What Happens in Alcohol Addiction Rehab?
It has been estimated that 95,000 people. Approximately 68,000 men and 27,000 women will die each year from alcohol-related circumstances. Those numbers make alcohol the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States alone. The first leading preventable cause of death in the United States is tobacco. The second preventable cause of death is poor diet and physical health, in the United States. In 2019, 14.5 million people who were 12 years old and older suffered from alcohol use disorder. Though only 7.2% of the 14.5 million people got the treatment they needed according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. If you struggle with alcohol abuse issues, get into our alcohol addiction rehab today.
Many people avoid treatment because they do not understand what an alcohol treatment program entails. Though many people avoid treatment for several other reasons as well. If treatment for alcohol recovery is going to be favorable, it’s important for the person going through treatment to feel motivated enough to finish the program in its entirety. Knowing each step of the process in order to know what to expect is helpful and motivating to finish the program and achieve full recovery.
In preparation for alcohol addiction rehab treatment for your alcohol recovery and the stages you will take to achieve your sobriety, there will be things to consider. To begin, there will be the type of treatment to consider and think about. Also, where exactly will you attend treatment? How much will you have to potentially pay out of pocket and do they accept your insurance coverage? There will be other questions that you may need answers to as well. Perhaps, it may be difficult to figure out how to tell your loved ones or your place of employment about needing to seek a treatment program.
Entering Alcohol Rehab
When you enter alcohol addiction rehab the first thing you will do is check in and be interviewed. The interview will consist of questions about your personal health and your addiction. Afterward, you will move on to beginning the detox phase, although some may not need a complete medical detox. When detoxing is complete you will then begin therapy. There will be many therapies available to you ranging from behavioral therapy, family therapy, individual therapy, cognitive therapy, and dialectical therapy. There are also educational sessions offered as well to help overcome your addiction.
The alcohol addiction rehab process starts towards your recovery from the moment a person walks into the treatment facility and checks in. The intake interview and questionnaire are completed in order to get to know the person better. It’s important for the staff to know the nature of the alcohol abuse, along with any other co-occurring conditions. Including any physical conditions as well.
In order to customize treatment, the intake process is not only an important step but it is also crucial. It is designed to target an individual’s specific physical, emotional, and psychiatric needs. This is according to the National Institute of Drug Addiction.
The First & Hardest Step, Withdrawal and Detox
The biggest and most difficult step for any addict is withdrawal and detox. Withdrawing from alcohol can often create great discomfort which is often uncomfortable. In some instances, it can even become dangerous and life-threatening. It often presents physical and psychological symptoms. In some cases, medication has to be prescribed to help alleviate symptoms while an individual goes through such difficult a withdrawal.
Physical Symptoms may Include:
- Shakiness
- Headache
- Seizures
- Fever
- Nausea
- Sweating and clamminess
- Rapid or irregular heartbeat
Psychological Symptoms may Include:
- Anxiety
- Mood swings
- Depression
- Hallucination
- Agitations
- Insomnia and nightmares
One should never attempt to detox from alcohol by themselves. They should always be supervised by a medical professional in an alcohol addiction rehab facility, which is called medical detox. Going through a medical detox helps keep the detox safe for the individual and they can receive treatments and also medications necessary to help ease withdrawal symptoms. That in itself helps make the detox process easier and ensures the individual’s safety.
The most dangerous symptoms an individual can experience with alcohol withdrawal are seizures, fever, and hallucinations. It often comes from a very severe withdrawal reaction that’s referred to as delirium tremens (DTs). Delirium tremens (DTs) have the possibility of being life-threatening, therefore it is very important that medical detox is taking place.
Treatment Therapy and Types
After therapy is successfully completed then therapy begins. However, in some treatment facilities sometimes therapy begins even while detox is taking place. There are several types of therapies an individual may participate in while in a treatment facility. They can participate in individual therapy, cognitive therapy, dialectical therapy, family therapy, group, and individual therapy. There’s even therapy for just couples as well. For life outside of the treatment facility, there are skill-building workshops too.
Behavioral Therapies
In research-based alcohol addiction rehab facility programs, there are many types of behavioral therapies used. These treatments usually are in an individual therapy setting or a group therapy setting. Therapies as such, often try to help individuals to better understand the motivations behind their addictions and the triggers that get them to use alcohol. When people come to understand what entices their negative behavior, they can then help themselves to work on better coping skills to help deal with those triggers.
Behavioral therapies in combination with motivational therapies alone with medical treatment can increase an individual’s capacity to manage alcoholism in a recent study. This study was a clinical study recently done in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Types of therapies that may be offered:
- Interpersonal therapy: To strengthen resistance to relapse, it’s important to help build a social network. This includes other support structures as well in addition to helping moderate depression and other negative emotions like loneliness. Including other emotional drivers of addictive behaviors that can strengthen the person.
- Trauma-focused CBT: A special CBT that takes an individual’s trauma, including its effect on behaviors into understanding. This helps a person make a connection between their trauma and their behavior. This is important because it helps a person recognize and break the attachment with the behavior of drinking alcohol.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): In helping to recognize thoughts and behavioral patterns overall to see the responses, helps people see that their thought patterns and responses may not be ideal or even correct. Therefore they can learn to change their responses and create more positive behaviors which do not involve alcohol.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): For people who have dual diagnoses this therapy is more helpful in particular. It helps target both the addiction and other mental health disorders that co-exist with one another through behavioral skills and motivation.
Marriage of Family Therapy
Relationships in general can sometimes affect the way an individual interacts with alcohol treatment. In that case, therapy sessions with the individual’s family or significant other provide a level of support for lasting recovery.
It’s easy for family members to enable the alcohol abuse unknowingly through their responses to the person who is addicted. Once the family members learn how they could be contributing to the enablement, these family members can stop enabling the person who is addicted. When they stop enabling them they can become reliable supporters for the person who is addicted in helping them quit their alcohol abuse.
Family can also help give strong support of self-esteem and strength to the person who is in rehab. They can encourage them and give them reminders as to all the positive reasons why it’s important to live a life of sobriety. They can and should do this post-treatment as well too. As long as the person who is overcoming alcohol addiction has the loving support of others who believe in their ability to make changes in their behavior it will surely be beneficial in their success with their sobriety.
Things to Expect After Rehab
It is very important to prepare a person for their normal routine after rehab. Along with educating them the most you can about addiction overall. Going from treatment back to the free world of life can be challenging and difficult. However, support and the proper preparation can make the transition a whole lot smoother and easier.
In treatment, many will learn about several resources in their community especially. These resources will be very beneficial in supporting their post-treatment recovery. It will also help avoid relapses in addition to. These resources can also be support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which is a very popular support group that has been established for a long time. This support group provides tools for helping to avoid common situations and develop strategies that may set off cravings for alcohol. It also helps people. It is also a great opportunity for those to develop a social network to meet other people to help motivate sobriety.
In many treatment programs like Alcoholic Anonymous (AA), there are ‘graduates,’ or earning chips/tokens in their sobriety progress until graduation is completed. Even when graduation is reached, It usually involves continued support from the network. This is why it is important to continue with recovery and stay actively involved with your community resources like your support groups. Including the network, you build of people who support your sobriety.
How Effective is Rehab for Alcoholics?
If the person is ready to commit to change then rehab can be very beneficial for alcoholics. If you are ready to make that commitment. Do you feel you are ready to make that change or do you know someone who is contacting our rehab center today! There are a lot of treatment options to explore that will fit your needs that we can discuss more with you. You can also learn more about alcohol rehab through recovery stories. These recovery stories are from real people who have struggled with alcoholism like you, or someone you know.
Contact us today to enroll in an alcohol addiction rehab program.