Drug Treatment Center

The United States Department of Health lists over 11,000 treatment programs in the United States. These programs include residential drug treatment center programs, outpatient drug treatment center programs and hospital inpatient facilities for both drug addiction and alcoholism. The drug recovery program may include programs for heroin, cocaine, and marijuana treatment and also may specialize in programs for adolescents or for adults. Some programs include all age groups. Others even have facilities for women with children to receive treatment.

If you are searching for a drug treatment center for a friend or family member, you can search the database maintained by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).

l By location - You can pull a list of all facilities within a particular state, or for all facilities which are within a certain radius of a particular city.

l By primary focus - You may want to find a drug treatment center that treats drug abuse and alcoholism, or one that includes mental health treatment within its purview.

l By services provided - You will need to determine if the drug treatment center provides detoxification, methadone maintenance, methadone detoxification, halfway house services or other substance abuse treatment.

l By type of care - A treatment center can be hospital inpatient, residential long stay treatment, residential short stay treatment, hospital day treatment or outpatient treatment.

l By special program or group - The drug treatment center can include criminal justice clients, DUI/DWI clients, Men only, Facilities for children of clients, women, pregnant or nursing women, seniors, gay or lesbian, HIV/AIDS clients, clients with co-occurring disorders, or adolescents.

l By payment type - A drug treatment center may accept Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance assistance or self-pay. There may also be a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay.

All of the above factors can be important in making the decision as to which drug treatment center you want to attend or which one you want to recommend to the friend or family member for whom you are searching. Some of the questions which you should find the answers to before deciding on a drug treatment center are related to those above but there are other things to consider as well.

The cost of the program is something most people have to consider. You may like the amenities of a private residential facility, but it could be extremely expensive. On the other hand, there are very good facilities with a reasonable cost. Be sure to explore whether your private insurance or the insurance policy of the patient will cover the cost of a drug treatment center.

You will want to take into consideration the age and gender of the person needing rehabilitation. Studies have indicated that gender specific programs have a better chance of success than co-educational ones. Find a drug treatment center that is designed for the type of person who will be attending and chances are higher that the recovering will be long-term.

For a residential setting, which is what most patients find most likely to lead to long term abstinence, it is important to have staff members who not only understand what the patient is going through, but are trained in supervision without regimentation. Counselors in the more up-to-date facilities are often former drug users who are maintaining a drug free life style. They are in a better position to fully understand and support the drug user in the battle to be drug free.

A drug treatment center that has the capability to offer one-on-one counseling as well as group therapy is preferable to no psychological treatment or behavioral treatment for the patient. In the same way that detoxification by itself does not prove effective for long term abstinence results, maintenance therapy with the use of drugs such as Methadone without any other treatment does not show a good long term recovery record.

What is required is assistance to change behavior, counseling to understand the reasons for the addiction in the first place, group therapy to learn alternative methods of coping with the stressors of everyday life. In addition, medical and life skills therapy is also a needed component in a high quality treatment center.

At least two other factors should be checked when deciding on a drug treatment center. First is the underlying philosophy toward treatment. Some centers look upon addiction as a disease and treat accordingly. Others blame addiction on the environment and treat accordingly. Without making a judgment call as to which one is correct--if either, it does make a difference in how treatment is pursued. Some philosophies may fit better with one personality type and some with another.

Another factor to look at is the role of religious beliefs in treatment. If a drug treatment center is funded or staffed by a religious institution you should make sure the patient's belief system will accommodate the religious beliefs which may be expressed by staff and other patients. Otherwise, probably a center operated by another entity would be more appropriate.

One more important factor in selecting a treatment center location is the importance of follow-up support and guidance. Usually the residential program, like the detoxification portion is one part of the entire process of recovery. After the patient has returned to the community, there will be additional stresses which he or she must learn to cope with in order to stay drug-free. It is easier if the patient is able to continue group support sessions or ongoing therapy programs for a significant amount of time following release in order for the recovery program to be most effective. If there is a relapse, particularly, the patient can return to an earlier point in the drug therapy program in order to continue improving.

It's important to try to find the best match possible between patient and center, but also not to be too disappointed if the first effort at rehabilitation doesn't work for your friend or family member. Sometimes it takes several tries before the addict is able to remain drug free.