Alcohol Rehab Centers

Fifteen million Americans suffer from alcohol dependency, with nearly 500,000 of those people being children ages nine to twelve years old. Problems and complications stemming from alcohol make up at least $100 million of annual health care costs. Almost a quarter of all people seeking treatment in hospitals have some sort of problem that can be traced back to alcohol. These staggering statistics make it imperative to understand the effect alcohol rehab centers can have with helping people reach sobriety. Alcohol rehabilitation consists of three primary criteria: pharmacological treatment, behavioral therapies, and the well-known 12-step program. A combination of these criteria can often create an effective weapon against alcoholism, and is usually used by most inpatient facilities.

The best known 12-step program is Alcoholics Anonymous, or simply AA. AA is a type of support group that most treatment programs will recommend to their patients to attend. Certain facilities will even host 12 –step gatherings at their centers or help their patients understand the program in a positive learning environment. Behavioral therapies are utilized to minimize the chance of relapse by teaching the patient skills essential to avoiding temptation and how to function normally in society after their rehabilitation has been completed. Through the uses of medical options, like disulfriam and naltrexone, pharmacological treatments seek to diminish the physical symptoms and cravings associated with alcohol.

Over 700,000 people received some sort of treatment for alcohol problems each day in 1999. Many of these were treated in outpatient facilities. There are outpatient programs of varying degrees of intensity, the ones on the higher end requiring patients to visit hospital programs several days a week, for several hours. On the lighter end of the outpatient spectrum, treatments focus on once a week or bi-weekly counseling meetings, occasionally incorporating family therapy and group sessions in addition to individual counseling. Outpatient programs have many pros such as low costs, shorter time periods, and the privilege of maintaining extracurricular activities and social relationships while undergoing treatment.

Inpatient recovery programs usually last for about a month, around 28 days. Unfortunately, with health care costs increasing inpatient programs seem to be getting shorter and shorter. In the mid 1990’s studies showed that inpatient treatment was particularly effective when patients had accompanying medical or psychological conditions or whose environments were not supportive of rehabilitation.

For more severe cases, select alcohol treatment centers offer long-term programs. These extended stay facilities offer the patient a therapeutic environment for up to a year, or more, depending on the severity of the addiction. These programs allow for added time that can help the detoxification process as well as more social and occupations counseling sessions. Alcohol rehabilitation centers established to help teens and young adults offer continuing education opportunities so the patients can keep up their education while in recovery.

Detoxification is another integral part of the recovery process. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome describes the symptoms associated with the initial lack of alcohol in the patient’s body. Some of these symptoms include delirium tremens, hallucinations, tremors, insomnia, and irritability. Because of the dangers associated with some of the described symptoms many alcohol treatment centers require a preliminary detoxification period.

Respected alcohol treatment facilities will employ well-trained, professional staff and faculty that will provide quality individual support for each patient in a drug free environment. Successful alcohol rehab centers will provide comprehensive education, counseling, and knowledge of community resources that will help with each individual’s continuing recovery once they leave the inpatient program. And the most important thing a quality alcohol rehab facility is a documented record of its rate of success at rehabilitating patients, both initially and for the long term.

The overall goal of alcohol treatment is to restore a life of sobriety and productivity in each addicted person that has searched for rehabilitation. The true measure of success for alcohol rehab centers is the ability of that program to instill in their patients the courage and strength necessary to abstain from dangerous alcohol consumption.

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