THE FACTS OF VALIUM ADDICTION

At Passages Addiction Cure Center, we have confidence that Valium addiction can be resolved with expert treatment. All cases of Valium addiction tend to stem from four major causes:

1. Imbalances in brain chemistry.
2. Unresolved traumatic incidents from years past.
3. Deeply held beliefs inconsistent with reality.
4. Issues coping with current challenges and conditions.

At Passages Addiction Cure Center, we acknowledge that Valium addiction is ultimately a symptom of these deeply rooted causes--not an "incurable disease" as held by many in the addiction industry. As such, we do not point to genetics as an originating cause of addiction--drawing from the countless individuals worldwide who develop Valium addiction without a single family member sharing a history of chemical dependency. Likewise, there are those who witness the painful addictions of loved ones, but find themselves able to drink in moderation--or never to touch alcohol or drugs at all. Once the underlying cause for addiction has been brought to light and effectively treated, the desire to use Valium will dissipate.

At Passages, we believe that clients can experience full healing--beyond the cycle of continual relapse. We do not believe that relapse is a reflection of the addicted individual, and our clinical experience has shown us that relapse does not have to occur in the recovery process. Relapse merely indicates that root physical or psychological issues were not properly treated by prior drug rehabilitation. Once the core causes of Valium addiction have been resolved, individuals can find true freedom from chemical dependency of all varieties.

Valium, also known as diazepam, has medical use to treat a wide variety of conditions including insomnia, anxiety, alcohol withdrawal and convulsions. Though Valium has been used for treatment for over four decades, it has high potential for abuse and addiction. Valium stays in the body for longer periods than many other drugs due to its long half-life--the amount of time it takes for the drug to reach 50 percent of its original concentration in the body. Valium's lengthy half-life of 6 days causes the body's detoxification process to prolong, taking nearly a week to reach half-potency. This process continues until Valium is totally removed from the system--often requiring 7 cycles to completely detoxify.

This half-life phenomenon becomes compounded by multiple dosages--building the amount of Valium in your body over time. For instance, a patient taking 10 milligrams of Valium twice daily will have more than one dosage at work by even the second day--with the initial dose at over 90 percent strength when the second is taken at full-strength. In this manner, Valium content in the body can reach incredibly high levels, making detoxing alone extremely difficult.

In addition to Valium's high half-life, other factors make solo detox from Valium incredibly challenging. Valium tolerance builds easily, causing users to increase the frequency and strength of dosage over time--meaning that the level of Valium consumption at the point of treatment seeking is often much higher than initial use. These factors combine with severe cravings and withdrawal symptoms such as seizures when use suddenly ceases, making medically supervised a necessity.

As a benzodiazepine, Valium creates physical changes in body chemistry as well--largely responsible for feelings of sedation and relaxation. These chemical changes lead the brain to adjust away from its natural balance of neurotransmitters, causing severe withdrawal when the drug is suddenly removed from the body. Every person struggling with Valium addiction will experience severe withdrawal symptoms as a result of cessation--which can cause dangerous mental and physical complications.

Fortunately, with the assistance of supervised medical care and the help of knowledgeable rehabilitation professionals, Valium detox can be performed safely and comfortably.

STACKING DRUGS WITH VALIUM

Frequently, when Valium use prolongs, patients find that Valium causes undesirable side effects. Other patients may find that Valium is simply not fully treating their condition. These situations can lead physicians to prescribe another drug in lieu of Valium--but unfortunately, many doctors do not allow enough time to pass before doing so. Patients then begin a new course of strong medication while the Valium--due to its long half-life--is still active in their systems. Occurrences like these are known as "drug stacking," and can create compounded effects and multiple addictions. In fact, at Passages Addiction Cure Center, we've encountered patients who have been on as many as eighteen separate drugs, creating a host of physical and psychological issues that need resolving.

Beyond the physical dynamics of Valium ingestion, many conditions for which Valium is prescribed are psychological in nature--such as anxiety or insomnia. Ultimately, attempting treatment of psychological conditions with potent medications like Valium can be ineffective at best, in the long run. Negative psychological conditions do not become fully resolved, but instead merely the emotion, experience or feelings become modified in the short-run. Once drugs like Valium are stopped, the original psychological conditions recur, and negative feelings, memories or emotional issues hit once again with full force. Essentially, this phenomenon illustrates the lack of actual healing that occurs with psychological medications. All too often, drugs like Valium serve to simply silence the body and mind's warning signs of a deeper problem. At Passages, we believe in not only treating Valium dependency, but in healing the underlying issues that have created the symptoms of anxiety, insomnia and addiction itself.

Rather than stacking drugs in an attempt to medicate symptoms, Passages Addiction Cure Center can offer resolution of the conditions that cause symptoms that arise in the first place. At Passages, we employ holistic techniques that treat the entire person--body, mind and spirit. Our multidisciplinary staff seeks out the mental, physical and emotional causes that have perpetuated drug addiction, so that patients can experience true freedom on every level--as well as freedom from addiction.

One of most central components of our holistic addiction recovery program at Passages is individualized therapy. We offer the only program in the world with a high level of intensive, one-on-one therapy sessions, offering patients more than 60 private sessions each month. Each client receives a dedicated team of 10 therapists assigned to work with them on a personalized basis. We pioneered this revolutionary, custom-tailored approach at Passages Addiction Cure Center to ensure that no client slips through the cracks of the addiction recovery process.

Unfortunately, the standards and paradigms for addiction recovery treatment across the United States simply do not set or achieve the same level of care or cure. At Passages, our vision is to lead a change in the way that addiction recovery is approached in our country. Sadly, many addiction treatment centers still view alcoholism, drug addiction and addictive behaviors as the foremost problems instead of symptoms of underlying conditions that need to be sought out and resolved. Compounding the problem, the vast majority of addiction treatment centers simply opt for one-size-fits-all, generalized treatment with an emphasis on group therapy. This impedes the addicted individual's ability to achieve proper diagnosis, personalized treatment that works for them, and ultimately, the resolution of their chemical dependency.

To illustrate, almost every addiction treatment program worldwide offers an approach that consists virtually solely of group therapy meetings. In fact, nearly 97 percent of treatment programs in the world rely on as little as one personalized treatment session per week. At Passages Addiction Cure Center, we believe that this method amounts to ineffective treatment, overlooking the unique relationship histories, medical disposition, psychological issues, or personal traumas of each client. Addiction is a highly personal issue, and develops in each individual due to singular reasons, body chemistry and life circumstances. Until patients can receive caring treatment that validates those unique parts of them and seeks a specific cure, addiction simply cannot be successfully resolved. As a result, Passages offers a unique treatment program for each client, aimed at discovering the root causes of their specific dependency so that it can be successfully--and permanently--healed.

The same premise holds true in the medical field. Though patients may appear to have similar symptoms--such as nausea and vomiting--they most likely do not suffer from the same condition. While one patient may suffer from the flu, another may be experiencing severe poisoning. The solution for one patient simply would not work for--and may even endanger the life of--the other. This same practical principle can be applied to drug and alcohol rehab treatment. Recovery methods that work for the client self-medicating severe physical pain with Valium simply will not be effective for the client seeking emotional relief from repressed trauma they've survived. At Passages, our spectrum of therapists seeks to pinpoint the cause of each client's addiction in order to cure it with an effective and relevant solution.

Once those underlying causes of your Valium addiction have been identified and properly treated, you will experience cravings that quickly diminish, opening the doors to lasting sobriety.