Inpatient Drug Rehabilitation

One of the most common methods of treating addiction is through inpatient drug rehabilitation. In this type of treatment, the patient stays in a hospital or clinical setting for a prescribed amount of time. The length of time of each person’s treatment varies. Most programs have a set minimum amount of a time a person much stay, but the length of stay after that can sometimes vary depending on a person’s individual situation and progress while in the program. The first part of an inpatient drug rehabilitation program is the detoxification process.

This process, usually referred to as detox, represents the very minimum amount of time a person should stay in the setting. During this time, which usually lasts from a few days to a week, the person experiences the extreme physical symptoms of withdrawal from the drug or drugs they’ve become addicted to. In some cases, as with heroin addiction, careful monitoring of the person’s health is vital because of the serious physical problems that can result from extreme withdrawal.

Some inpatient drug rehabilitation programs allow a person to leave shortly after the detox period and come back regularly in an outpatient drug treatment program. Most inpatient programs, though, at least encourage people to remain inpatient for a longer period of time. Often, the length of time people stay depends on how well they manage without the drugs and how confident they feel about going to back to the outside world. Some inpatient drug rehabilitation programs require a certain length of stay that can range anywhere from 30 days to 6 months or more.

The benefits of inpatient drug rehabilitation as opposed to outpatient rehabilitation start with the fact that the people in the program don’t have to face the every day stresses and pressures that might have lead them to start using drugs in the first place. They’re sheltered in a safe environment where they can try to overcome the addiction, deal with the physical symptoms of withdrawal and in most programs also deal with the psychological issues that caused, or have been caused by, their drug addiction.

An inpatient drug rehabilitation program gives people the freedom to deal with things more on their own time. If they know that their job stress or their group of friends are triggers that lead them to abuse drugs then while in the inpatient program they have time to prepare for these eventual problems and temptations. They also get to practice living without the drugs before being faced with more difficult situations. Almost all inpatient programs, once the patient is released, provide outpatient services for follow-up and to help keep the patients focused on their recovery and more able to avoid temptation.

Another benefit of good inpatient drug rehabilitation programs is the ability for the staff to better observe the patients. This allows them to see where their weak spots are and help them to identify and overcome problems that might not have been noticed in an outpatient setting.

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