How Rehab Centers Treat Bath Salt Addiction
Bath salts are sometimes abused recreationally. These addictive substances are very dangerous to your health.
Bath salts have become the newest family of drugs to hit the market. Classified as both “legal”Ā and “illegal”, access to bath salts only requires users to know where to go to get them. As with any substance of abuse, bath salt addiction rates continue to rise as more and more people are exposed.
As bath salts come in different varieties, the effects of these substances can vary from drug to drug. Bath salt addictions can result from using one particular substance or a variety of substances. In effect, each of these drugs carry their own unique properties and effects that require treatment from specialty rehab centers.
Likewise, different people will likely require different levels of rehab center care depending on the severity of a bath salt addiction. Fortunately, rehab centers can offer a range of different treatment levels, including detox, residential and outpatient care.
Bath Salts
According to theĀ National Institute on Drug Abuse, bath salts consist of synthetic chemicals that closely resemble an amphetamine-type stimulant known as cathinone, found in the Khat plant.
Bath salts can take the form of:
- Plant food
- Jewelry cleaner
- Phone screen cleaner
Unlike other drug types, bath salts can produce different “high” effects depending on the type of drug used. These effects include:
- Opiate-like effects
- Hallucinations
- Stimulant-like effects
Other more adverse effects produced by these drugs include:
- Paranoia
- Violent behaviors
- Delirium
- Agitation
Bath salt addictions can be quite dangerous simply because of the wide range of effects these drugs can have in the brain and body.
Detox Care
A bath salt addiction can cause considerable damage to a person’s brain functions. The first step towards breaking a bath salt addiction entails detoxification treatment.
Detox rehab centers offer the type of treatment environment where addicts can abstain from drug use while receiving needed medications to relieve withdrawal effects. More oftentimes than not, bath salt addictions bring on distressing withdrawal symptoms, some of which include:
- Nausea/vomiting
- Headaches
- Confusion
- Muscle cramps
- Stomach cramps
- Sweating
The care offered through detox rehab centers enable recovering addicts to overcome this most difficult stage of the recovery process.
Residential Care
People battling severe bath salt addictions will likely require the level of care offered through residential rehab centers. Through residential rehab centers, recovering addicts engage in:
- Intensive psychotherapy
- Group therapy
- Support groups
- Drug education training
Residential rehab center stays last anywhere from 30 to 90 days and require residents to live at the facility for the length of treatment. Someone who’s made multiple failed attempts to stop using or someone suffering from a psychological disorder would likely benefit from residential care.
Outpatient Care
Outpatient care can work well for people just at the early stages of bath salt addiction. While outpatient care provides many of the same services offered through residential care, participants can schedule treatment sessions around their existing home and work schedules.
As physical and psychological damage caused by bath salts can persist well after a person completes detox, people addicted to bath salts for any length of time will likely require some form of outpatient care.
