Questions to Ask your Doctor About Substance Abuse Treatment

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there are many types of treatment available for substance abuse. Although knowing the treatment types is important, knowing what to ask your doctor about the treatment is also necessary. You need to find the treatment type that suits you the best, and you can only learn this by asking the right questions.

What Types of Treatment are Offered?

The types of treatment offered is extremely important. Although your doctor might recommend one course, it is essential that there are other options if one is not working for you. Not all treatments are suited to all patients.

Will my Insurance Cover Treatment?

Be sure to ask your doctor what treatment options your insurance covers, if any.

Some insurance companies cover substance abuse treatment. If your insurance only covers certain types of treatments, it is good to know which ones it covers and the availability of that type of treatment.

How do you Measure Progress?

You will want to know what treatment progress means. This way you can tell if your treatment is working.

Can you Administer the Medication for the Treatment you Prescribed?

Some substance abuse medications are regulated by the DEA. Some doctors can prescribe them while others are not certified to do so. Most doctors who specialize in addiction treatment have the proper certifications but general practitioners usually do not have those certifications.

What Kind of Results do you Usually Get?

Knowing a doctor or treatment center’s success and failure record will help you decide if they are the right one for you. Not every doctor or treatment center works for every patient and many times it takes a few tries before you find the right one.

Do you also Treat Secondary Illnesses such as Mental Illness and Chronic Pain?

Secondary illnesses or comorbid disorders are very common with substance abuse patients. This means that both the disorder and the substance abuse should be treated.

Can my Friends and Family Help with Treatment?

Family support and a support network is extremely important during treatment. It is a good sign when a doctor offers family counseling or involves your family and close friends in your treatment.

Things Substance Abuse Treatment Centers Won’t Tell You

Can you Adapt the Program to Me?

Whether the program is adaptive or not is a very important question to ask. If the program is adaptive, it will change as you change or can be changed to suit your needs. Not everyone is the same and being able to change a treatment program to suit an individual is very important when it comes to treatment success.

Where Can I Find a Treatment Center?

There are hundreds of treatment centers to choose from. It can be extremely confusing trying to pick one out of all of them. Although your doctor may be able to recommend a center or might even work with a center it is always good to get a second opinion. For more information on the different treatment types or if you need to know what to say to your doctor, call us at 1-800-895-1695.