Alcohol Treatment Centres
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Traditional
alcohol treatment programs frequently have been based on the 12-step approach that was developed and put into
operation by Alcoholics Anonymous.
Other less traditional alcohol treatment approaches, however, have been taking place in rehab hospitals or
in alcohol treatment centres and have been providing alcohol abusers and alcoholics with alcohol rehab that is not
based on the 12-step recovery program.
Alcohol Treatment Centres: Medications and Counseling
Most of the non-12-step alcohol rehabilitation approaches take place in rehab hospitals or in
alcohol treatment centres that feature treatment approaches that are grounded in the administration of
doctor-prescribed medications along with extensive education, support, counseling, and training.
Additionally, many non-12-step programs treat alcoholism and alcohol abuse from both a psychological and a
physiological framework.
Similarly, due to the fact that some of the more effective alcohol treatment methods are more comprehensive than
others, they concentrate on how alcoholics and alcohol abuser will respond to employment issues, relationship
difficulties, and financial problems after they complete treatment, get sober, and return to their place of
residence.
Finally, many of the successful alcohol treatment centres maintain a holistic perspective that helps alcoholics
and alcohol abusers identify and cope with some of the primary issues that more likely than not lead to the
individual’s alcohol addiction or alcohol abuse in the first place.
Examples of these basic issues include the following: poor financial management skills, career indecision,
pain, spirituality issues, poor coping skills, a sense of loss, grief, poor interpersonal relationship skills,
unemployment, and poor anger management skills.
Follow-Up Treatment: A RequirementWhen an individual undergoes
alcohol treatment, it is especially important to address what he or she will be doing after he or she has
finished the rehab protocol.
Stated more precisely, getting through the alcohol detox process and overcoming one's alcohol withdrawal
symptoms are central to the recovery process, but so is the “follow-up” training, education, and counseling that
quality alcohol treatment centres routinely initiate as soon as the inpatient part of the treatment process
ends.
Some of the more successful and better known alcohol treatment centres, for instance, provide follow-up
outpatient counseling, education, and training for one year after the residential part of rehab is
finished.
In a word, the more broad-based and results-oriented alcohol treatment centres provide treatment that has been
developed and put into operation for long-term success rather than utilizing short-term, quick fix therapeutic
approaches.
| The earlier a person begins drinking heavily, the greater their chance of developing
serious illnesses later on. Once one becomes dependent on alcohol, it is very difficult to quit. In
one study, after five years, two-thirds of people with alcoholism were still dependent. |
The Importance of the Treatment Environment
The treatment
environment in which an alcohol abuser or an alcoholic finds himself or herself is a pivotal treatment
contemplation.
As a result, some of the better alcohol treatment centres, for instance, foster an interesting, motivating,
supportive, and harm-free environment that typically results in long-lasting treatment success.
While the majority of alcohol treatment centres provide alcohol rehabilitation that is relatively expensive,
especially those that offer inpatient, residential therapy, many of the more productive and effective alcohol
treatment centres put financial considerations on the back burner and restrict the number of alcoholics and alcohol
abusers they accept for rehab.
This is more of a "treatment" determination and less of a "profit and loss" decision that permits staff to focus
on the time, resources, effort, and consideration that professional, top-quality alcohol treatment requires.
| Repeated alcohol exposure causes neuroadaptation in the brain's reward pathways,
which results in drinking more alcohol. This is the quickest way for an alcoholic to feel normal
again and it causes long-term memories related to alcohol use that produce intense cravings, even
after long-term abstinence. Environmental cues can reactivate the brain's reward pathway and this
can lead to relapse. |
Characteristics of Successful Alcohol Treatment Centres
The following
represents some of the more significant features of effective alcohol treatment centres:
- Extensive day and night counseling and educational programs
- Private detoxification services
- Success rates well beyond the national averages
- Hospital and non-hospital treatment options
- Hotel or rehab facility suites for out-of-town patients or guests
- The employment of medications to help clients refrain from alcohol relapse
- Competitive pricing
- Outpatient methods that are individualized to “fit” the personality, financial resources, and the needs of
each client
- Treatment options with different time frames and length of treatment options that are tailored to the needs
of each client
- A caring, professional, and results-oriented staff
- Doctor prescribed medications to help control and manage alcohol withdrawal symptoms
| Society views alcoholics as responsible for their problems. To some extent, this is
true. Like most of their peers, the alcohol abuser made the early choice to drink but once
addiction kicks in, choice is removed. The person must drink to feel normal. Twenty percent of
alcoholics who try to quit drinking on their own without medical management die of alcohol
withdrawal delirium. |
Alcohol Treatment Centres: Conclusion
Many of the traditional alcohol
recovery approaches are patterned after the 12-step methodology that was initiated and implemented by
Alcoholics Anonymous.
Other, less mainstream, non-12-step alcohol treatment methods, however, have emerged and have increased in
number and in popularity.
These non-12-step rehab methodologies focus less on factors such as a "higher power, the number of meetings an
alcoholic or alcohol abuser attends, and group support and more on empirically validated, scientific results that
use doctor-prescribed medications in combination with staff support and broad-based education, counseling,
training, and a productive and practical follow-up treatment program.
| Call your doctor whenever you or someone you love has an alcohol-related problem.
Remember, alcoholism is an illness that can be treated, not a sign of weakness or poor
character. |
Many of the more thorough, non-12-step alcohol rehab programs take place in rehab clinics, alcohol treatment
centres, or in rehab hospitals.
These non-12-step alcohol treatment facilities are typically staffed with top-rate, helpful, and compassionate
healthcare professionals who do everything in their power to help alcoholics and alcohol abusers learn more
effective decision-making, relationship, coping, and "life" skills; help them recover from their irresponsible,
unhealthy, and hazardous drinking; and help them learn how to reestablish their lives and start on the road to
alcohol recovery.
| The brain of someone addicted to alcohol is a changed brain. The chronic use of any
mood-altering chemical first chemically changes the brain as the cells respond to the poison by
producing counteracting chemical compounds that reduce the effects on the cell. If the use
continues, the brain changes in structure and, finally, it changes in genetics. |
| This is the only way to think about alcoholism accurately. You are dealing with a
person who is dying. Evidence says that 68% of those people who come to a trauma center have an
alcohol or drug problem. Thirty percent of patients in acute care hospitals are addicted.
Alcoholics spend four times the amount of time in a hospital as non-drinkers, mostly from
drinking-related injuries. Up to 20% of visits to primary care physicians are related to substance
abuse problems. Yet doctors almost never recognize the alcohol problem. |
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