For anyone suffering with alcohol addiction, or for the friend or family member of someone who is suffering with alcohol addiction, alcohol rehab centres can seem like a dark, scary or jaunting place.
However, people can be reassured that modern alcohol rehab centres are warm, welcoming, and very much geared towards helping individuals and families who have suffered under the dark shadow of alcohol abuse and addiction.
This article will fill you on the many things that you should know if you are wanting to learn more about alcohol rehab centres, the types that there are and the services that they provide, either for yourself, for someone else, or just to have the information should you ever need it.
What is Alcohol Rehabilitation
Alcohol rehabilitation is a restorative process whereby individuals are taken through the various stages that they need to kick the habit of drinking and addiction, evaluating the past errors that have led to their addiction, evaluating where they are now as individuals and in the context of the world around them, and to start to put into place the various social & medical processes in order to get their life on track.
No two alcoholics are the same, even though similar patterns of behaviour and addiction may emerge. Because of that no two alcohol rehab centres are exactly the same, and people can discover a wide range of different centres and treatments that can help to turn the life around of an alcohol addict. Contemporary rehab centres have a range of services and activities that can help recovering addicts with a wide range of their problems and issues.
As recovering from alcohol addiction is often a lifelong process where people continue to call themselves alcoholics even after receiving treatment and giving up drinking, alcohol rehab centres should not be thought of as a quick fix. They are more akin to an extensive intervention that looks at all aspects of the alcoholic’s life in order to get them back on track. This holistic approach is more effective than older methods which focused on little more than ‘drying out’.
What Sort of Treatments to Expect?
Understandably, a large part of an alcohol rehab centre is focused around ‘drying’ a person out, getting them out of the habit of their daily drinking and getting them used to a life without alcohol. This is particularly the case when dealing with inpatient treatment, where someone stays on a residential basis for some time.
A vital part of breaking the habit of alcohol addiction is looking at the reasons why someone drank in the first place. Therefore, a large part of the work that an alcohol rehab centre will do is based around therapy and counselling. Depending on the clinic, there may be in-house therapists and counsellors that are on hand to talk to, and these may also be available to family members of the recovering addict, in order to have a more holistic family-based approach.
One of the features of alcohol addiction is the physical damage that can be caused to the body by excessive drinking. Some alcohol rehab centres therefore may have doctors and nurses on hand who are able to examine, diagnose and treat patients in order to start to heal from the physical damage that the addict has undergone as a result of their drinking.
As well as treating the mind and the body in the immediate moment of what has gone on, it is important for the recovering alcohol addict to begin to move forward with positive steps. A lot of time in an alcohol rehab centre, as well as looking at the errors of the past, will focus on the opportunities of the future. This involves helping the addict, and their friends and families, to start to put structures and activities in place that will help people to make positive decisions about their lives in the future, minimising the possibility of harm and falling back into old ways.
Inpatient Treatment
A very traditional way of being treated at an alcohol rehab centre is as an inpatient. This means staying in care overnight, perhaps for some weeks, as one might in a hospital.
The advantage of this approach is that it helps the recovering alcohol addict to focus entirely on their problem and the nature of their recovery, free as far as possible from outside distractions. This will be particularly suitable for individuals whose alcohol addiction troubles are more severe and require extensive intervention or medical/therapeutic treatment, especially those who are currently a danger to themselves or others.
A disadvantage of this method of treatment is that it may not be appropriate for minor cases, or for those who are unable to cover the costs of such extensive treatment.
Outpatient Treatment
Many recovering alcohol addicts will spend some time at an alcohol rehab centre as an outpatient, either before or instead of inpatient treatment, depending on their circumstances.
Outpatient treatment may involve attending regular clinics, perhaps a weekly individual or group therapy session, or art classes or similar designed to stimulate the mind. This may involve regular check-ups from a doctor or nurse in order to evaluate treatment so far.
Outpatient treatment is appropriate for milder cases or when individuals are unable to afford the time or the money to attend as an inpatient, but some sort of care is still required.
Most alcohol rehab centres will have a range of programmes available for both outpatients and inpatients, according to their needs, and they are the best people to advise in terms of which will be most suitable for a recovering alcohol addict.
Conclusion
There are a range of alcohol rehab centres that are available, providing a range of inpatient and outpatient services to individuals who want to recover from their alcohol addiction.
Alcohol rehab centres provide a range of medical, therapeutic and social services to recovering alcohol addicts and their families, to help them get the immediate treatment that they need as well as to start to build new, fruitful lives.