Drug treatment is not a cup of tea. People think that once they have got admitted to rehab, it means they will fully recover soon. It is not that easy. Consistency and effort from the addict’s side are equally important and helpful in getting recovered. Some people think that only faith can help in the cure. That’s certainly not possible. Proper treatment is highly required by the addict. People can have an addiction to different drugs. The treatment varies depending on the drug usage, its intensity, and type. There are many kinds of treatment to treat drug addiction but today we will be focusing on the outpatient treatment method.
What is Outpatient Treatment?
Outpatient treatment is a standard treatment program that aims to target the treatment of the people who can’t stay at rehab and recovery centers for a longer period. This provides flexibility to the patients. This treatment allows the patient to seek treatment while carrying out his routine activities. This treatment is also effective as it involves many intensive steps that are necessary for long-term recovery. The individual is not bound to stay at the rehab center and follow hospitalized treatment. Outpatient treatment is offered on two conditions:
1. Some patients are highly addicted to different drugs and they get admittance for the detox program. After detox treatment, they are admitted to hospital treatment known as Inpatient Treatment Program. After some time, when they overcome their addictions to a satisfactory level, they are allowed to seek outpatient treatment because the busy routines do not allow leaving work and responsibilities for a longer time. We can say that outpatient treatment is a kind of feasibility given to such patients who need to work and get treatment side by side.
2. In the second case, some addicts are at an initial stage. They detect their addiction at the initial level and decide to seek treatment. Such addicts do not require hospitalized treatment and they are fine with the limited services. Such patients stay at a detox center for a few days and later on their treatment is shifted to an outpatient program. Browse this site for more information.
Services of outpatient treatment
Outpatient treatment is quite similar to the inpatient one except for the stay at rehab. These addicts don’t have the facility of 24*7 evaluations. The services offered in the outpatient program are:
1. Group Counseling
Group counseling is very effective for the prevention of drug relapse. These sessions treat all the addicts in counseling sessions of the same format. These sessions are less expensive than the individual ones and highly beneficial as it motivates the addict to enhance his communication. He is motivated to show participation within social groups and improve socialization skills. Addicts collectively confront and discuss issues with each other. They support each other and motivate each other to structuralize their lives. They inspire each other to be disciplined and help the other addicts dealing with severe conditions. Often a group leader is assigned and he teaches innovative skills to the addicts so that they divert their minds and incorporate new optimistic behaviors.
2. Group Therapies
There are many variations when it comes to group therapies. In these therapies, groups are made to target specific concern areas. For example, a group is made who only focuses on the skills development of addicts. In these therapies, the addicts will be taught skills that will help them in refusing the drug offer in the future. They will be shown various scenarios that how people can trigger their minds to use drugs again and how they have to deal with such a situation. Apart from it, some groups are made to target aggressive behaviors. In these therapy sessions, the addicts will be given training of controlling their aggressive behavior. Similarly, some groups deal with stress management and they will train the addicts to deal with stressful events of life without the support of drugs, how they can control the stressful situation, and learn techniques to cope with the stress.
3. Support Groups
The third service that is being offered is support groups. This service includes the addicts that are dealing with the same stage and similar issues. Such addicts can better understand the feelings and state of each other. They are sharing the same feelings, emotions, and situations and hence become support systems of each other. The addicted members talk about immediate issues. They practice that how they can turn their negative thoughts to positive, how they can deal with various emotions; how they can change the way they behave etc. They learn and try new things together.
They are being taught that how they can deal with the conflicting situation without any violent behavior. Plus, they are trained to deal with tough times without using any substance. All the addicts are analyzed by the medical team that what are their actions for each other and how they are functioning in a collective group.
4. Familial Therapies
Family therapy often involves couples and sometimes entire family members. In these therapies, the families are assisted by the team that how they can foster a better relationship with the addict. They are told about the significant effects that are experienced by the addict and how the family can help the addict. These therapies further aim to resolve the conflicts between family members that often happens due to the addition of a certain family member. Love is a drug as well and family love has the power of helping the member in overcoming addiction. These therapies aim to upgrade family relations with the addict.
5. Psycho-Education Program
For these programs, psycho-educational groups are constructed that specifically target mental illness issues. The counselors of these programs have a strong command of the subject and provide knowledge to the addict. They cover a wide era of knowledge through support material like presentations, documents, etc. They provide referenced and fully resourced authentic information.
These sessions are about the personal stories and experiences of addicts and the stance of counselors on their stories. The counselor helps the addict in fostering his behavior and emotions.