Drug Rehabilitation Centers Blog

Looking at different drug rehab centers can be a difficult task.  Each treatment center out there is a little bit different and each of them believes they are the best one available.  Couple that with the marketing done over the internet and the thousands of treatment centers across the country and the search for the right drug rehabilitation center can get very frustrating.  It is usually an emotional time and can lead to making an emotional decision to help yourself or your loved one that may not be the best, informed decision.  So, how do you make sure that you’re asking the right questions.

Well, there are a couple of things that should always be asked or looked at when making that decision.  First should be the credentials of a facility, accreditation, and success rate.  All of these will play hand in hand with one another and a good drug rehab should be able to provide you with its accreditation and success rate.  This can be further explored by asking for a list of references of actual family members who have put their loved ones through the respective treatment program.  You shouldn’t have a problem getting this information from the treatment center and it should be done so you can talk to others who are in the same position you are in and hear their experiences and, hopefully, their success at getting their loved ones back, drug-free.

Along with this, should be getting some kind of assurance for recourse should something happen once a person completes the program and should find themselves back to the same situation they were in before going to treatment.  There are actually treatment centers in the country that will stand behind their service with a guarantee of service they will give you in writing.  In short, these types of facilities will actually bring someone back through their programs should they relapse or be headed down that road with no additional expense or re-billing of the insurance.  This is a really nice thing to see and is pretty comforting if you have the ability to find a center that will do this.  The bottom line hear is that there is not one treatment center out there that can 100% guarantee that you or your loved one wont relapse, so its nice to see that some places will stand behind their service.

Lastly, make sure the approach and rehab center is a good fit and appropriate for the individual.  Different people in different situations will not all respond to the same type of approach or enviornment.  So, when you have a treatment approach and facility that is highly successful for a certain type of person, it will not be for all types of people or situaions.  Make sure the counselors at the centers take the time to get a good idea of you or your loved one and really make an honest effort to let you know why their treatment center will help this person.  Get an idea of the size of the place, if the treatment is individualized or group, do they use drugs, what percentage of the clients get medicated for psychiatric reasons while under their care, how do they involve the family, what a typical day is like, do they do drug detox at the facility, etc….. .  Then look at the person who needs the help.  Will they respond to the approach, will they be comfortable with the size, do they need to be medicated or put on other drugs, and other questions.  Compare these things and really keep in mind that the treatment HAS to fit the needs of the person who is in need of the help.  This is the most important thing to look at as no treatment approach will ever work for a person if they will not communicate and the more you can “match” the fit to the individual, it will be that much easier and more likely for the person to get involved and really open up and assimilate the information.

Really taking the time to ask the right questions is crucial in making the decision on the appropriate drug rehab center.  Take the time and do the research to find the one that feels like the right choice for you and your particular situation.  This is not a process you want to go through over and over; its something you want to do once.

With over 15,000 drug rehabailitation centers across the country, selecting the appropriate center for your needs can be a daunting task.  With so many choices there a number of factors that need to be considered.  Things like type of treatment, program duration, traditional or non-traditional, size, and guarantee of service and success rate are all factors that should be taken into consideration.  These things, researched ahead of time, will drastically increase your chances at getting the individual who needs help the right approach and, in turn, free from addiction/alcoholism.  Probably the biggest factor to consider from the start is whether it should be an inpatient treatment center as opposed to an outpatient.  We can start by looking at this aspect.
Out Patient treatment is also known as “day treatment”.  Typically, this type of treatment involves someone going in to meet with a counselor or group a couple of times per week for a couple of hours each time.  The appeal to this type of treatment is that someone can maintain a majority of their lifestyle as far as work or school and still have the benefit of being involved in some kind of support to maintain abstinence.  It is done on a strictly voluntary basis, and allows a lot of freedom on for the individual.  There are however some pretty key downsides to this as well.  From a statistical viewpoint, the rate are pretty low–in the single digits are far as percentage.  In a recent study done the statistics for Out Patient treatment parallel those of people trying to quit “cold turkey”.  Basically, only 2-4 out of 100 individuals that start outpatient will relapse within the first year and be back on drugs.  So the success just isn’t there.
When looking at Inpatient Treatment, the success rate go much higher, but still vary greatly depending on the type, and length, of Inpatient Treatment.  On average, the success rates for inpatient treatment run between 15-70 %.  While there is a wide disparity here, the lower end of the spectrum is going to be the typical 28 day treatment or less.  The higher end of success rate is usually associated with longer term treatment centers of at least 3 months or more.   The main factors to consider here are keeping the person away from the environment they are not succeeding in for the most time you can, finding a program that is more holistic minded and comprehensively deals with a persons issues, not just the addiction, and letting the person have as much time as possible to deal with the physical effects of drugs on the brain and the body in general.

Obviously, just based on the success rates alone, Inpatient Treatment is a much more successful route to go with in dealing with addiction.  In most cases, those who try Outpatient Treatment first will relapse and eventually be forced to go with a more intensive route of treatment and end up in Inpatient Treatment Center eventually, anyway, to finally overcome the addiction and move forward.  So, really look at the facts from the start when dealing with your, or a loved ones, addiction and make a decision that will work for you and give you the best chance of success from the outset.