Drug Rehabilitation Programs

Recovering from drug dependency begins with the person’s accepting that the goals of treatment include profound changes in his spiritual being as well as sweeping changes in his lifestyle. Often it takes hitting rock bottom to motivate the drug dependent person to admit that he needs help. To embark on his path of recovery, a motivated person must find the right treatment program and most important, lock into absolute commitment to personal change. Many health insurance policies offer coverage for treatment for drug dependency, which is not inexpensive.

Friends and family who are in contact with someone who is drug dependent may be the only lifeline this person has to prevent him from doing further harm to himself and others. Regardless of whether the person can enter a program under his own power, is assisted by caring friends and relatives, or mandated by authorities, a residential clinical treatment center is a place where a person can concentrate on healing without being exposed to the negative influences that existed in his daily surroundings.

Today’s society is not universally empathetic toward drug dependent individuals, since their behavior is often associated with unlawful or objectionable behavior. Fortunately trends are changing and, for those who are convicted of minor drug offenses, the criminal justice system can send them to rehabilitation instead of incarcerating them. Once he completes the program mandated by the courts, a person will return to previous destructive habits unless he exits the drug rehab program with a set of well-practiced attitudes, beliefs and tools to prevent relapses.

Drug rehabilitation programs are available in all shapes and sizes with some being more effective than others. When you research how various rehabilitation programs work, you discover that most programs in the US follow some adaptation of the 12-Step Program developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Other programs use the tenets of psychotherapy, while there are also programs that rely on forms of cognitive therapy as their therapeutic model.

A person is more likely to succeed in a drug rehabilitation program that, in addition to counseling and working on coping strategies for relapse prevention, also works to maximize his physical health by including instruction in proper diet and exercise. Research shows that the effectiveness of drug rehabilitation is also contingent on the duration of the program and that participation for 90 days or more is more likely to produce a positive outcome.

Whoever achieves success after participating in a drug rehabilitation program will be able to re-enter society with the ability to adapt to the stress of life without resorting to old routines of self-destructive thought and behavior. He will have acquired tools to resume a loving relationship with his family and friends, and to maintain physical wellness, while being aware, always, that recovery from drug dependence is a lifelong work in progress.