What is The Success Rate of Drug Rehab Programs?
The goal of addiction treatment is to stop drug abuse and return to a functional and productive life. Successful recovery can look different for everybody.
For some, it means holding a steady job or being able to take care of their family. It can also include repairing relationships with loved ones or decreasing illegal activity. In all cases, treatment helps those with addictions to reverse the changes substance use has made to their brains and regain control of their lives.
Research has tracked people’s progress in treatment over extended periods and confirmed the benefits of drug treatment programs. The drug rehabilitation success rates tend to go up the longer people stick with treatment.
The treatment outcome relies on several factors, including the severity of your addiction and the extent of the surrounding problems.
Of course, successful treatment must be appropriate for the specific problems you are trying to address. Treatment efficacy also depends on you and your readiness to make changes and your willingness to remain in treatment. In treatment, resources like motivational interviewing and support groups can help encourage you and keep you motivated.
What About Relapse?
When assessing the drug rehab success rate, it is important to remember that relapse is not unusual. A relapse does not mean that treatment has failed. It is always possible to return to recovery. Addiction is a chronic disease, which means that its symptoms are persistent, and treatment is not to be relied on as a quick fix.
Over time, you have to stick with a recovery plan to manage your addiction and remain in recovery successfully. Other chronic diseases see the same relapse rates. For example, if you stop diabetes treatment, it will likely get worse. Addiction is no different. Treatment is something you have to be committed to for the sake of your ongoing health.
What Type of Drug Rehab Centers Are There and What’s Their Purpose?
Having a better understanding of what happens in addiction treatment can help ease your concern about starting a treatment program. Most treatment programs start with detoxification and medically managed withdrawal. This period is considered the first stage of treatment.
Detox involves the body’s process of clearing itself of drugs. This stage of treatment is designed to manage the uncomfortable and potentially dangerous effects of stopping drug use.
Trying to detox on your own is generally discouraged because, without proper care, the unpleasant symptoms can lead to relapse. Sometimes, physicians involved in the detox process may administer medication to help manage these side effects.
However, not all drugs require medically managed withdrawal.
Detox can occur in an inpatient or outpatient setting. Once this first stage completes, you have a few different options for treatment.
One is not necessarily better than the others. It all depends on what you need as an individual.
Inpatient Treatment
Also known as residential treatment, inpatient treatment involves staying at a specialized facility for an extended period. Residential treatment allows for intensive, 24/7 care. The amount of time you stay at a residential facility depends on the severity of your addiction and how much care you require.
In long-term inpatient treatment, patients can stay at a rehab facility for 6 to 12 months. This model of treatment is known as a therapeutic community.
A therapeutic community refers to the program’s entire community, including other residents and staff, and its active treatment components.
Residential treatment helps patients build socially productive lives and encourages personal accountability and responsibility to prepare them to return to more active and positive lives after leaving the facility. Treatment at a residential facility also provides patients with a strong sense of structure.
It typically involves activities designed to help residents assess their own damaging beliefs, self-concepts, and behavior patterns. Furthermore, these activities teach them to adopt more constructive ways of coping with common life stressors and interacting with others. Therapeutic communities may also offer additional services to help residents return to life after rehab, such as employment training.
Outpatient Treatment
Conversely, outpatient treatment does not require patients to remain at a residential facility for any amount of time. Therefore, it is often more suitable for those who cannot leave their jobs, families, or other responsibilities for extended periods. This type of treatment varies in intensity and type of program.
Sometimes, low-intensity programs offer drug education. Other programs, like intensive day treatment, may allow patients to receive much of the same care associated with inpatient treatment while still returning to their homes each day. Group counseling is a major component of many outpatient programs, though individualized counseling is also an option.
Sometimes outpatient treatment is designed to treat other medical or mental health problems along with drug use disorders.
Experts recommend that individuals who receive inpatient treatment remain engaged in outpatient programs after finishing their stay, which can reduce the risk of relapse.
How Does Therapy Help in Drug Rehab Programs?
Drug counseling focuses on much more than simply stopping drug or alcohol use. It also addresses other behaviors and functioning that have been affected by drug use. Areas of life affected can include employment status, illegal activity, and family or other social relations.
Counseling emphasizes creating behavioral goals and implementing coping strategies to abstain from drug use and maintain sobriety. Addiction counseling can occur in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Group therapy is common in addiction treatment because it takes advantage of the social reinforcement of peer interaction. In other words, building a sense of community with other people in addiction recovery can help to promote drug-free lifestyles. Drug use is sometimes a result of social pressure.
When the people around you are still using drugs, it cannot be easy to remain sober. So, surrounding yourself with other sober people can give you a community to hold you accountable and encourage you. Research confirms positive drug rehab success rates when group therapy is offered along with individualized drug counseling.
Substance abuse counseling, whether group or individual, typically involves some behavioral therapy. There are many forms of behavioral treatments for substance abuse. Some of the most common and strongly supported forms of behavioral therapy for addiction include cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and contingency management.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT has much to do with self-assessment. In CBT, patients learn to recognize their destructive thoughts and behaviors that can lead to relapse. They then learn strategies to avoid such thoughts and behaviors. CBT can also teach patients to recognize the things that trigger their craving for drugs and avoid or manage those triggers.
Motivational Interviewing
In motivational interviewing sessions, therapists help patients discover and increase their motivation to overcome substance abuse. The therapist assists the patient in recognizing the difference between how they are currently living and how they wish to live in the future. The therapist doesn’t necessarily tell the patient what they need to do but empowers them to explore their needs and motivations to understand what goals they can set for themselves.
Contingency Management
This method of behavioral therapy uses incentives or rewards to encourage patients to stay sober. Thus, receiving rewards is contingent upon their sobriety. Contingency management encourages patients to associate sobriety with positivity, so they will be motivated to continue abstinence.
To illustrate, a patient may receive a restaurant voucher or similar prize for each drug test they pass. Such rewards may seem small, but research has demonstrated positive outcomes of contingency management.
Is Drug Rehab Going to be Worth it for My Loved One?
Perhaps you are curious about the drug rehab success rate because you are concerned about a loved one sticking with their treatment. It can be much easier to continue treatment when those in recovery have a strong support system to help patients through difficult times.
When you show your loved one struggling with an addiction you care about, they may be more motivated to persevere. There are many ways that you can show your support.
One of the most important things you can do is help them find treatment services and information. It’s not your responsibility to solve their problems for them, but you can certainly make it easier for them to help themselves.
Once your loved one is in treatment, you can do small favors that will help them stay on the right track, like offering rides to support groups or other treatment, reminding them to take any medication prescribed to them, and helping them avoid places and people that may trigger cravings.
You may also show your support by helping them find a place to live or a job if they need one.
Sometimes people in addiction recovery may need someone to talk to about their feelings and difficulties. Having such discussions can help them recognize and overcome obstacles when they arise. It can also help you understand where they’re coming from so you can be more empathetic. During these talks, you can remind them of the importance of staying on track.
Finally, it’s important to be understanding if they relapse and help them get back into treatment quickly. Relapse doesn’t always mean they are giving up, and your support may be the extra boost they need to continue.
We’ve seen some great similarities between those who suffer from eating disorders and those who suffer from substance abuse disorders.
While there may not be one specific type of person who will suffer from both, it’s clear that both problems can co-exist. Eating disorders don’t necessarily lead to substance abuse (or vice versa), but the symptoms of each problem are similar in many ways.
They’re so similar that it pays to ensure that a person suffering from substance abuse doesn’t also have an eating disorder.
The professionals who work in rehabilitation (rehab) facilities look at the whole person when creating a treatment program.
They understand the common denominators of eating disorders and substance abuse. They know that addiction has underlying causes that don’t necessarily link to the addictive substance.
If you or a loved one suffers from either an eating disorder or a substance abuse disorder, the people who work in rehab centers around the country can help you. Contact us at (888) 906-0952 to learn more about how rehab can help you change your life.
The Secret Ingredient to Success in Drug Rehab Treatment
An important ingredient of success and making drug rehab being worth it, is the eventual buy-in on the part of the patient. What does this mean? While at first going to rehab may be the last thing they want to do, many people change their attitudes days, weeks, or sometimes months into treatment. What was at first doing begrudgingly, shifts to genuine effort on the part of the patient.
The success rate of rehabilitation depends greatly on the patient approach and response to treatment.
Addiction comes with a variety of other problems, some of which may affect you more than others. Everyone responds differently to various types of treatment depending on which problems they want to solve. Rehab is not supposed to be one-size-fits-all. The point of treatment is that it addresses your unique issues. That is why working together with specialists to target your specific problems is so important.
Unfortunately, relapse is a common part of treatment, but you should not let that discourage you from treatment altogether. Treatment can provide you with the support and the tools to be willing to try again despite relapse. The key to a successful recovery is to stick with treatment even through difficult times.
Treatment is not quick, nor is it always easy, but it is incredibly rewarding to be able to see your progress over time and know that you have continued to overcome such immense challenges.
Often, one of the hardest initial steps of getting treatment is reaching out for help. It’s difficult to admit hardship and vulnerability, but there is no shame in needing help.
After that initial step, there will be people to help you every step of the way. We can start by guiding you toward the treatment programs in your area. Call us at (888) 906-0952 to speak to a representative about your options today.
Sources
- https://easyread.drugabuse.gov/content/how-can-friends-and-family-help
- https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states/types-treatment-programs
- https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/06/addiction
- https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/how-effective-drug-addiction-treatment
