If the initial goal is to cut back on drinking, but the person finds that they cannot stay within the recommended daily/weekly drinking limits, then abstinence is strongly advised. For more than 45 years, NIAAA has sponsored hundreds of carefully designed alcohol treatment studies, involving thousands of people with alcohol problems. The NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator® is grounded in the findings from these years of scientific research. If you are seeking treatment on behalf of someone with a known mental health issue, be sure to ask about the provider’s expertise in treating co-occurring disorders. Therapists who specialize in addiction can be licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, or psychiatrists.
How do people know if a medication for AUD may be worth a try?
- Recovery from alcohol abuse is a lifelong journey, and many people have celebrated continued years of success.
- It’s important that treatment providers be able to identify and address both issues at the same time.
- AUD can cause lasting changes in the brain that make patients vulnerable to relapse.
- Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a condition that health care professionals diagnose when a patient’s drinking pattern causes significant distress or harm.
- Alcoholism and drug dependency can devastate lives, leaving lasting damage.
In addition, the search tools on the Navigator may not capture every possible higher-quality treatment provider in your vicinity. There are two ways for healthcare professionals to use the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator. Your practice can use it to create or expand your referral list of providers in your area who offer evidence-based treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD).
If you’re having suicidal thoughts, call your health care provider or go to the nearest emergency room right away. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or chat at 988lifeline.org. Effective treatment is available to help you through this difficult time. Alcoholics Anonymous® (also known as “AA”) and other 12-step programs provide peer support for people quitting or cutting back on their drinking. Combined with treatment led by health care providers, mutual-support groups can offer a valuable added layer of support.
For persons with alcohol use disorder (AUD), abstaining from drinking (stopping altogether) is generally recommended, and provides the greatest chance of long-term success. However, decisions about the ultimate goal of AUD treatment should be determined in a dialogue between the patient and a credentialed treatment provider. Individuals with opioid addiction should seek help from a medical professional who is specially qualified to treat this condition.
As with treatment services, continuing care services will vary from one person to the next depending on their specific needs. If you are unable to find a provider using the directories in the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator®, we offer some other suggestions in separate FAQs about therapists, programs , and physicians. Self-guided programs such as these can be added to an overall treatment plan led by a health professional. Research shows that people who go through detox without additional treatment are far more likely to relapse. Detox alone is not a fast or effective way to achieve long-term recovery from alcohol use disorder. Some have criticized Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs because they are rooted in religious ideology rather than scientific principles.
What is alcohol use disorder (AUD)? What are the symptoms?
It is intended as a resource to understand what treatment choices are available and what to consider when selecting among them. For more information, please visit the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator®, an online tool that helps individuals find the right treatment for them—and near them. The Navigator offers a step-by-step process to finding a highly qualified professional treatment provider. If you’re struggling with alcohol abuse or an alcohol use disorder and are ready to seek treatment, American Addiction Centers (AAC) can help. Alcohol.org is a subsidiary of AAC, a nationwide provider of addiction treatment centers.
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States will have different criteria for physicians, therapists, and treatment programs. If you or a loved one needs help with an alcohol problem, you have several options beyond in-person care. You might put together a care plan that combines some or all of these choices. Once a person is in treatment, families can help by getting involved to the extent possible. Many treatment providers offer family counseling or a formal family program. These offer opportunities to support the patient and strengthen the family environment to promote recovery.
It will help if someone in your practice can provide a brief overview along with a patient handout available on the For Healthcare Professionals page of the Navigator. If you are seeking treatment for yourself, you are taking an important step in your route to recovery. You may wish to ask someone you trust to help you through the process and for support along the way. The Navigator helps adults find alcohol treatment for themselves or an adult loved one.
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Greenhouse offers special programs for veterans and those in the LGBTQ+ community. Even if you’ve been referred by a trusted source, it’s still important to check a provider’s credentials—education, experience, license, and certifications. Just like hiring any other business, you’ll want to do a little homework to be sure you’re working with a provider who has the right expertise for the job. Call and ask the 10 recommended questions for therapists or treatment programs, and use the answers to check for higher-quality treatment. Many healthcare professionals and programs have offered telehealth alcohol treatment for years. Now, since the pandemic, more providers are offering phone or video sessions.
If you cannot find a program that meets your needs, the Navigator can help you find other types of providers. Use the search tools below to find therapists and doctors with addiction specialties. Just as some people with diabetes or asthma may have flare-ups of their disease, a return to drinking can be seen as a temporary setback to full recovery and not as a failure. Seeking professional help can prevent a return to drinking—behavioral therapies can help people develop skills to avoid and overcome triggers, such as stress, that might lead to drinking.
However, numerous studies have looked at the outcomes of participants over time, often comparing them to people who did or did not also receive some form of professional treatment. The research indicates that groups may help by providing a social framework that improves coping, boosts self-confidence, and continually enhances motivation toward recovery. The NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator® focuses on treatment providers that are available to the general public. The best resource to find treatment in the Veterans Health Administration is the VA’s online treatment locator. Some people with an alcohol problem may wish to moderate their drinking, but they ultimately find that it is easier to stop drinking entirely. Others may aim for abstinence but find that, with the skills learned in counseling, they are able to manage occasional drinking without returning to problematic use.
They should emphasize linking different phases of care, such as connecting patients to mental health professionals, housing, and peer support groups when transitioning out of the acute phase of care. They should also have proactive strategies to avoid dropping out, involve the family in treatment, employ qualified and certified staff, and be accredited by an external regulatory organization. Also, a person’s long-term drinking patterns can have an impact on their physical health or make other medical conditions worse. It will be very helpful if the person you select is able to offer support and direction with other issues if and when they come up.
You can focus largely on services offered, availability, costs, and insurance. Unfortunately, there is no one single database listing all of the addiction treatment providers in the United States. We’ve tried to identify directories that cover the whole country, are relatively easy to use, and can lead you to good results if you know what to look for. These are the directories our own staff members use when they need to search for treatment service providers. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) maintains two online directories that may also be of help.
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Although there are no guarantees, providers with more of these signs are likely to offer higher-quality treatment, which should increase the likelihood of success. In the U.S., more than 5,000 medical doctors are board-certified addiction specialists. They are highly trained to provide full assessments, treatment plans, and medications for alcohol problems. Certification is a sign of professional specialization that often requires completion of advanced coursework and a comprehensive exam. Primary care physicians, for example, can choose to become “board certified” in addiction medicine.
- Generally, it is recommended that people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) seek the least intensive type of care first, and then move to a more intensive level only if they need it.
- It may shift from stimulant to sedative in line with whether blood alcohol content is rising or falling.
- But those who have a liver condition or use opioid medications (such as those prescribed for pain) should not take naltrexone.
- You will not need to ask a board-certified addiction doctor about qualifications.
Or you can share the Navigator directly with your patients or clients and family members who are interested and able to search on their own. Also, niaaa navigator how to search and ask be sure to look for the other types of treatment providers—therapists with addiction specialties and alcohol treatment programs. In addition, the search tools on the Navigator may not capture every possible higher-quality treatment provider in your vicinity. For any addiction therapist you are considering, be sure to ask the 10 recommended questions, and use the answers to check for five signs of higher-quality care.