Ways of treating drug addiction: what really works and what only supports the process

18 September 2026

The most common mistake a family makes is to choose one procedure and wait for it to deliver a result. None of the methods below treats addiction on its own: they relieve the state and buy time for the main work.

Treatment for drug addiction works in stages, and the stages only work together. The reason is simple: carelessness at any one of them cancels out everything achieved before it. A person who has been brought through the physical state and sent home goes back to using not because “the treatment was poor”, but because the treatment ended there.

That is why psychological support has to run alongside any procedure — it builds the motivation without which every other method is only an expensive delay.

Psychological treatment

It is not only psychologists who work here, but the family too: relatives are prepared in advance and shown how to behave with the person, how to support them, and how not to feed the illness with their own hands.

Many people believe that detox alone can cure. But once the body is clean, the person is left with the same beliefs and the same reactions that brought them to using — and those are exactly what take them back. So alongside the medication there is work on thinking, and on bringing the person back into ordinary life.

For the duration of this work the person is kept apart — from the substance and from their usual surroundings. A motivational psychologist works with them, preparing them for the programme ahead. This works effectively in a residential setting, under supervision.

Therapeutic methods: what they actually do

Below are the methods used in the medical part of treatment. Look at them for what they are — supporting tools.

The medical part: the methods and the role each one plays

• Detox and blockers. A blocker makes sense only after detox has been completed, and only alongside psychological work. It insures against the consequences of a possible relapse, but it does not change thinking, so on its own it has never cured anyone.
• Xenon therapy — used to relieve acute withdrawal states: it helps restore sleep and reduces anxiety and panic attacks.
• Plasmapheresis — cleansing of the blood to remove toxins; a one-off procedure, prescribed by a doctor only.
• Electrosleep therapy — low-current pulses that bring the person into a state in which the body’s systems start working normally again.
• Intravenous laser irradiation of the blood — stimulates the immune system and normalises the metabolism.
• Physiotherapy: lymphatic drainage, massage, acupuncture — minimal strain and no side effects, support during the recovery stage.

Whichever method is chosen, the person will still have to be admitted to a residential centre. Not because it is more convenient for the centre, but because the key condition cannot be met at home: no access to the substance during the period when the person is not yet able to refuse it.