What Medication-Assisted Treatment Involves
MAT stands for medication-assisted treatment. It combines an FDA-approved medication with counseling and behavioral therapy. One works on the body. The other helps change the behaviors and stressors that led you here seeking relief. Because medication doesn’t change your day-to-day patterns, they run concurrently. One doctor prescribes and tweaks your medication. Your counselor walks with you throughout the rest of the week.
MAT is available for opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder. You can start medication during withdrawal here in our on-site, medically supervised detox or after withdrawal concludes. Someone who completes detox from years of heavy drinking will have different needs than someone detoxing from fentanyl. After your evaluation, your prescribing doctor will determine when to start medication. The substance you use, your overall health history, and your recovery goals all factor into that decision.
Medications Used in MAT and What Each One Does
Our MAT program in Hanover, MA matches each medication to the substance involved. Your prescriber chooses one based on the substance involved, how long you have used it, and which medications you’ve tried before. You’ll hear the benefits and side effects of each option before anything gets prescribed. The decision stays yours.
Opioid Use Disorder
Three drugs can be used to treat opioid use disorder. Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. It satisfies cravings and withdrawal symptoms without producing the same high as heroin or fentanyl. Methadone is an opioid agonist. It stimulates the opioid receptors more fully than buprenorphine does, and it is only available from opioid treatment programs. Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist. As you may have guessed, it blocks opioid receptors. Since opioids won’t have any effect when on naltrexone, a person must first be opioid-free to begin this medication.
Alcohol Use Disorder
According to NIAAA’s guide to alcohol use disorder, three medications hold FDA approval for alcohol use disorder, and all three are nonaddictive. Naltrexone blunts the reward drinking produces. Acamprosate eases the unease and poor sleep that linger after you stop. Disulfiram brings on flushing and nausea if you drink anyway.
Does MAT Just Replace One Drug With Another?
Almost everyone asks this question early. It makes sense, since some of the medications act on the same receptors as the substances. Prescribed medication also comes with oversight. A prescriber monitors how it affects you throughout your care.
A Massachusetts state resource on medication for opioid use disorder answers by saying the treatment bridges the biological and behavioral sides of addiction. It also lists NIDA, SAMHSA, NIAAA, and the CDC among the groups that call medication first-line treatment for opioid use disorder. Group and individual counseling continue while you take medication. Counseling takes on the habits medication can’t reach.
Who Is a Good Candidate for MAT in Massachusetts?
Medication-assisted treatment in Massachusetts fits adults with opioid use disorder or alcohol use disorder who want medication as part of their care. You might be a candidate if cravings keep pulling you back, withdrawal ended your last attempt, or counseling alone didn’t hold. Patients come to Hanover from Worcester, Springfield, Norwell, and Walpole. Our opioid addiction treatment starts with the same assessment, whether or not medication ends up in your plan.
Some conditions change the options. Liver problems, pregnancy, other prescriptions, and recent opioid use all affect which medication is safe. Withdrawal risk matters too, since heavy daily drinking calls for medically supervised detox before anything else. We review each factor before making a recommendation.
How Does the MAT Evaluation and Prescribing Process Work?
Medication starts with a psychiatric evaluation. A provider reviews your medical history, current symptoms, the substances involved, and any medications you’ve tried before. You review past attempts, including which ones helped, and the goals you have for care. The recommendation can be medication, no medication, or a decision to revisit the question later, and some people never need a prescription.
Our medication management team writes the prescription and stays involved afterward. Physicians, psychiatrists, and addiction specialists work alongside your therapist, so decisions about medication and therapy rest on the same information. Bring a list of everything you take now, including over-the-counter products and supplements. Some of those interact with MAT medications, so the list matters. The prescriber checks the list against anything under consideration before the first prescription.
Starting MAT, Monitoring Progress, and How Long It Lasts
The first weeks of medication-assisted treatment in Hanover, MA involve the most adjusting. The prescriber sets a starting dose and checks in frequently. Too low a dose lets cravings return, and too high a dose leaves you foggy or drowsy. Nausea and trouble sleeping are other side effects to report early. Each check-in covers cravings, mood, sleep, and anything new in your health.
The same resource names at least one to two years on opioid use disorder medication as the period with the greatest rates of long-term success. Some people stay on medication for many years. Stopping is your decision, made with your provider, and the dose comes down in steps. Medication in our alcohol addiction treatment follows its own timeline, set by how you respond and your own goals.
How MAT Works With Counseling, Psychiatry, and Day Treatment
Medication handles cravings and withdrawal. It can’t settle an argument at home or fill the evenings you used to spend using. Those get worked on in sessions, in groups, and with your psychiatric provider. Four parts of care sit closest to the medication.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): Helps you catch the thought that shows up right before a craving and test whether it holds.
- Group therapy: Peers and a facilitator work through current stress together, and some facilitators have lived experience with addiction.
- Psychiatric care: A psychiatric provider follows your mood, sleep, and anxiety, all of which can shift in early sobriety.
- Family sessions: Loved ones can join family therapy sessions, with your consent.
Day treatment, our partial hospitalization program (PHP), puts you on site each weekday. Side effects and missed doses surface within a day or two, so your team adjusts quickly. Half-day treatment, our intensive outpatient program (IOP), keeps medication management going on a lighter schedule that leaves room for work or school. Your goals and plan carry over when you step down. Our MAT program in Hanover, MA follows you through both levels.
What Happens After You Call
An admissions specialist takes your call and asks what you or someone you love has been going through. You can ask about insurance, scheduling, and program availability in the same conversation. Same-day admission may be available, and many people begin within 24 to 48 hours of the first call. Our admissions team walks you through each step as it comes.
A licensed clinician then completes an in-depth assessment of your mental health background, substance use, and medical factors. Bring your insurance card and a photo ID to speed up the paperwork. On your first day at 20 East St in Hanover, you complete intake forms and meet your team. Everything you share shapes the plan your team builds.