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The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) establishes five characteristics of addiction. It is important to understand how Las Vegas Recovery Center will address each of these characteristics.

Addiction is characterized by:

1. Inability to consistently abstain. Las Vegas Recovery Center believes in and requires abstinence from all reward-inducing drugs. The program includes medically managed withdrawal, which enables the client to discontinue all these drugs in a safe manner. After , our treatment programs help clients learn how to maintain a life of abstinence and recovery.
2. Impairment in behavioral control. Upon entering treatment, a thorough review of a client's behaviors is conducted to provide insight into their repeated episodes of loss of control, which is the hallmark of addiction. Clients learn skills to modify their dysfunctional behaviors in order to provide alternatives to identified behaviors that have caused problems in the past.
3. Craving or increased "hunger" for drugs or rewarding experiences. LVRC understands and helps clients grasp the difficulties they are likely to face after becoming abstinent. In the absence of the drug, it will seem like a good idea to obtain and use the drug. Relapse prevention entails anticipating situations that might stimulate cravings and creating a solid plan of action for behaviors if and when craving occurs. Craving can be extremely strong, and our team has to establish practices to help clients move beyond these difficult times.
4. Diminished recognition of significant problems with one's behaviors and interpersonal relationships. With the involvement of knowledgeable family and friends, the truth about a client's addiction is evaluated and presented to the client. Counseling and treatment involves acknowledgement of the severity and extent of the dysfunction and reconciling these behaviors with a new approach to life in recovery.
5. A dysfunctional emotional response. Emotional upheavals are commonly a part of early recovery.Through the treatment process, clients are able to experience their emotions, sometimes for the first time in decades. The treatment process involves learning healthy methods of coping with these emotions through counseling, meditation, and finding balance in all areas of life including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.