Thrive Treatment.
Benzodiazepines can be prescribed to address mental health disorders like anxiety, exposing an individual to these drugs. However, an addiction to benzos can also develop alongside other mental health disorders and needs. Not only can the use of benzos be commonly combined with opioids, leading to opioid use disorder, addiction, and a complex polysubstance addiction, but mental health disorders can also develop as a result of benzo addiction, from anxiety to depression, paranoia, and more.
While benzodiazepines can be used to address addiction, benzo addiction can instead worsen these symptoms if used without the direction of a medical professional or if trying to self-medicate feelings of anxiety with illicit benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are not a replacement for other therapies to address mental health disorders like anxiety. Prolonged use of benzos can lead to a tolerance to these prescription drugs, leaving an individual with continuing to worsen feelings of anxiety alongside a developing benzo addiction.
Comprehensive, professional care is crucial to explore not just the effects of benzodiazepines and anxiety in daily life but also how these two commonly inform each other for a truly transformative approach to personalized care in overcoming co-occurring disorders.
While addiction can feel incredibly isolating, it is not a disease that ever truly develops in isolation. Addressing personal underlying needs, experiences, and more is part of your healing journey. Thrive Treatment works with you to explore the root causes of addiction in addition to addressing the challenges of addiction itself for a sustainable approach to sobriety. Overcoming benzodiazepine addiction alongside mental health disorders and trauma and engaging in effective education and more are all part of a robust and effective healing journey, with our professionals and accepting community ready to support you as you explore these root causes in your journey.
We are dedicated to the entire continuum of care, supporting you as you transition between programs each step of your journey. From detox and residential care to ongoing PHP and outpatient support, we are ready to meet you wherever you are in your healing journey, addressing personal needs, goals, and challenges at any stage of your recovery, ensuring you are never alone while overcoming the effects of benzodiazepine addiction.
We also work closely with The Last House, a dedicated sober living community, to support you as you establish a healthy daily life in sobriety. Your journey overcoming benzodiazepine addiction is unique, but having a community of peers and a safe place to explore needs and goals, you always have an opportunity to take agency over your newfound future.
There is no replacement for professional drug rehab programs overcoming substance abuse of any kind, from benzodiazepines to opioids, alcohol, or a combination thereof. However, we at Thrive Treatment believe in empowering you to become your own agent of change, providing counseling, guidance, and opportunities as you take control of your sober journey, emotional health, and sober transformation. Education, motivation, and change are constant parts of your healing journey. Thrive Treatment’s commitment to the entire continuum of care allows us to change and adapt alongside you in your healing journey.
Treatment for benzodiazepine addiction is paramount to making the most of your recovery efforts. Learn how Thrive Treatment can help you explore your sobriety in California by calling us today at (855) 232-1344.
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At Thrive Treatment℠ we accept most private insurance plans and we are in network with Cigna, Optum, First Health, and Anthem Blue Cross. Additional payment options are available so don’t hesitate to give us a call so we can get you the help that you need.
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