Heroin addiction treatment is similar to the recovery of most addictive drugs. Recovery from heroin addiction is a long process and requires help from trained professionals. People recover from heroin addiction every single day, but they rarely do it alone. The highest documented success rates for heroin addiction recovery are through long term drug rehabilitation treatment lasting at least 3 to 6 months. This gives structure and support to provide long term recovery from heroin addiction.

There are a wide range of programs for heroin addiction. For many, attending a rehab program is the best choice. Other forms of treatment include methadone, LAAM, and buprenorphine. These other forms of heroin addiction treatment have found some success. However, they are simply replacing the addict’s heroin addiction with another form of drug use. As silly as it sounds, this is a common approach for many rehabilitation programs. The point here is that a heroin rehab should be found that uses no replacement drug treatment of any kind. These programs are very scarce so it is important to ask whether the rehab program you are interested in makes use of these techniques.

Initially the heroin addict will go through a detoxification process as part of their heroin addiction treatment. This is only part of the initial steps of recovery; many individuals misinterpret this vital step as the "only" step and feel that they have accomplished their goal of heroin addiction recovery. After detoxification the recovering heroin addict must learn life's lessons and come to an understanding of why they began to use heroin.

There are many steps that follow and each heroin addiction treatment center will go through them at a different pace. The recovering addict needs to be willing to participate in the rehabilitation program and continually apply themselves daily. The appropriate duration for an individual in addiction treatment depends on his or her problems and needs. Research indicates that for most patients, the threshold of significant improvement is reached at about 3 months in treatment. After this threshold is reached, additional care can produce further progress toward recovery. There are no quick fixes for heroin addiction. The knowledge and life skills one learns during intensive heroin addiction treatment must be integrated into everyday life.