Alcohol Rehab

Rehabilitation (rehab) is the stage of treatment that offers the opportunity to develop positive motivation for recovery; stabilize health status through longer-term withdrawal symptoms, using medications if needed; learn skills for stopping drug and alcohol use and avoiding relapse; gain positive incentives to encourage participation in both treatment and follow-up programs in rehab and earn new ways of dealing with family and friends. Rehabilitation centers may be residential, outpatient, therapeutic communities, long- or short-term, or support groups. Detoxification from many drugs can be accomplished fairly quickly, and with the help of medication, but the psychological dependence is so strong that longer treatment is needed for lasting recovery.


All programs—residential and outpatient—have group and individual counseling. Many now offer medications for addiction and psychiatric problems and  help patients become aware of “Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome” (PAWS) that may disturb patients during the first year or so of recovery. The programs are designed to provide structure in their curriculum, trained and supervised therapists and counselors, individualized treatment planning, and monitoring for any alcohol and drug use during rehab treatment. Treatment programs arrange for continuing and follow-up care after discharge (many state agencies require rehabilitation programs to do this). The more thorough programs offer social services to help gain better employment, deal with pending legal problems, improve parenting and marital relationships, and even obtain drug-free housing.

Virtually all current research shows that a combination of treatments, with pharmaceutical support as necessary and professional counseling plus follow-up connection with support groups, works the best and for the longest time. Remember how the disease is described as “mental, physical, and spiritual”? These all things are dealed at alcohol and drug rehab. The treatments  have to cover all those aspects: physical detox alone, medication alone,  psychotherapy alone, or spiritual energy gained from religious experiences or  support- group fellowships alone aren’t as effective as the interaction of all those ingredients.