Getting someone to face the concept of inpatient drug rehabilitation to handle an addiction problem is hard enough; much less consider a long term rehab program. The stigma surrounding addiction treatment and the dogmatic methods used bring about the belief there is no real reason to consider anything but a short term treatment option. The fact is, the only reason a short term 30 day drug rehab program exists is that's all the insurance companies want to pay for.
Most insurance policies do not cover inpatient drug rehab programs longer than 21 or 30 days, and they most certainly do not cover any kind of sober living or continued aftercare for the most part. When it comes to long term drug rehabs that can actually progressively work towards a continued improvement in the addicts outlook and disposition, there are only a few options.
First, lets take a look at a few basic principles as to why short term drug rehab programs have low success rates on a fundamental level. Substance abuse or any kind of drug use, even prescribed drugs take a toxic toll on the body and in the process deplete the body's natural stores of vitamins, minerals, and hormones, causing uncomfortable and unpleasant side-effects and even new diseases. The drug-induced nutrient depletion suppresses the very nutrients that you need to keep energy levels high, fend off infections, and remain healthy.
When a person has suppressed their ability to feel good, while acting and reacting to life and its issues it creates a negative impact on addict's emotional state setting a series of learned negative behavior. In other words people take drugs to handle some sort emotional or physical problem which the drug alleviates, and now places value on the substance to the abuser. That value now needs justification for continued use. With the deficiencies created the abuser now feels worse which leads to more drug or alcohol abuse and justification to support it and the unwanted behavior. This leads to the inability to take responsibility for ones actions, demoralizing and degrading behavior and finger pointing as means of explaining away the flagrant transgressions committed.
There are hidden physiological mechanisms causing negative unwanted feelings going on behind the scenes that the now addict is completely unaware of. Unraveling the toxic effects of the drugs takes time. As an example Vitamin B is a key nutrient needed for production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin deficiencies are at the root of depression, anxiety and moon swings and a lack therein can significantly increase the desire to abuse more alcohol or drugs as a quick fix. Remedying these deficiencies can take 90- 100 days based on studies by National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Allowing sufficient time for the addict to fully recover physically prior to any counseling or life skills management can only be accomplished in a long term inpatient drug rehabilitation program. Many treatment programs, although inpatient drug rehabs, offer counseling or meetings while the body has yet to recover. This is putting the cart before the horse and leads to a continued dwindling spiral for the addict as he continually stacks up failure after failure.
By the time the substance abuse or addiction problem is truly confronted, years of use and abuse are now tangled with all the unwanted feelings and problems that come along with it and are all bungled up in one convoluted mess. Getting over the physical ailments and dysfunction caused by the addiction can take months alone, much less unraveling the mountain of confusion and problems heaped atop the addict. This simply cannot be done in a short term drug rehabilitation program and brings to light why their success rates are dismal.
Inpatient drug rehabilitation programs of sufficient length that offer a completely holistic (drug free) approach offer significantly improved success rates by starting from the ground up. Handling the physical duress experienced during drug abuse first lays the foundation for improved abilities to truly confront unwanted mental emotional feelings. These unwanted feelings like at the core of the problem and more likely dealt with successfully in an inpatient drug rehabilitation program of three months of longer.
