Mandatory treatment is court-ordered rehab forced treatment given to the person either he agrees to it or not under the court-ordered rehab. There could be multiple reasons behind it. One of them is a person who is alcoholic and drug-addicted, because of which he is threatened not for himself but also for society.
There are many side effects of alcohol and drug consumption. The person’s health compromises a lot; he suffers from liver diseases, depression, mental health conditions, and anxiety. It also affects the personal life; alcohol consumer’s families are upset with them. Most of them can tolerate them for some time but run; they want to get rid of them in the long run them. These people cannot concentrate on daily routine tasks and encounter a lot of difficulty in the workplace.
Once they get noticed and proved that they are regular alcohol and drug consumers, they may get fired from the job because their work efficiency is compromised, and no one could tolerate this in the office environment. Thus, these people need court-ordered rehab.
Alcohol and drug usage makes the person dependent on it. If he wants to avoid it, he can’t do it. Addiction is a severe and prolonged mental disease. It causes a change in the brain’s chemicals by altering the hormonal release pattern that gives a person relief and stops the person’s ability to focus on problems as long as its influence on the brain is retained.
When someone gets addicted to alcohol and drug consumption, they find its usage easy to escape from worldly reality and spend most of their time in consumption. After consuming and spending a short period in a carefree state of time, its hangover causes many problems for them, and they end up ingesting different medications for it. They then need court-ordered rehab to get rid of consumption.
Problems in substance abusers get increase day by day. They are dealing with health and emotional issues and get isolated from the rest of the world day by day. People consider their company to have an evil influence on them. Despite all these consequences, they are not motivated from inside to stop consuming it. Their addiction does not allow them to take a step for their betterment like court-ordered rehab. That’s why to initiate their treatment, external pressure and the help of court ordered rehab are vital for them. This external pressure sometimes is in the form of legal orders given by the court i.e., court-ordered rehab.
Whatever could be the reason for them to start treatment, researchers have shreds of evidence that rehabilitation programs like court-ordered rehab have a positive impact on substance abusers for their recovery.
NIDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collaborated on a survey of a sample of males that found that after 5 years, all of those who completed care willingly and those that were forced to do so had equal treatment outcomes.
Success ratios from court-ordered rehab treatment are evaluated based on temperance level, the person’s involvement back into daily routine life, and involvement in the workplace environment. Those people who are forced initially to seek treatment have no personal motivation for change and for life that’s free from alcohol and drug dependency due to lack of court-ordered rehab. Hence they are treated by court-ordered rehab accordingly so that they develop motivation for their betterment.
What Is the Right Time for Mandatory Treatment?
Alcohol and drug usage makes the person more inclined to immoral and rational behaviour. He gets involved in crimes and illegal activities. There is a high proportion of crimes due to drugs and alcohol addiction. People do not also attempt it under its influence on the brain. Still, when they don’t have the resources to buy alcohol and drugs, they get themselves into robbery and other crimes to get money to buy and fulfil their addiction. They lost their sense of differentiation between right and wrong. The only thing matters to them are substance abuse, and they can go to any extent even can murder anyone for it.
In 2004, the Bureau of Justice Statistics produced a report for the US Department of Justice. According to this survey, up to 32 per cent of captives of state and 26 per cent of federal jailbird are reported that they commit crimes under the influence of drugs for which they are kept in the lock-up.
Department of Justice (DOJ) survey also draws attention to the issue that one in four violent prisoners in incarcerates were under the control of drugs and alcohol when they committed the crime.
When crimes are conducted mainly because of substance abuse, court-ordered rehab is given by the court to start immediate rehabilitation treatment of criminals. For example, if a person is arrested because of accident and blood tests indicate a higher proportion of drugs, or youngsters under age involved in an accident and different tests indicated that they were driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The court announces legal orders to initiate their alcohol therapy plans by court-ordered rehab centres. There is a distinctive forum for justice for substance abusers involved in different criminalities.
According to the report of NIAAA, some of the main causes individuals get themselves into alcohol therapy plans of court-ordered rehab is because they are directed by the court mandate to do so.
We can say that they are not left with any other option instead of following the instructions of the court. Almost 36 per cent of people involved in an alcohol treatment program in 2002 were compelled to do so by the criminal justice system. Becoming a part of alcohol treatment programs is parole from probation of criminal imprisonment.
We all know that mandatory drug testing is a part of the growing medical discipline of substance abuse. More people have been put in the spotlight in recent years because they either used drugs or engaged in behaviour that indicated they might be a drug user or abuser. Sometimes the most popular method of treatment is testing done by court-ordered rehab. People who are caught in the system of such tests face the possibility of losing their jobs or being expelled from school. Mandatory treatment can also result in hefty fines, and in some states, it can even mean a jail sentence. With all this in mind, it’s no wonder that so many questions arise about the validity of requiring drug testings in this type of situation.
Most medical professionals agree that while a person with a drug addiction can be treated, it’s not necessarily true that a person without a drug addiction can receive treatment. To illustrate this point, let’s think about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While people who don’t contract AIDS can still undergo treatment, those with AIDS often require a life-long medication regimen and HIV isolation.
Mandatory treatment by court-ordered rehab isn’t adequate for everyone, and for this reason, many people prefer other forms of treatment, including medication or therapy. Another problem with compulsory treatment is that it usually targets a specific population – addicted persons. For example, if an individual doesn’t test positive for marijuana but tests positive for prescription pills, that person’s admission into a drug treatment facility will be considered relatively routine. However, it’s essential to recognize that an individual’s drug addiction or drug use doesn’t mean that he or she is untreatable.
One of the fundamental weaknesses of drug addiction is that it assumes a singular factor that causes drug addiction. While some genetic and physiological elements may play a role, there are also psychological and social factors. So, it would seem to make sense that focusing on one aspect of drug dependency would not necessarily lead to success. However, drug treatment centres such as court-ordered rehab primarily focus on one facet of drug dependency – coping with the physical part.
Most addicts suffer from physical dependence because they are physically dependent upon the drugs that cause them to be hanging in the first place. This means that they cannot function without the drugs, and so they need them. However, it’s essential to recognize that both psychological and social factors contribute to the dependency itself. And drug treatment focuses on only one aspect of the addiction. It ignores or, at best, tries to diminish all aspects of the illness, which does little to alleviate the problem.
Drug Court
As per the brief of the office of National Drug Control Policy, 47 per cent of counties and many states in the USA are getting assistance from Drug Courts. Drug courts, instead of directing towards formal legal proceedings, make the nonviolent substance abusers access alcohol therapy plans.
According to The Evaluations of NIDA; Drug and Alcohol Consumption and Its Addiction Cost the Whole Society as Much as 524 B USD a Year In:
- Incarceration
- Involvement in criminal offences
- Health care
- Loss of productivity, e.g. no more working in offices or for society’s betterment
- Drug enforcement
Drug courts trying to find alternatives to decrease these costs by taxpayers and to adopt a way other them imprisoning them into jails.
According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), 75 per cent of the people graduating from adult criminal drug courts will no longer involve themselves in criminal activities in their lifetimes.
So we can assume that mandatory drug treatment programs have the potential to attain long-term recovery of drug abusers. Throughout the drug treatment program, until the person is fully recovered, the participants of drug courts are monitored with great care.
To Avoid Additional Legal Complications, Drug Court Entails:
- Whole year participation in treatment programs for attainment and maintenance of temperance and sobriety
- Testing of blood samples from the person for drugs produces negative results consistently
- A person is held accountable for his or her obligations before the court and society based on the judiciary mandate
- For the assessment and review of progress in the rehabilitation treatment program, the person is compelled to appear in front of a court judge
The participants of drug court are rewarded if they follow the above duties and are supposed to a penalty if they won’t. One should not be a violent criminal for being a part of the treatment program. Family and juvenile courts exist, but most of the courts are for adults, and their eligibility criteria vary from particular state and county courts. People entered into treatment after being involved into criminal act are supposed to return payments to innocent people.
Treatment Methods
Regardless of their mode of entry into the treatment program, either on their own or mandatory, treatment of alcohol and drug consumers involves the stabilization of a person’s mental state initially. Follows by giving them tools that help them to restore healthier wellbeing and makes them successful, positive contributors to society.
Evidence-based Treatment Models involve a combination of scientific knowledge and clinical proficiency. One’s involved in the treatment of personal motivation and preference to get rid of substance abuse and addiction.
They inculcate the ability and skills in persons to deal with everyday life challenges with positive energy and enthusiasm instead of finding a way to escape. The opposing perspectives of a person towards his image are identified and replaced with his good qualities and make him realized.
According to the United States DOJ and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 74 per cent of substance abusers have mental problems like anxiety, depression, mood swings and are dealing with other psychological problems.
Hence they are treated with dual diagnostic treatment models that involve the collaboration of medical work professionals to monitor and effectively treat a person suffering from more than one disorder at a time. Thus in such persons, these dual treatments are proved successful, and the person not only gets recovered from substance abuse addiction but also mental disorders.
During the course of treatment, a variety of medicines are prescribed according to the person’s mental state. It may include medicines for stabilizing the mood swings, antidepressants, and for removal of toxic drugs, etc., from the body.
Different sessions in groups, with a person’s family and also individuals, are given to a person to build a caring atmosphere that helps in long-term recovery. We provide a wide range of services for substance abuse and to treat mental illnesses. At FRN, our treatment centres have a highly qualified and skilled specialist on hand to encourage effective rehabilitation treatment. Call us anytime for more information related to court-ordered rehab.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.