Detoxification of the body is a vital step in treating patients who have become addicts to substances. Detoxification helps to remove all traces of the substance from the body. Detoxification medications are given to patients to block the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that occur when giving the addiction up.
Addiction is an overwhelming dependence on a substance. The substance takes over the mind and body of a patient. This is why withdrawal has to be medically supervised. Depending on the degree of dependence detoxification is done while the patient is a resident of a rehabilitation center or as an outpatient. There are different medications used for different types of substances and for different stages of addiction. Typically anti nausea, anti depressant and anti anxiety medication. are given to prevent the intense suffering caused by addiction withdrawal. As a last resort rapid detoxification is performed by intravenously administering medication for 8 hours.
