In the recent years, we have seen a lot of substance abuse treatment centers opening here and there. All of them promise to help addicts get their lives back using this and that programs. The question is: are any of those programs the right one for you?

If you will take an addiction treatment facility’s claim at face value it won’t be any easier for you to pick the right substance abuse treatment program.

A New York Times feature cited a 2012 study conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University which concluded that “the vast majority of people in need of addiction treatment do not receive anything that approximates evidence-based care.”

The CASA Columbia report has exposed the sad truth that most of those providing addiction treatment are not medical professionals and are not equipped with the knowledge, skills or credentials necessary to provide the full range of evidence-based services.

So how do you make sure then that you’re not wasting time and money for an addiction treatment?

Anne M. Fletcher, a science writer and author of “Inside Rehab” and “Sober for Good,” offers the following guidelines:

1. Get an independent assessment of the need for treatment and kind of treatment needed from an expert who is not connected with the rehab center you are considering.

2. Check the credentials of the treatment program’s personnel.

3. Don’t choose a program just because it’s popular.

4. Meet with the therapist who will treat you and ask about your treatment plan.

5. Find out if you will receive therapy for any underlying condition, like depression or a social problem that could get in the way of your recovery.

6. Look for programs that use research-based approaches.

OSU CRC is made possible in collaboration with Counseling and Consultation Services (CCS) and University Residences and Dining Services. Its goal is to provide encouragement and engagement to students who are in the addiction recovery process.

“We want this to be, as much as possible, a very healthy community of mutual support,” Curtis Haywood, a licensed professional clinical counselor for CCS, told The Lantern. “We don’t want to exclude any student that’s serious about recovery. If they’re serious about recovery, we want to be there with open arms welcoming them into this program.”

Although the program is still in its early stages, OSU plans to launch CRC at the start of the Fall 2013 semester and the recovery house in the Fall 2014 semester.

The program is modeled after a Texas Tech University recovery program. In addition to a recovery house, OSU’s recovery program components include academic advising, individual counseling, life skills workshops, community service opportunities, and family weekend — among others.

While OSU had offered services for those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, the CRC is its first comprehensive recovery program to date.

Other universities that have adopted a program like CRC include the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Michigan.

A source told Radaronline that the 21-year-old MTV star volunteered to seek treatment for her heroine addiction, as well as “related stresses stemming from her tumultuous last few months.”

“Everyone has been worried about Jenelle doing heroin, even though she was denying that for a long time,” the source said.

This isn’t the first time the reality TV star has been treated for drug abuse problem. In November 2012, Jenelle involuntarily committed to a rehab center for 72 hours. According to the source, she now wants to get clean not only for herself but also for her son.

“Jenelle has been through the wringer lately,” the source said. “She got married to a guy that she now thinks is a disaster, got pregnant, had a miscarriage and is basically falling apart.”

Meanwhile, Jenelle’s on-again boyfriend Gary Head defended her on Twitter regard her substance abuse issues. “Jenelle is NOT ON DRUGS. She got sent for emotional support because this season was so intense.” he tweeted on Feb. 25. “MTV Does not want her to see this season and then relapse BC of all the stress but I will say that Jenelle does not do drugs. I won’t allow that and he knows that if she ever goes back to drugs then she can have them. But she won’t have me.”

McCready was found dead at her Heber Springs, Ark. house in the afternoon of Feb. 17. According to police who responded on the scene, the troubled country singer suffered of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

According to the statement obtained by TMZ from the Sheriff’s Office, “Officers arrived on the scene at 3:58 PM and discovered the body of 37 year old Melinda Gayle McCready on the front porch of the residence at 1132 Fox Chase. Ms. McCready was pronounced dead at the scene from what appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

McCready had for years struggled with drug abuse and mental health problems. Her first suicide attempt happened in July 2005 in which she was hospitalized due to drug overdose after consuming a large amount of undisclosed drugs and alcohol. In Sept. 2005, she reportedly attempted suicide again by overdosing on antidepressants. On Dec. 2008, paramedics were called to her Nashville home after an apparent suicide attempt.

Friends and some family members said McCready’s life hit bottom after her partner and father of her youngest child, David Wilson, died in January this year. The unfortunate event was shortly followed by a judge order to remove McCready’s children under her care and to commit herself to a rehab facility to cope with her alcohol problems and mental health issues. On Feb. 7, she was released from the facility and was allowed to complete a 21-day outpatient program.

CNN quoted McCready’s NBC interview two weeks after Wilson’s death, in which she expressed the extreme pain she was harboring.

“I was hurting so bad, and then they just did whatever they could to make it hurt even more,” McCready said.

While there are numerous information available for people who want to know how drug detox works, little is shared about what patients can expect during an inpatient drug detoxification program. As result, people who want to seek treatment for their substance abuse problems are often overwhelmed by fear and skepticism.

If you are considering to enrol a loved one in an inpatient drug detox program, here are a few things you should know:

Administered Drug Testing: When a drug addict enters a detox program, s/he will be subjected to a drug test to determine the specific substances present in the patient’s system. Drug testing is used to ensure safe detoxification and address withdrawal symptoms, as well as medical concerns, adequately.

Managed Withdrawal Symptoms: Heroin, morphine, or narcotic prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin may not produce life-threatening withdrawal symptoms, but they can become so agonizing. A detox center will use pain management techniques or non-addictive medications to treat any aches or muscle problems. Fluids will often be administered to prevent dehydration, and in some cases, nutritional supplements are recommended to help alleviate other withdrawal symptoms.

Counseling Services: Anxiety or depression can occur during a drug withdrawal process and this is where counseling really helps. Addiction counseling gives patients an opportunity to talk about their feelings. It wouldn’t be easy at first and most patients would barely talk during the first session. But a seasoned addiction counselor will be able to encourage patients to voice out their thoughts in the succeeding sessions. Counseling helps patients achieve peace of mind.

Increased Mental Clarity and Body Strength: As the detox program progresses, the patient will find his/her symptoms reducing and begin to experience mental clarity as cravings for drugs dissipate. Their short-term memory problems improve and their body begins to repair itself. Bone pains subside, blood pressure stabilizes, sleep becomes more restful, and skin regains its natural healthy glow.

“Widespread use of this type of protocol has the potential to provide significant financial savings for the U.S. health care system,” lead study author David Ross, DO FACEP, an emergency physician with Penrose-St.Francis Health Services and medical director of American Medical Response in Colorado Springs, CO, said in a press release. “This population is very frequently transported to the ER by EMS or police, consuming a disproportionate share of resources and contributing to ER overcrowding. A detoxification center is a good alternative to the ER for certain intoxicated patients who just need an appropriately staffed facility to ‘dry out.’ Our research suggests that EMS personnel can identify patients who are safe for this alternative destination.”

The 29-item checklist used by EMS providers in Colorado in evaluating inebriated patients were created by EMS officials, emergency physicians, emergency nurses and detoxification center personnel. Its goal is to determine whether patients could be safely transported to a detoxification center instead of the emergency department by paramedics.

According to Ross and colleagues, of the more than 700 patients evaluated between 2003 and 2005, 138 were safely transported to the detoxification center, while 580 were transported to the emergency department.

The criteria that most commonly excluded patients from being taken to the detoxification center were inability to walk and unwillingness to cooperate with a physical exam.

“We believe our data suggests that paramedics with specific training and protocols can safely identify patients who are appropriate for direct transport to a detox facility,” said Dr. Ross. “Since the period described in our paper, we have been able to refine our protocol further and have substantially increased the number of patients taken from the field to detox instead of the ER, without any adverse consequences.”

Previous reports indicate that drunk patients are the fifth leading cause of emergency room visits in the country, with teenage binge drinking as the primary culprit.

While heroin use induces a state of relaxation and euphoria, sudden stop in taking the drug could bring pains and discomfort. Common withdrawal symptoms include:

• Craving for the drug
• Restlessness
• Body aches
• Cold sweats and chills
• Constipation
• Cramps in the body
• Diarrhea
• Depression
• Yawning
• Fever
• Insomnia
• Muscle pains
• Nausea and vomiting
• Elevated heart rate
• Increased irritability
• Tears and runny nose

According to the addictionblog.org, one of the reasons that make heroin withdrawal so painful is because the drug is considered one of the strongest opiates that ever existed. Sadly, it also has one of the highest dependency rate in the world. In 2009, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more than 600,000 million Americans age 12 and older had abused heroin at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

A number of treatment options are available for heroin abusers to help them deal with withdrawal symptoms. These treatments include counseling, group therapy, medication (pharmacotherapy), and supervised home withdrawal.

With home remedies, it is important to proactively of withdrawal symptoms to successfully wean off heroin. For easing aches and pains, warm showers or bath, massages, and application of heating pads are helpful. Psychological symptoms could be addressed by encouraging the heroin user to practice medication or perform exercise, as well as discover new hobbies to divert their attention from the drug.

Pharmacotherapy-based treatments may often involve taking Methadone which helps reduce the impact of heroin on the drug dependent individual. Other medications used are Buprenorphine and Naltrexone.

Treatment options are most effective when they are tailored according to the person’s specific situation. In some cases, drug specialists or rehab doctors may use a combination of methods to eliminate specific symptoms.

Dubbed Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), the grant program will provide Iowa, Arizona, and New Jersey up to $7.5 million over 5 years to screen and treat people with substance abuse disorders in different primary care settings and emergency rooms. The three states were chosen through a competitive grant process. The program will be enforced in areas with high numbers of low-income people and traditionally underinsured who receive care at federally qualified health centers and other clinics.

At a press conference, Pamela Hyde, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said “We know that prevention works, treatment helps, and people get better.”

Officials have been alarmed by the growing trend of substance abuse in the country, especially the skyrocketing cases of people misusing prescription medications. Even more alarming is the fact that many drug users are not getting the treatment they need to overcome their addiction, as well as other health problems related to drug use.

The core principle of SBIRT is to integrate mental and physical health screening and treatment. Patients who test for abusing substances will be given brief counseling, consisting mostly of a 5-to-10-minute educational talk. Law enforcement leaders expressed full support to the policy and are even leading the way. “This program represents the future of drug control policy in our nation,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The one-year pilot program will be performed at several pharmacies and Holzer Health System, a health-care provider with two hospitals in southern Ohio. Patients will be required to submit to a finger print scan to see a doctor at one hospital system. Although the initiative is voluntary, officials have high hopes it will help curb the increasing prescription drug abuse in the region.  So far, the program has already generated more than 100 members.

CrossChx LLC  will be providing the fingerprint devices and data-analytics muscle that will be used for the pilot program. CrossChx is founded by Sean Lane, a 31-year old who was deployed five times to Afghanistan and Iraq from 2003 to 2008. He believes biometrics could help southern Ohio win its battle against painkiller abuse.

“We kind of want to surge, like we did in Iraq, against this problem,” Lane tells the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog. “In Ohio, we’re dealing with data silos, where people have data and they’re not sharing it. These are the same sharing issues we fought through in Iraq,” he says.

The real-time data upload to a patient’s electronic medical record. The patients’ information which include number of doctor’s office visits, trips to the pharmacy, and prescribed medications will all prove crucial for helping health officials and law enforcement target diversion of drugs into the illegal market. Additionally, the fingerprint biometrics could make it easier for officials to identify questionable doctors or suspect pharmacists.

UCLA graduate student David Tran from the Medical Education Program conducted a survey consisting of 20 questions that was given to 37 teenagers from the different substance abuse centers in East Los Angeles.

Data gathered showed that about 92% of the participants have social media activities. Of this population, more than 75% of the girls and more than 50% of the boys claimed that there are things that they see in social networking sites which set their triggers and cravings.

According to co-study author and medical director of the UCLA Substance Abuse Pharmacotherapy Unit Keith Heinzerling, results are still at the earliest stage and could not be considered definitive yet, and that more studies with bigger sampling populations should be developed before arriving to a conclusion.

Tran explains that while they still can’t prove anything at this time, results may indicate that there are cues found in social networking sites that could lead adolescents in recovery to relapse. Though patients can be restricted from visiting social networking sites, Tran says they will only find other means to join these communities online.

But Tran and Heinzerling were quick to say that not everything about social networking sites is damaging to recovering addicts. These sites can, in fact, be used as aides in substance abuse counseling. Support groups can be established in Facebook, for instance, that will be very helpful for patients. With the combined forces of treatment programs and experts in substance abuse counseling, such kinds of social networking groups can make things a lot easier for people who want to be sober again.

Tran’s study is one of those featured in the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association for 2012.