A good drug rehab program should help an individual stay off from drugs for good. Rehabilitation does not stop with just detoxifying the body of an addict or to help them overcome the initial withdrawal symptoms. Many addicts need more support for a longer period in addition to initial treatment they receive in a rehab facility. Effective de-addiction is a long term process that requires follow ups through counseling and repeat treatments. If only the craving for a drug is totally removed from a patient can we say that they have been rehabilitated. Some addicts may recover their health and stay away from drugs all their life through a simple one month rehab program, but many addicts need more than this duration to recover and stay sober for the rest of their lives. For such people, long term drug rehab programs work best.
A long term drug rehab program approaches addiction through three steps.
- The first step would be to rid the addict of the withdrawal symptoms and to help them pass through this delicate phase with support of medicines that reduce the intensity of the withdrawal symptoms and also cleanse the addict’s body of the harmful toxins accumulated through days, months and years of drug abuse.
- The second step would be to offer counsel and support to the patient throughout the stay of the patient in the facility. Alternate modes of therapy like yoga, games, music, etc, may be included.
- The third step would be to offer sober living programs and outpatient support therapy. The first few days after an addict’s discharge from the rehab facility are as important as the initial days spent in the rehab facility. There are chances, however remote, that an addict might undergo a relapse. This is why good and effective drug rehab programs insist on post rehab therapy, counsel and support programs for discharged addicts.
Oftentimes, many addicts relapse into addiction once they are out of a short term rehab program. An inpatient rehab program will last a month usually, but for hardcore addicts this might not be enough. Though the toxins are flushed out of the body and though the addict overcomes the terrible withdrawals at the short term inpatient rehab facility, the craving or desire for the drug is not flushed out from the minds of the hard core addicts. So, when these addicts come out of a short term rehab program, they succumb to the first temptation they encounter.
Addicts with a long history of drug abuse need a lot of support post rehab. They need to be psychologically strong to view the world through sober eyes. The world could appear completely different to them, and it could shock them when viewed with sober eyes and with a sober mind. This is why a long term rehab program, which typically lasts around 3 months, is needed for them. A long term rehab program will offer them the support, psychological and physical, needed to protect them from temptations and prevent them from going back to addiction, and to help them stay sober for the rest of their lives.