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| Clinic Uses Alternative Therapies to Help Addicted Patients |
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Chiropractic, acupuncture, and amino-acid therapy are among the alternative methods a clinic in Boulder, Colo., is using to treat people with addictions, the Boulder Daily Camera reported July 16.
The new Serenity Center is using the therapies to help patients overcome drug cravings and avoid relapse. The founders of the center say the alternative therapies treat what they term "Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS)," a genetic predisposition to addiction.
The term RDS was created in 1995 by addiction researcher Kenneth Blum, who believes that addiction is, in part, biochemical. According to Blum, one in three Americans is born with an inadequate supply of certain neurotransmitters or receptors. As a result, these people are unable to get sufficient satisfaction and turn to external rewards, such as drugs, alcohol, sugar, tobacco, excessive sex, gambling, binge eating, or thrill-seeking behaviors to fulfill their needs.
"The more you do to manipulate the physiology of the brain and the body, the better off you will be," said Blum, co-founder of the American College of Addictionology and Compulsive Disorders.
The Serenity Center, for instance, combines chiropractic, needle-less ear acupuncture, and amino-acid therapy with traditional counseling.
"The problem with addiction treatment today is that they are not addressing the nutritional and neurological components," said Keneen McNiven, a chiropractor and co-founder of the Serenity Center. "Talk therapy is important, but if you don't address the physiology too, it will undermine the whole program."
The alternative therapy program has attracted a host of skeptics. "There are plenty of people out there who don't have a clue about acupuncture or amino acids and probably don't even eat that well, and they are still in a good mode of recovery, are stable, and have a fruitful life," said Jack Colmore, director of the Harmony Foundation, a treatment center in Estes Park, Colo.
Colmore worries that with the alternative methods, people with addictions might put too much faith in a "quick fix" and refuse to "do the work."
"I agree that there is a big neurological basis for addiction, but anyone that thinks they can get some acupuncture done and take some amino acids and not have an addiction problem anymore are chasing a puff of smoke," Colmore said. "Addiction is an illness of lifestyle. It takes a lifestyle change to treat it."
Visit www.jointogether.org for complete news and funding coverage, resources and advocacy tools to advance effective drug and alcohol policy, prevention and treatment.
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This article is online at http://www.jointogether.org/y/0,2521,544780,00.html |
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