Addiction Treatment Leads to Long-Term Sobriety

Inpatient Drug Rehab and the Steps to Successful Recovery

Achieving long-term sobriety through addiction treatment is not an easy process. In most cases, the longer someone who wants to recover is in some sort of an addiction treatment program, away from the old environment and away from things that triggered their addiction, the better chance they have at achieving long-term sobriety.

Addiction treatment can consist of one or more different steps. The best combination of addiction treatment steps would include the completion of multiple programs. These steps include:

• Drug and Alcohol Detox
• Inpatient Drug Rehab
• Halfway House Living
• Intensive Outpatient Program

The following will explain these four steps of addiction treatment in a little more detail. Knowing about the addiction treatment programs that are available can help in making a decision for what is the best kind of addiction treatment for the recovering person

The first step in seeking addiction treatment should be a drug and alcohol detox program. The drug and alcohol detox program is supervised by medical professionals who can give patients medicine to control the withdrawal symptoms and make the detox process more comfortable for the patient.

After the patient has completed a drug and alcohol detox and is free of the toxins from the addiction, there are a couple choices for the next step in addiction treatment. The patient could move into an inpatient drug rehab program. The inpatient drug rehab program provides patients with individual therapy as well as group therapy and 12-Step meetings all while living in the addiction treatment center. The individual therapy and counseling provided by an inpatient drug rehab can help the recovering person to dive more deeply into what caused their addiction and have the ability to talk about more specific issues. The individualized care combined with that sober environment makes for best long-term recovery.

Another option for continued addiction treatment is to move to a Halfway House Transitional Living Facility. Halfway Houses offer a little more freedom and opportunity to learn more real-world skills than an inpatient drug rehab program would. The benefit of a Halfway House is that it is highly structured sober living environment with rules and peer support. This provides a better stepping stone from inpatient addiction treatment to becoming fully immersed in the real world. Halfway Houses generally require residents to have full-time employment and to attend 12-Steps meetings frequently. Many Halfway Houses also operate with intensive outpatient programs as well.

Intensive outpatient programs are another option for continuing addiction treatment following a successful detox. Intensive outpatient programs are not as individualized as inpatient drug rehab programs but intensive outpatient programs can provide more flexibility and confidentiality. Some people choose to detox and then go straight into an intensive outpatient program or some just go from addiction straight to an intensive outpatient program. For some, these methods can be successful but others quit the program early and go back to the addiction because they are still living in their old environment with the triggers of their addiction.

Addiction Treatment and Halfway Houses

Seeking addiction treatment before entering a Halfway House is very important to the recovering person’s success with recovery. A Halfway House can not provide the specialized individual care that other programs can offer; so many people who want to recover will need addiction treatment before entering a Halfway House.

The minimum amount of addiction treatment recommended before entering a Halfway House is a drug and alcohol detox. This is highly recommended and sometimes required by many Halfway Houses because to begin the therapy that many Halfway Houses provide access to, all of the toxins from the addiction need to be out of the recovering person’s body.

An inpatient drug rehab following a drug and alcohol detox before entering a Halfway House, in most cases, is not required but it can contribute to a better chance of achieving long-term recovery. After the drug and alcohol detox, an inpatient drug rehab can introduce recovering persons to the therapy programs and can give people an opportunity for more individualized therapy and care. This can boost their level of success in a Halfway House because they already have a relationship with a therapist and have already begun to dig into the heart of their addiction through therapy.

Addition treatment through a Halfway House can be successful with the right addiction treatment before entering the Halfway House.

Relapse does not have to be a Part of Addiction Treatment

During the initial addiction treatment phase, whether it is an inpatient drug rehab program, an intensive outpatient program or through a Halfway House, recovering persons learn about the mental, emotional and environmental factors that triggered their addiction and how to avoid them. By learning how to avoid addiction triggers through therapy at an addiction treatment program, recovering persons can learn how to avoid relapse when they get to the real world and may be surrounded by those triggers again.

There are signs that someone might be on the road to a relapse. Recovering persons with those signs are in relapse mode. The signs of relapse mode include the following:

• Depression
• Problems Blow Up
• Avoiding and Defensive Behavior
• Denial
• Post Acute Withdrawal
• Lose Control with Compulsive or Impulsive Behaviors
• Feeling of Immobilization
• Urges and Cravings
• Chemical Loss of Control
• Loss of Communication

Any one or more in combination of these steps can mean that the recovering person is headed towards a relapse if they have not relapsed already. Knowing how to recognize those signs in those in recovery is important to being able to help them get the addiction treatment help they need.

The most important thing to do for recovering persons who have relapsed is to get them into an addiction treatment program for drug and alcohol detox as soon as possible. Based on the degree to which the recovering person has relapsed can determine what level of addiction treatment they need to enter into whether it is going back to a Halfway House or starting addiction treatment from the beginning with a drug and alcohol detox and inpatient drug rehab.

If you or someone you know needs help from an addiction treatment program, Palm Partners Recovery Center can help.  Call 1-877-711-HOPE(4673).

www.palmpartners.com