Understanding In-House Drug Rehab And How It Can Help
Inhouse drug rehab, also called inpatient or residential drug rehab, is a treatment program that is beneficial to those patients who need round-the-clock treatment and care as well as a safe and controlled facility in which to stay for the duration of their treatment. While residential drug rehab is not for everyone, there are some individuals who especially benefit from this type of treatment and should be able to have access to it in this case.
What is Inhouse Drug Rehab?
Inhouse drug rehab is a form of substance abuse treatment where patients stay in the facility where they receive their treatment for a certain period of time. Once they are ready to move on or start another method of treatment, they leave the facility with a stronger recovery. As stated, residential and inpatient treatment are two other terms for this type of program.
According to the NCBI, “Residential treatment for substance abuse comes in a variety of forms, including long-term (12 months or more) residential treatment facilities, criminal justice-based programs, halfway houses, and short-term residential programs.” One of these may be particularly beneficial to certain patients while other individuals may choose a different program within the facility. Every patient needs to choose the treatment method (including the facility) that is best for them.
How Can This Help Me?
Many individuals wonder why they should choose inpatient drug rehab over outpatient treatment. It can often be more expensive to choose the former, and attending inpatient rehab means being away from your family, friends, job, school, and life in general until you have been treated for the duration of your stay. Still, there are many reasons why choosing inpatient rehab could be beneficial to you.
Care for Other Mental Disorders
In residential treatment, there is often a better care system for those suffering from other mental disorders aside from just drug addiction. Surprisingly, this issue of comorbidity occurs much more frequently than most people realize. According to the NIDA, “Compared with the general population, people addicted to drugs are roughly twice as likely to suffer from mood and anxiety disorders, with the reverse also true.” Disorders like
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Phobias
- PTSD
are all more likely to occur in individuals who are also addicted to drugs.
However, “this does not mean that one caused the other, even if one appeared first.” Individuals with comorbidity issues need to be treated for both disorders equally. It will make it much easier for the individual to recover and be able to fully make changes to the way they behave and think. Treating an addiction without a possible co-occurring disorder that is likely to be affecting the former issue is not real treatment at all.
Inhouse drug rehab facilities are more likely to offer the kind of treatment those with comorbidity issues actually need. If you believe you might have depression or another disorder in addition to your addiction, inhouse rehab could help you immensely.
Providing Support
For those attending rehab, support from others can be an invaluable asset. It can be very difficult to feel that you are going through the difficult process of recovery all alone which is why knowing that your friends and family are supporting you is so incredibly important. However, some individuals do not have the kind of support described here. Either they have lost their loved ones as a result of their addiction or they do not have anyone close enough to them to gain a large basis of support.
If this is the case, inpatient treatment can help. Patients who do not have many close family members or friends often have a hard time fighting relapse, which is why being among strangers actually isn’t completely unhelpful during this time. According to the NIDA, one type of inpatient treatment follows the TC or therapeutic community method. These facilities often keep patients for a year or so and allow them to work on resocialization while they are there.
Resocialization uses “the program’s entire community––including other residents, staff, and the social context––as active components of treatment.” This way, patients are receiving support from all individuals present which makes their recovery stronger and reminds them of why they began attending rehab in the first place. Patients who attend TCs or even shorter inpatient treatment programs are able to receive the benefit of a strong, close-knit social support system which is especially helpful if they do not have this at home.
Medical Treatments
In some cases, patients struggle with a great deal of medical problems as a result of drug addiction. Heroin abuse can cause infections of the heart lining and valves and cocaine addiction can cause lung and heart damage. These are just scratching the surface of the issues someone can have if they abuse illicit drugs (and even prescription drugs) for long enough.
In inpatient rehab, medical treatments are more likely to be available to patients who need them as a result of drug addiction. Outpatient facilities often do not offer these types of treatment because they cannot afford to, but many inpatient facilities can and do. If you are struggling with medical issues as a result of your abuse, consider a specific inhouse rehab facility where you are assured treatment for both your addiction and your physical issues.
Safety
For many individuals who are abusing drugs, they can often be in an unsafe place emotionally and physically when they try to begin rehab. If a patient is
- Thinking of committing suicide
- Being threatened by individuals who don’t want them in treatment
- Living in a place that is not safe or likely to cause them to relapse
- Dealing with another issue that puts them in jeopardy
it may be necessary for them to go into an inhouse treatment facility instead of an outpatient one. It can be very difficult for a patient to move on from their addiction if they do not feel safe or are in a situation that perpetuates addiction. Being away from these issues in a facility that allows for reflection and the absence of fear can be just what a patient in this situation may need.