Extreme Rehab: Inside the World's Most Radical Drug Clinic

[Bar Kochba]

Having much life experience with opiate addiction, I read this article with a cynical eye at first, but the Dr seems to really understand addiction. The sedated detox is a humane way of getting an addict through the pain of withdrawal (many "professionals" feel an addict should go through withdrawal as punishment for being addicted, as if it would teach them a lesson). However, unless I missed it, the article was vague on how well the Dr's patients fared 6 months or a year after treatment. It was stated that they were prescribed Naltrexone, but that was about it. If Naltrexone totally blocks/eliminates opiate effects/cravings and restores an addict to "normal," then that Dr is indeed a hero. Methadone and the drug industry make big bucks off of addiction; no wonder the Dr's methods are being met with resistance. If only he had a clinic around here...

 

[Laura]

There is also the theory that one must detox the body to get rid of cravings. And giving the body what it needs to work with in the way of proper nutrients can also alleviate cravings. If you haven't read the threads on Candida and Detoxing and Magnesium, do so. I can tell you that regularly taking magnesium gets rid of a LOT of cravings!

 

[Alana]

I have been working with people with drug addiction problems, so i really paid attention when reading this article. I heard of Dr Waismann's name and methods before, from a friend whose brother undertook this treatment with positive results (for about a year now), and then from members of the medical establishment in my country, who talked really unfavorably about this method. I said i knew a person who benefited, and they kept saying that it doesn't produce long term results, the person needs therapy to uncover the hidden traumas who cause one to become an addict, blah blah blah.

Hypocritical sharks basically, fearing that if Dr Waismann's work gets accepted as a treatment for addiction, they will loose their beloved jobs (doing nothing and getting paid!); all of them nursing staff who took some addiction rehab seminars and think they are doing therapy now, treating those who DO therapy, who have the credentials and underwent thousands of hours of treatment and supervision themselves to get qualified, as ignorant!

The truth is, therapy for the most part does not work for addiction, simply because the people who come for help (those really asking for help, because most come due to court order, police troubles, etc) they don't come for therapy. They just want to kick this ugly habit that feels like a possession in their body. They don't want to go back in time and remember their childhoods and feel their repressed feelings, and all that stuff. They don't truly want to pull the family rug and see the mess that's under. And that's fine, it's their choice. They never say so of course (that they don't want therapy), but they come believing is the only way to get better and reclaim their lives. Yet anyone trying to work with them in therapy, feels this huge resistance and hears this question in the air that never really gets asked: "will these stuff really help me quit and stay clean? why can't i just take the methadone?". Methadone and therapy, that's all that exists on the menu for them to choose.

I believe though that these two, should become separate issues: clearing the body of the drugs and cravings (Dr Waismann's method sounds good, and more research should go into it i think), and then, if they choose it themselves, go for therapy. But if this gets suggested all oppose it, because then the whole "system" will go down, and so much money (but not much intelligent effort) has been invested in it! (Apologies for the anger, i have lots towards my "boss", the mental health establishment in Cyprus. Not that it helps anyone.... )

I am sure things are just as bad in other countries though, because i don't hear of any progress in addiction treatment, the mainstream way, anywhere.

 

[Nienna]

I had a young man who worked in my department a few years ago who was a "recovering" heroin addict. He was on methadone and he was, of course, addicted to it.

The way I, my boss and another man who had been in a rehab for cocaine saw it is that the pharmaceutical companies and the government don't really care if the addict recovers from an addiction. All they can see is getting the addict addicted to "their" medication so that they can make money selling it to the rehab places.

Upon reading about this Dr's findings, all I could do is shake my head. The pharmaceutical companies and, as Smaragde said, the doctors treating addiction don't want to find a cure. That would mean the loss of LOTS of money and that just isn't in their plans.

It's a sorry situation. Especially since this Dr. Waismann is doing all of this for free. Now there is a person who really cares. Not many of them out there.