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Silver Pines and Steps to Recovery have provided addiction recovery programs in Pennsylvania for over a decade with detox, residential, outpatient, and sober living services. Last year, we expanded our services to include robust mental health services, new locations, and specialized services for our nation’s veterans with more to come this year! We are visually recognizing our growth with a unified look that better reflects who we are today and the passion we have for helping everyone with their addiction and mental health recovery journeys.

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Vivitrol for Aftercare

Vivitrol for Aftercare

New medications are able to help people who struggle with opiate addictions, and Vivitrol is one of the best. Early recovery is extremely difficult due to the psychological pull towards drugs when the brain is triggered. Vivitrol helps those trying to stay clean and sober by reducing the cravings people experience in early recovery.

Opiate Addiction and Psychological Dependence

Humans are much like other living organisms in the fact that we are reward-based learning creatures. B.F. Skinner discovered that most animals respond to positive and negative rewards, which form our lives. We create habit loops that start with a trigger, then a behavior, which leads to a reward, and it strengthens. Every time a person experiences a trigger and turns to opiates as a way to feel well, it becomes more engrained in the mind.
vivitrol for aftercare
This is the primary reason why relapse rates for people suffering from addiction seem high. It’s much more difficult to change a person’s behavior than it is to heal the physical dependence that develops. If you’re addicted to heroin, you may have used the drug every time you were lonely, anxious, bored or sad. In recovery, each one of these triggers makes your mind tell you to use drugs by way of intense cravings.

How Vivitrol Helps in Early Recovery

This medication has been able to help thousands of people overcome an opiate addiction by giving them a buffer. Vivitrol is a medication that a doctor injects, and it helps to reduce the cravings for about 30 days. In most cases, this medication is taken for about six months, which gives the mind enough time to heal. Not only does the medication help with opiates, but it can help with other substances as well, which include:
  • Heroin
  • OxyContin
  • Alcohol
  • Morphine
  • Fentanyl
The reason the mind craves opiates is that when it experiences a trigger, it has vacant opioid receptors. This medication acts by occupying the opioid receptors in the brain, so it no longer craves substances. This is a completely non-narcotic, non-addictive medication that counteracts the effects of opiates. The secondary function of the medication is to give you solace in knowing that even if you relapse, you can’t get high.

Healing the Brain

Early recovery can be challenging for many people because it’s difficult to believe the intense cravings will ever leave. Using this medication helps calm the mind so you can get the most out of treatment as well as aftercare program. Without intense cravings, it’s much easier to keep an open mind in therapy and group sessions, as well as 12-step programs. Many of the people who relapse were unable to deal with the cravings before the program takes effect.
Allow Silver Pines Treatment Center to help you with your alcohol addiction through intensive therapy and modern medicine. As your brain begins to heal while you’re not experiencing cravings, you’ll begin to regain hope. As part of your discharge plan, we’ll ensure that you’re able to see doctors who can continue to help you. With our help, you can live the life that you deserve, so call us today at 267.209.7313.

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