Drug Rehabs, Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers
Drug Rehabs, Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers
Drug rehabs, Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers, alcohol rehabilitation centers, drug treatment programs, drug rehab centers, alcohol rehab centers, alcohol rehab programs, chemical dependency treatment centers and substance abuse treatment centers are all terms used to describe the same thing - a safe and supportive environment for recovery from drug addiction and/or alcoholism, with an emphasis on drugs and alcohol rather than mental health. They are usually in the form of a residential treatment facility, but can also be intensive outpatient rehabilitation or day treatment, or partial hospitalization (also called day/night) treatment programs - this last form is basically a type of center that takes on the same form and can provide the same level of care as a residential drug rehab or alcohol treatment center, but utilizes more that one location for treatment - often a center for counseling and treatment by day, and a separate therapeutic residential setting at night. Drug and alcohol treatment centers, whether they are residential treatment centers or day/night treatment centers both provide a nurturing, safe, and supportive setting to recover from drug addiction and alcoholism. Outpatient programs and intensive outpatient programs are more aptly suited to individuals who have already completed a higher level of care or primary residential drug treatment of one sort or another, or individuals whose addictions to drugs - whatever the drug - alcohol, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines (meth, crystal meth, speed), other opiates (Vicodin, Oxycontin, morphine, methadone), barbiturates, or benzodiazepines (valium, Xanax, Ativan, Klonipin to name a few) are already out of the individual’s system through either a process of detoxification, whether it’s rapid opiate detox for opiate addicts or heroin addiction, standard opiate detox in the form of substitution therapy and detoxification (using more cutting edge treatments such as Subutex, Suboxone, Buprenex or Buprenorphine), or standard detox and detoxification from alcohol using either benzodiazepines or barbiturates to treat the withdrawal symptoms, or other standard detox protocols. Individuals who hope to find success in an outpatient treatment setting must already have some level of distance from drug use and abuse or alcoholism, and must be stable and have the ability to function in an uncontrolled environment when not at the addiction treatment center for rehabilitation services.
Drug rehabs have existed since the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, however at that time they were not called drug rehabs or alcohol treatment centers, they were called “asylums” and the disease of addiction and alcoholism (as defined by the American Medical Association) was not seen as being a disease or an illness at all. It was wrongly categorized as a disorder no different from schizophrenia or other psychoses, which is why many drug and alcohol treatment centers began as what would have been considered at the time mental health hospitals and mental health treatment centers. To this day, drug rehabilitation and alcoholism wards of hospitals, substance abuse treatment centers in general that are located within hospitals, are more often than not directly related with the mental health treatment and behavioral healthcare treatment center hospitalization programs. The disease concept of alcoholism and drug addiction has only existed since the 1950’s, and even then took some time to become widely accepted, it’s growth coinciding fairly directly with the growth of twelve-step programs, the first and most well known of which being AA or Alcoholics Anonymous. Today the field of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and drug treatment centers has grown into a nation full of treatment centers which specialize in treating drug addiction and alcoholism, the majority based on 12-step methodologies, and calling themselves alcohol rehabs, drug rehabs, recovery centers, retreat centers for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, detox programs, outpatient rehabs, inpatient rehabs, residential rehabs, and a slew of other terms that all describe the same thing, as mentioned above - safe, supportive environments in which trained professionals (hopefully), often drug addicts and alcoholics in recovery themselves who have gone through drug rehabilitation programs themselves and decided to go on and share their recovery with others by going to schools and becoming certified chemical dependency counselors (CCDC), certified alcohol and drug counselors (CADC), certified alcohol and drug addiction counselors (CADAC), getting master’s degrees in addiction studies, becoming licensed clinical social workers with a focus on drug and alcohol addictions and treatment of those additions (LCSW’s) or certified Marriage and Family Therapists, and even psychologists and developmental psychologists with a focus on addiction treatment and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Before choosing you should educate yourself about the different types of addiction treatment programs available. You should also talk with a counselor to find out which would be best for you. The first step on the road to recovery is admitting you have a problem and getting help.
