Frequently Asked Questions
Often we don’t have enough information to ask the right questions – particularly in the case of recovery/treatment centres. The key questions are these: What do you do? Who does it? And how you do it? Minimum expectations are a nice building staffed by good people. Demand more, you deserve it.
There will, no doubt, be other questions you might like to ask. Some of these are perhaps addressed below in the Q&A session with Don Lavender, Camino’s Programme Director. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, please do contact us in confidence on +44 207 558 8420 or +34 952 784 228.
Q: What do I look for in a treatment centre?
A: Professional addiction treatment centres have the following:
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Proper Clinical teams have education and years of experience working in the addiction treatment industry. Expect professional training. Expect a Masters degree in addictions. Your family member deserves professional care.
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A relevant licence to operate in their respective country.
Q: What exactly IS addiction?
A: Addiction is a progressive illness – and a very common one at that. In any culture and in any country today, an estimated one in ten people are suffering from an addiction. This might be to a substance (drugs or alcohol), to a behaviour (sex, gambling, shopping, relationships or self-harm) or to food (over-eating, anorexia or bulimia).
Latest research indicates that addictive behaviour is often rooted in trauma – the experience of a situation, event, or series of events of a terrifying and overwhelming nature. As a result, an individual may repeatedly turn to a substance or type of behaviour in an attempt to comfort themselves or cope.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. As addiction takes hold, a complete loss of self-worth, a breakdown in trust, and inevitable social isolation follow – as both the addict and his or her family are drawn into the vortex.
In this sense, addiction can also be seen as an illness that affects the whole family.
Q: Why are people reluctant to seek help, and what causes them to relapse?
A: Saying “no” to rehab is understandable, as seeking treatment still carries a certain stigma. And yet, it’s crucial to the process of recovery. There is a disproportionate level of shame and secrecy surrounding addiction. This not only inhibits an individual from seeking and receiving appropriate help, but also reinforces the unimaginable sense of shame that they already feel about themselves.
Group therapy, underpinned by a 12 Step programme, forms a big part of the treatment we deliver at the Camino Recovery Centre. It helps people choose a network of support to maintain abstinence from their drugs of choice. Without support, an individual has got an extremely high probability of relapse.
Q: What is the 12 Step Programme?
The 12 Step programme is a set of principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion or other behavioural problems. It is delivered in a group therapy setting. Statistically, this approach has proved to be the most effective for the largest number of people. Moreover, it helps to provide a network of support for people to maintain abstinence from their drugs of choice.
Q: I've heard that the 12 Steps are a religious set of beliefs? Is this true?
A: No. The 12 Steps help people to move on from the sense of emptiness and hopelessness that they have felt in their addiction and to find a new sense of happiness and meaning in their lives.
Twelve Step programmes do encourage you to consider and develop your own personal spiritual beliefs, but spirituality is different from religion: it is concerned with how you think and feel about yourself, people and the world around you. Because this meaning is individual to each person, the programme can work just as well for those who have no religious beliefs and those who follow a particular faith.
Q: What’s the value of family-based programmes as a successful component in rehabilitation?
A: Any addiction is a family illness. People want to believe that it affects just the "addict" alone, but it actually has an impact on the entire family system. The "designated patient" is generally the one acting out the family problem. The most successful treatment centres in the world have an excellent family component.
Q: Why would anyone go abroad for treatment?
A: The only reason that I would personally travel abroad for treatment is because of a very good product that offers better value for money than anything at home. Being physically away from what and where you know, in a completely new environment, can help to break old mental patterns and prepare individuals for a better future.
We also know that a warm, sunny climate can help people with depression and it can also make the detox from opiates less discomforting. In my experience, having trained in US clinics and worked in some of the high-end UK rehab centres, I feel I bring the best of both methodologies to Camino Recovery.
Q: What kinds of conditions commonly exist alongside addiction?
A: Almost always depression; almost always trauma; often obsessive compulsive behaviour; often personality disorders. Trauma and depression are right up there. Anxiety might go along with depression and/or bi-polar disorders.
Q: What is detox and how long does it take?
A: Detox is different for everyone – it depends on how severe your level of use has been, but normally it takes between 3 and 10 days.
Detoxing from alcohol is different than detoxing from opiates. When you detox from opiates, for example, your detox symptomology appears flu-like, and so you are in less discomfort if you are in a warm, sunny climate.