Addiction is a serious illness that many people have fallen victim to, but rehab is a way to learn to handle addiction. Addiction rehab is a process an addict goes through in order to help them deal with their addiction. A detoxification process could be involved, depending on the type of addiction a person has, and this is to deal with the withdrawal symptoms that are a result. This typically only occurs with substance addictions like drugs and sometimes alcohol.
Rehab is especially helpful in giving a person the tools to handle their addiction, preparing them for situations in which an urge may occur, and showing them how to utilise the tools that they have been taught. Devices that are used during somebody’s time in rehab typically include group sessions. Here the person or people have the time to talk about their experiences as an addict and how these experiences have effected them and in some cases they might talk about what they think triggered their addiction, or when they realised that they had to change. There are also one to one sessions with a counsellor; the frequency of these depends on your rehab facility and the severity of the addiction. In one to one sessions a range of therapies can be used such as cognitive behavioural therapy which helps a person to change the way they think about situations and how they react to situations. (E/g if a person is sad they might drink alcohol, you find out why and then change the way you react to being sad.)
As the causes of the addiction may vary some places will use psychological therapies to try to better understand the urge to go back to the substance, and to know what the triggers are, or what makes the urge worse. There are residential rehabs and there are outpatients rehabs, the residential rehabs are typically more expensive because you live at the facility and there are costs included in that stay, these are typically more intensive and are used for those who find controlling their addiction a lot harder. Some people may find that they need to be in a rehab centre as a residential patient because they need to be away from all the temptations around them.
Residential rehab treatments are about 6 weeks long but they can last up to three months. The outpatient programs can last anywhere from weeks to months and in some cases up to a year, it’s all about making sure that the person is ready. The 12 step program is introduced and it is usually recommended that the person finds an AA location afterwards just to have ongoing support once they leave rehab just in case. Family sessions occur at some centres in order to make sure that your families understand the addiction at hand and that they can help the person struggling with the addiction to the best of their abilities. They’re also here so that that person has that extra support needed to help them manage their addiction.