Alcohol Addiction Treatment

Alcohol addiction treatment is a subject that many people have misconceptions about. Most people think that they can go to meetings, and with the support of a group, they can stay sober. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Alcohol treatment varies in philosophy, length of time, and cost. Two of the basic philosophies of alcohol treatment are the disease model and the behavior model. The disease model tells a person that they have a disease, that they will never get better and the have to go to meetings for the rest of their life. Alcohol addiction treatment meetings are where people, with all lengths of sobriety, stand up in front of a group, tell people they are an alcoholic and that they are powerless over their disease. This is not a positive way for one to look at the rest of their life. This is the model of  addiction treatment that most people are familiar with, but it is not the most successful. The behavior model of addiction treatment, which has an exponentially higher success rate, shows a person why they started using alcohol in the first place. People start drinking or using drugs to fill a void in their life, not because they have a disease. Once a person knows the reason why they started using, and works through the underlying issues they have in life, they can once again be contributing members of society.

Most alcohol addiction treatment varies in time length. The 28 day rehab was based originally on insurance companies. The insurance companies decided that a person could be cured in 28 days and treatment programs followed suit. This period of time is just not long enough for most people to acquire the skills that they need in order to stay sober. This is why long term, open ended treatment is necessary for anyone to overcome their addiction. Long term alcohol addiction treatment involves an open ended program, where a person doesn’t progress or graduate until they feel as if they are ready. This, and I can’t stress this enough, is imperative to any hope of long term sobriety.

Alcohol addiction treatment also varies widely in cost. You have free programs which have long waiting lists to get attend and desensitized staff. These types of programs have extremely low success rates. You then have programs whose fees are based on time. This type of  treatment is also unsuccessful, because when the money runs out, the patient is then on their own whether they are ready or not. The last, and by far the most successful, type of alcohol addiction treatment is the open ended one time fee program. This allows a patient to work at their own pace and not be rushed through a program. Alcohol addiction  takes time to handle and the road to recovery is different for all people. No one person can say that a person can be cured in four weeks or two months. Alcohol addiction treatment is a serious issue and with the right program and support can be overcome.