Treating Methamphetamine Addiction

The production and use of methamphetamine has been on the rise since the 1990's, especially in rural Midwestern communities. This epidemic caught many treatment centers and hospitals off-guard, and was thus termed untreatable. However, there are so many people suffering from methamphetamine addiction that researchers have recently begun to take a closer look at this highly damaging substance in hopes to uncover new possibilities for treatment.

To discover how to treat an addiction like methamphetamine, the course of the addiction must be studied, starting at the beginning. Getting hooked on meth is easy, according to addicts across America. Some people smoke it for the intense rush it produces. Others take it orally or snort it for functional reasons. When used in this way, it acts as an appetite suppressant used for weight loss purposes, or for a boost in energy that can last for more than 12 hours. This extended high happens because of the way methamphetamine reacts with the nerve cells in the brain. Meth actually attaches to this chemical nerve cell, causing dopamine to cascade throughout the brain. The chemical dopamine is generally associated with feelings of pleasure and euphoria, but too much of this chemical can result in aggression, irritability, and schizophrenic-like behavior. The abuse of methamphetamine is also linked to serious medical complications such as heart damage, stroke, and psychosis. The most frightening result of methamphetamine abuse is by far the long-term neurological damage that is unlike any other drug addiction result.

Through research, scientists have discovered that the neurological damage caused by methamphetamine addiction is done mostly to the dopamine centers and transporters. Because of the addiction, a meth addict's brain does not register that dopamine transporters are necessary – the brain has become accustom to having a regular dose of methamphetamine to release a flow of dopamine for an extended period of time. But, what does this decline in dopamine transporters mean for the addict and their recovery? Studies have shown that former meth users have an average of 24% loss in the total number of dopamine transporters in their brain structure. This loss has been linked to the cause of slowness in motor skills and poor performance on verbal and memory tasks. The higher the loss of these transporters, the higher the damage in necessary brain function. This same loss in dopamine transporters is reported in Parkinson's disease patients, but these patients experience this loss on a larger scale. 

When the abuse of methamphetamine traveled to the rural communities of the Midwest, treatment centers in those areas deemed the addicts untreatable. These centers had never really been exposed to the treatment of cocaine or heroin, and so meth was seemingly impossible to treat. However, many of the treatment facilities in larger urban settings have done the best they can to treat meth addiction, and have concluded that it is very treatable. The physical withdrawal is not as severe as a person might expect, but the psychological withdrawal is beyond intense. A methamphetamine addict may feel an inability to experience pleasure because of the very low levels of dopamine being produced in the brain. According to a rehab center in L.A., this inability can last for months, and many patients experience a relapse around six months into their recovery.

The only currently available treatment that is proven to work for methamphetamine addiction is behavioral therapy. However, there are hundreds of treatment centers and thousands of patients taking part in different types of treatment in order to discover the best method for treating a methamphetamine addiction. There is never a complete loss of hope. The misconception of meth being untreatable has been proved false time and time again. Meth may be dangerous, but there is hope of a healthy recovery.