If you are looking for a drug addiction treatment for yourself and your loved one, your primary focus is likely finding the most successful drug and alcohol rehab that you can. It may be close to home or offer a schedule or price that suits your needs, but if it won’t be successful, it’s just a waste of time and money. Here are 5 essential characteristics of any successful drug addiction treatment:
1. Personalized treatment – It can’t be stressed enough: there is no one treatment that will work for everyone. If a facility is telling you that their way is the one and only way that works and offers no opportunity to customize the treatment to fit your needs and experience, then it’s not the right one for you. Also, along the same lines, make sure that your drug rehab offers a variety of therapeutic options so that you can better optimize your time there to include therapies that speak to you.
2. Medical detox – If you are physically addicted to drugs or alcohol, then your drug and alcohol treatment center must incorporate a medical detox into the program. This means that there should be medical professionals who can supervise your progress and prescribe medications as necessary as well as medical facilities and equipment to stabilize you should you run into trouble. If you are addicted to opiates, you may also wish to make sure that your rehab offers opiate maintenance and has doctors who are certified to prescribe medications like buprenorphine and methadone, should you need it.
3. Option for long-term inpatient treatment – Even if you start out by enrolling in a short-term treatment program for 30 days or fewer, your drug and alcohol rehab should offer the option to extend your time in treatment if you so choose. Some drug addiction treatment facilities offer only drug and alcohol detox, which lasts three to seven days and others offer only outpatient treatment, which is usually fewer than 30 days long. However, you may not necessarily realize how much treatment you need until you enroll and since continuity is important, make sure that the drug rehab you start off with is the one you end with as well.
4. More than just detox – Your drug and alcohol addiction treatment must address more than just physical addiction. Though dealing with physical addiction must come first, it is not enough to keep you clean and sober for any length of time. Drug addiction treatment that speaks to the psychological, mental and spiritual aspects of addiction is essential in order to achieve long-term sobriety when you return home.
5. Therapy is essential – Many dread it, but one-on-one psychotherapy sessions are an essential part of any successful drug and alcohol addiction treatment. An in-depth examination of the motivations behind drug and alcohol addiction, the skills you’ll need to fight cravings and triggers to use later, and replacement activities that will help you avoid drug use is a crucial part of treatment. It also gives you an opportunity to check in, update your treatment goals, monitor your progress and make changes to your schedule as needed.
By Wendy Lee Nentwig
