Addicted.org is not a drug rehab facility. Our goal is to help you find the services that are best for you or your loved one through our easy-to-navigate directory. We also have a confidential call center that can quickly help you assess what services can help you or your loved one.
Addicted.org is a family business backed by experience. Let our family help you save yours.
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EXPERTISE THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Our CEO Marcel Gemme has been working in the field of substance use and addiction recovery for over 20 years. He is a former counselor and is currently a certified Drug and Alcohol Treatment Specialist. With the help of his wife and daughters, Marcel built the Addicted.org directory from the ground up to combat addiction in the United States.
Our Medical Content Director, Rohit Adi M.D., has been practicing medicine for close to 30 years. He currently works as an ER doctor at Our Lady of the Lakes Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA. On top of this, he is the Medical Director and co-owner of a long-term drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Louisiana. His experience is second to none, and he uses this experience to ensure the medical information on our site is accurate and up to date.
What is Drug Rehabilitation?
When is the last time you stopped and asked yourself this? As is the case with most words, we've been hearing them our whole lives and may have never looked up what the definition of it is.
Well, rehabilitation is the action, process, or result of the verb "rehabilitate," which Merriam Webster defines as "To restore to a former capacity; reinstate." This definition makes sense when looking at what helps a person addicted to drugs and what treatment should look like. At the end of the process, they would ideally be how they were before using drugs.
Rehabilitation can then be seen as the act of restoring an individual to the condition they were in before using drugs.
Getting Help With Substance Use: The Basics
What Does Rehabilitation Look Like?
One of the keynotes of rehabilitation is that it restores a person's ability. Once they were able to function without drugs. They could hold a job, enjoy life, do a multitude of things, all of which evaporated as their downward spiral into addiction grew. But these abilities are not lost. And drug rehabilitation, which has as its core purpose the return of the ability to the individual, will always be a successful model.
It is essential to understand that rehabilitation from drug and alcohol use is unique to every individual. While excessive substance use needs to be handled, there are definitive levels of care and different services that are required depending on an individual's situation.
Let's look at the different drug rehab services available. We will explain what they are and who should utilize them.
Finding and Starting Drug Rehab
The Drug Rehabilitation Journey
Below is a rehabilitation timeline. As you read through, make an honest assessment of where you or your loved one is at, this will help you find the best services for your situation.
| Rehabilitation Step | Explanation | Who may need this service |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention (Pretreatment Step) | This is used when an individual hasn't realized or admitted he has a substance use issue. The process of intervention helps someone who may be unwilling to start on their recovery journey. | • Unwilling to get help • Do not think they have a problem with drugs or alcohol • Unable to be reached or located due to their continued drug use |
| Drug Detox and Medical Detox | This is usually the first step for many individuals who seek rehabilitation. Continuous drug and alcohol use can cause physical dependence. When coming off the substance, the body goes through withdrawal that causes extreme discomfort and is sometimes life-threatening. Depending on the type(s) of drug(s) and length of use there are two kinds of detox, medical and non-medical. Both provide a comfortable environment where an individual can safely come off drugs and alcohol under the supervision of medical professionals. The difference is medical detox uses prescription-strength medications to assist an individual through the withdrawal process. While not all withdrawal is life-threatening, making someone more comfortable during the process may be the difference between going to treatment and sticking with it once they start. | • Heavy alcohol users, Benzodiazepine users, & Opiate users (Medical) • Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Marijuana users (Non-Medical) • Individuals who are scared/unwilling to go to treatment due to fear of going through withdrawal |
| Inpatient Drug Rehab | This involves staying at a center for an extended period and providing an environment conducive to recovery. Lengths of stay vary, but the goal is to remove someone from their environment so they can focus on recovery. During this time, individuals handle underlying issues that can lead to substance use and learn tools to help them cope on their own. | • Individuals who have completed detox and are continuing their recovery journey • People who want to stop but are unable to due to environmental factors • For those who are abusing drugs and alcohol, a medical detox is not necessary |
| Outpatient Drug Rehab | This involves visiting a facility a couple of times a week to help someone stop or prevent substance use. While participating in outpatient rehabilitation, individuals usually work one-on-one with counselors and do different group activities. This service can help reinforce what was learned during inpatient rehabilitation or help educate those making poor decisions. | • Individuals who have completed inpatient rehab and are continuing their recovery journey • People who cannot attend inpatient rehab because of work or other responsibilities • Those who may be at high risk to acquire a substance use issue and have made poor decisions regarding drug and alcohol use |
How to Achieve Rehabilitation
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation takes effort and quite a bit of time. It requires addressing the physical, mental, and often spiritual damage that drugs inflict on a person. This includes intensive work, which aims to resolve the underlying issues that the person is using drugs to cope with or solve. It also involves relapse prevention, which gives the person a new set of tools to handle life's problems rather than resorting to substances to escape.
Rehabilitation exists to give people their lives back. Settling for anything less cheats people out of the miracles achieved every day in rehabs across the country.
