27 July 2011
By, Neha Madaan
Pune, India
As It Turns 25, Muktangan Deaddiction Centre In Vishrantwadi Is Bigger, Better Equipped
“I stole money to buy drugs. I wanted to stop, but my addiction was stronger than my will,” Chandekar, senior ward in-charge of the Muktangan Rehabilitation Centrein Pune, said.
He was in and out of Muktangan several times, but his addiction always got the better of him. “Whenever I left Muktangan, I would experiment with drugs. Then, project director of the centre Mukta Puntambekar asked metostay.Ihavebeen off drugs for seven years now. Muktangan helped discover a different me,” said Chandekar. The man who was jobless once now freelances for 35 Marathi dailies apart from playing an addictin as many as1,500street plays.
The centre was born as 'Anand ward' in a single room of the staterun Yerawada Mental Hospital in Pune on August 26, 1986. Doctors Anita and Anil Awachat set it up when their friend's son became addicted to brown sugar. Three years later, it became independent as Muktangan, a name suggested by renowned humorist Pu La Deshpande who made an initial donation.
As work and reputation grew, it became the first deaddiction centre in the country to get an ISO 9001-2000 certification. The union ministry of social welfare recognises Muktangan as a centre of excellence. The centre is now managed by the Awachats' daughter, Mukta. July 26 is anti-narcotics day and 2011 is Muktangan's silver jubilee year
For the last 25 years, the centre has been treating addictions ranging from alcoholism, substance abuse, gambling and even internet addiction. Almost 80% of those who come here are alcoholics. The rest are people who are addicts of brown sugar, medicine addicts who down cough syrups, painkillers and antidepressants.
Muktangan claims to have treated 19,000 addicts, with a relapse rate of 20-25 % after the first admission. “Those with a relapse often come back for admission. This is a sign of recovery,” Puntambekar said.
The centre has a five-week residential treatment programme and detoxification beginsin thefirstweek. “People undergo psychological and physiological adversities in the initial stage of deaddiction,” said Puntambekar.
Physicians and medical staff at the centre help alleviating much of the pain, but it is those who know what it is to fight addiction who provide moral support to the inmates. Almost 70% of Muktangan's counsellors are those who have overcome their addiction.
Fridays come packed with plenty of activity, said Puntambekar. This is the day the centre admits patients. “They come here in the worst possible condition-inebriated, incoherent and often defensive. Most are intoxicated. Withdrawal symptoms like hallucinations, diarrhoea, urinary incontinence and convulsions follow the next day. It is from Monday that most patients come into their own, after the withdrawals have subsided," she said.
A counsellor for every patient, and discussions on what caused the patient to slip into addictions, family and personal issues are taken up in the second week. “The third week focuses on alleviating the patient's emotional problems as they can never manage anger, grief and anxiety. For most, giving in to addiction is the only way to overcome these emotions," she said.
The fourth and fifth weeks are spent preparing them for the time that would follow their discharge from the facility— dealing with family members, curbing craving, substituting it with a healthy alternative and finding work.
Input sessions by experts, group therapy including rational emotive therapy and rational emotive behaviour therapy, recreational games, physical training and gardening are part of the cleansing procedure. Providing positive substitutes for addiction such as music, yoga and art form the basis of the treatment structure.
Counsellors from Muktangan make regular visits to follow-up centres all over Maharashtra. While at thefollow-up centres,they makehome visits if required, attend to patients in need of individual counselling, determine if a patient needs to be admitted to the de-addiction centre and develop support groups consisting of ex-patients," said Puntambekar. The centre also treats gamblers and internet addicts. Nearly 150 gamblers till nowhavebeen treatedof the addiction. “We recently treated three college-going boys who were internet addicts. They would compulsively use the internet for 15-17 hours a day, accessing social networking and pornography websites,playing online games andindulging in online gambling,”shesaid.
The three were counselled about theinter-personal problemsthey faced with family members and those that arosefrom personality disorders.They were also talked into using the internet for half-an-hour per day, instead of banning it completely, she added.
WOMEN'S SPECIAL
Sahachari, a support group for the wives and/or mothers of the addicts, was initiated on March 10, 1997 to provide support.
"Wives cannot cure or control addiction, and most importantly they are not the cause of it. Once they accept this fact, they can prepare themselves to help the addict in his recovery. The women meet once a month and share their problems and issues. As many as 50-60 women turn up for this meeting every month," said Prafulla Mohite, the project co-ordinator Muktangan's female ward.
After Mohite's husband passed away due to alcoholism, she took shelter in Sahachari. "I knew the trials a woman goes through when she has an alcoholic husband. What most women seek is financial stability, especially since they are the only ones who can help sustain the family. These women are uneducated and have little means to earn a living. A financial rehabilitation project was therefore started in 2000 to support them," said Mohite.
The project offers catering and housekeeping jobs in the centre and supports 25 women. "They roll out 1,200 chapatis for Muktangan's inmates and prepare snacks, pickles and grounded spices, apart from providing tiffin and catering services," she added.
A few years ago, the centre began treating female addicts in an independent ward, managed by an allfemale staff with support group Sahachari. "Before we created this ward, we would treat women patients on an OPD basis. However, the number of women addicts has soared in the last two years. We started this facility for women in January 2009 and called it 'Nishigandh'," said Puntambekar.
As many as 240 women addicts have been treated at Nishigandh, of whom 85 % kicked the habit after the first admission, added Mohite.
Gita Nene (38) is currently recovering. She would alternate between two cough syrups bottles and 10 sleeping pills every day. "I was brought to Muktangan against my will, last year. But it helped me realise, that I had to give up," said Nene. She now works in a BPO, but comes back to the centre and stays there after work.
Drug recovery has never been a simple road, with many cases of relapse among individuals who have tried to stop. It’s good to know that with the right support, one can stay sober using support from other former addicts.
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