Rehabilitation is necessary for the recovery of people with substance abuse, not only for well-known substances such as alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, crack, methamphetamines, fentanyl, heroin, or tobacco, but also for less acknowledged behaviors like gambling, shopping, pornography, sexual activity, all of them in a compulsive manner. These latter, also called behavioral addictions, are rapidly gaining presence in the national epidemiological landscape, and there is less help available for them since traditionally, rehabilitation clinics in Mexico have focused more on chemical addictions than on compulsive behaviors.
The Evolution of Addiction Rehab in Mexico
Addiction rehab centers in Mexico have slowly evolved since the early 1940s with the arrival of Alcoholics Anonymous to Mexico. They set an adjoining pavilion to function as a rehab facility, more dedicated to detoxification but with the Alcoholics Anonymous program, they could offer a methodology to sustain abstinence, based on admitting the condition of alcoholism and committing to living one day at a time without consuming, supported by a community committed to following a program based on steps and traditions, which strengthens their skills to overcome everyday problems that generally, when they didn’t know how to solve them, led them to consume alcohol or other drugs.
These support group generated an increasingly large network throughout the country, where some of these groups established a recovery center called adjoining room, because it was located next to the AA or NA group and was attended by volunteers, that is, volunteers who, having recovered through the Alcoholics Anonymous program, support the operation of these clinics, but mainly in “sponsoring” the recovery of others. This sponsorship involves supporting the rehabilitation of another through one’s own recovery experience, a sort of counseling.
Gradually, these self-help clinics have involved other professional resources such as doctors, psychologists, social workers, and Fitness coach, evolving the treatment increasingly towards a program with better recovery rates.
Parallelly, some clinics also emerged with treatments primarily based on medical interventions, and they also added more mental health-related staff: psychologists, psychiatrists, addiction counselors, structuring a program based on other internationally proven programs that began to be implemented in Mexico.
Currently, there are various levels of care and specializations such as outpatient treatment, day residential program , intensive residential program, long-term residential, halfway house, Sober living community, Dual diagnosis program, which has allowed for different levels of care, that best fits the diagnosis.
To achieve this recovery, one must go through a sometimes-long process, and this is where rehabilitation centers come into play. These centers aim to guide the person with a chemical addiction through a treatment generally lasting a maximum of 6 months. However, it is essential to understand the users’ reality to provide personalized treatment with constant monitoring from admission, discharge, and follow-up, avoiding relapse, seeking to reintegrate the user into a healthy environment, prioritizing their work to sustain sobriety, with simplicity and comfort.
Therefore, it is convenient that rehabilitation centers offer a safe environment where individuals are removed from the triggers and temptations that contributed to their addiction, as well as professional support to help restructure their habits and, ultimately, their lives. It is also important that the user receives real information about their health status and guidance to improve their overall well-being to strengthen their intrapersonal and interpersonal skills and strengths, and to engage them in social awareness activities as a strategy to prevent relapse and simultaneously, reintegrate.
Offering individual, group, and/or family counseling, where the physical, emotional, and psychological consequences of addiction are confronted and acknowledged. In these treatments, it is important to mention that the family plays a vital role in the person’s recovery follow-up.
Challenges and Opportunities in Mexico’s Addiction Treatment Landscape
In Mexico, addictions have posed a challenge to public health, and although during 2016, the Addiction Epidemiological Surveillance System (SISVEA) reported 60,582 new admissions to treatment across the 32 states of the republic, who attended one of the 1,125 Treatment Centers located in the country, these institutions are still overwhelmed and, at times, undervalued.
Overwhelmed because they are insufficient and undervalued because there is no confidence or security in the results they can achieve, since access to a rehab in Mexico is limited. On the other hand, private centers can offer better services, but not everyone has the resources to access them, and many of the centers do not have professionally trained staff to support people with addiction. Generally, the staff are people who have gone through these processes and have managed to adequately restore their lives, but there is no qualified supervision.
This is why the public health system in Mexico has the enormous challenge not only to regulate treatment centers but to encourage and help them comply with current regulations, facilitate the material and technical resources to address addiction in their facilities, as well as create a relapse prevention and social reintegration system.
Oceánica: A Model for Excellence in Addiction Treatment
For 31 years, Oceánica has been a pioneer in the field of addiction rehab in Mexico, a milestone in constant innovation and the application of the best clinically proven methodologies.
It addresses not only addictions but other pathologies such as anxiety, depression, grief, dysthymia, eating disorders, gambling addiction, codependency, and other behavioral disorders. Its line of care is professional and offers both residential and outpatient services, as well as online.
Oceánica is a clear example of the evolution of rehabilitation centers in Mexico towards centers of excellence with evidence-based medicine .
When choosing a rehabilitation clinic, it is important to attend those recognized by CONASAMA or CONADIC, which are the authorities that evaluate and certify the proper functioning of clinics in Mexico.
REFERENCES
Comisión Nacional Contra las Adicciones (CONADIC) https://www.gob.mx/salud%7Cconadic/
www.CONASAMA.gob.mx
Romero Reyes D, Ybarra Sagarduy JL, Orozco Ramírez LA. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of users of an addiction rehabilitation center. RIAD [Internet]. July 3, 2019 [accessed June 12, 2024]; 5(1):23-30. Available at: https://riiad.org/index.php/riiad/article/view/riiad.2019.1.04
View of Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of users of an addiction rehabilitation center. (n.d.-b). https://riiad.org/index.php/riiad/article/view/riiad.2019.1.04/258
Odgers Ortiz, O., & Galaviz Granados, G. (2016). Between waiting and hope: building hope in inmates of rehabilitation centers. Nuevo mundo mundos nuevos. https://doi.org/10.4000/nuevomundo.68925
