Long Term Rehab

Addiction is a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people around the UK and Europe. It’s also a condition that afflicts someone through a slow and gradual process. In other words, very rarely does an addict find him or herself in this state overnight. It generally takes months of consistent excessive drinking or drug abuse before someone finally winds up an alcoholic or drug addict.

Given the fact that addiction develops over time, rehab also takes time as well. Long-term rehab is more than just a one-week detox programme and a handshake. It is a process that can take anywhere between 2 and 12 months of drug rehab treatment, depending on the individual and the severity of his or her addiction.

Definition of Rehab

To understand what rehab is, it helps to understand the dictionary definition of the word ‘rehabilitation’. The Oxford online dictionary defines rehabilitation as restoring someone ‘to health or normal life by training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness…’

As a means of restoring someone to health or normal life, alcohol rehab is intended to help the alcoholic return to the life he or she knew before they started drinking. That means a life of better health, better relationships, better finances, and effective strategies for dealing with the pressures and temptations of life. Make no mistake; rehab is not the same thing as detox.

Detox or detoxification is the process of breaking the physical addiction to alcohol by forcing the individual to be separated from it. During the detox process, the body is able to rid itself of alcohol and its associated compounds. Most people can complete detox in a week or less. The purpose behind long-term rehab is to do what physical detox cannot: address the mental and emotional aspects of addiction.

Rehab Basics

There are private rehab clinics all over the UK offering a full compendium of services. This makes it impossible for us to present a therapeutic plan that would apply to every alcoholic. What’s more, there is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach for everyone who enters rehab.

That said, there are some basic guidelines we can present that are common to most rehab programmes. The first is the fact that long-term rehab programmes are based on a residential model. That means the alcoholic lives at the rehab facility for the duration of the programme. Other guidelines are as follows:

• Detox – Although detox and rehab are two separate things, rehab is impossible without first completing detox. The physical addiction to alcohol must be broken before the mental and emotional issues can be dealt with.

• Medications – Private clinics are staffed by medical professionals capable of administering medications to aid both withdrawal and maintenance. Sometimes medications are necessary because withdrawal can present a medical emergency. Rest assured that medications are only used when absolutely necessary.
  • Counselling – An important part of every rehab programme is counselling, both one-on-one and in a group setting. They can be an important part of alcohol or drug rehab. UK experts often agree that one-on-one counselling can help the alcoholic deal with those issues he or she are unable to identify and work through on their own. Group counselling offers support and accountability by placing the alcoholic in a group with his/her peers.
• Group Activities – Controlled group activities, such as scheduled field trips to sporting events and the like, are used to teach the recovering alcoholic that he or she can indeed enjoy life without a drink in their hand. These activities also serve to strengthen the bonds between all of the members of the group.

• Skills Training – Helping the recovering alcoholic prepare for life after rehab is the goal of skills training. This type of training teaches the individual how to handle daily pressures and avoid the temptation to return to drinking.

• Aftercare – The final step in any long-term rehab programme is known as aftercare. This is a group of therapies that are, by design, very similar to what the recovering alcoholic experienced while in residential treatment. Aftercare is intended to support the individual as a means of avoiding relapse.

If you are considering a long-term rehab programme for yourself or someone you love, plan on the shortest residential programme lasting about six weeks. Some can go as long as 12 weeks if circumstances warrant. After the residential treatment, plan on at least three months of aftercare. During this time, it might be possible to continue with maintenance medications if they are medically warranted.

Financial Considerations

If you are considering a long-term rehab programme, please remember that services offered by private clinics are not free. Private medical insurance often covers these programmes, at least in part. People who do not have private health insurance do have other options:

• grants from alcohol charities
• NHS grants (this is a last resort for the NHS)
• donations from friends or family
• commercial lending options.

Even if you or a loved one cannot afford a long-term rehab programme at a private clinic, do not let that dissuade you from seeking the help you need. Most organisations involved in alcohol rehab live by the old adage that says, ‘where there is a will, there is a way’.

Even if no means of paying for private care can be found, there are other programmes offered by alcohol recovery charities, independent support groups, professional counselling services and the NHS. Somewhere there is a programme every alcoholic can benefit from.

It’s Your Choice

Now that you’re almost done reading, what will you do? How you use the information we have provided is entirely your choice. However, remember this: no alcoholic can be helped by a long-term rehab programme until he or she wants to be helped. Entering a rehab programme unwillingly is a recipe for failure.

If you think you might have an alcohol problem, your first step is to call us or your NHS physician for an evaluation. If your alcohol use does not constitute dependency yet, there is still help available for alcohol abuse. If you are an alcoholic already, an initial consultation should reveal that.

Please understand that alcohol abuse and dependency does not affect only you. It affects everyone around you, including your loved ones. For both their sake and yours, make the decision today to seek help in a long-term rehab programme. It might be the best decision you have ever made.

The question of visitors during rehab is a sticky one and something that needs to be handled delicately at all times. More than one alcoholic has declined residential treatment out of fear that he or she wouldn’t be able to see loved ones for months at a time. Therapists and clinic operators understand this. They do their best to make accommodations when feasible.

Before we get into the specifics regarding visitors and rehab, you need to understand that every clinic operates differently. There are many different lines of thinking when it comes to whether or not visitors should be allowed, what types of visitors should be allowed, and when visits should take place.

Our job, as an independent referral service, is to make sure we are able to tell you the basic visitation policies of all the clinics we work with. We do our best in this regard. Nevertheless, be aware that visitation policies may change from time to time.

Why Patients Want Visitors

It is completely understandable that patients entering an alcohol or drug rehab programme would want to see visitors from time to time. Family members and close friends provide some much-needed comfort and encouragement in the darkest days of rehab. We would be concerned if an addict did not want visitors.

Yet what most addicts don’t realise is that addictive behaviour changes the entire family dynamic. What the addict might see as a healthy family relationship could be, in fact, a very unhealthy one. Therapists and clinical staff must balance the health of the family unit against the desires of the addict in recovery.

Dangers of Allowing Visitors

As helpful as visits from friends and loved ones can be, they can be equally dangerous. Let’s discuss the idea of enabling as just one example. Enabling is best described as attitudes or actions among friends and loved ones that encourage the addict to continue his/her destructive behaviour.

One of the ways enabling manifests itself is through family members or friends making excuses for the addict. They may say things like, “He can’t help himself, he had a rough childhood.” These types of excuses only serve to reinforce the addict’s belief that he/she cannot survive without alcohol or drugs.

If family members express such enabling thoughts during visits, they could very easily undo all the work that has been done during a week’s worth of therapy sessions. It’s amazing how much damage can be done by a remark that seems so innocent.

Another danger of rehab visits comes by way of family members not getting along. For example, if a wife is extremely angry with her husband for his drunkenness (which is completely understandable), demonstrating that anger during a visit could throw the addict into a tailspin that sends him right back to drinking.

Guidelines for Visitors

As you can see, allowing visitors has both benefits and dangers. When a residential programme does allow visitors, there are typically some guidelines that go along with it. Some examples of those guidelines are as follows:

• Approval – In almost every case, visitors must be approved by the therapist handling the individual addict’s case. The therapist is the one most qualified to know whether visits will be beneficial or damaging. Without the therapist’s approval, visits probably will not be allowed.

• Scheduling – An important part of residential alcohol recovery is setting and maintaining a concrete schedule. The highly structured environment is necessary to teach recovering alcoholics a measure of self-control. For that reason, clinics allowing visits usually limit them to certain days of the week and certain times during those days.

• Time Limits – Along with scheduling comes time limits. Visitors will be given a certain amount of time to which they will be expected to adhere. Once that time is up, the visit must end without delay. Exceeding time limits is a good way to get your friends and family members banned from future visits.

• Environment – When visitors are allowed, it’s normally within a controlled environment. In other words, recovering addicts and their families will need to stay inside a certain area so they can be monitored by therapists and clinical staff. They also might be confined in terms of the types of activities they enjoy. Again, this is all to make sure visitors do not undo any progress that has already been made.

Family Counselling

There’s something else to consider in addition to whether or not visits are allowed: the concept of family counselling. The best residential treatment programmes recognise that addiction affects the entire family rather than just the individual. To that end, such programmes also include at least a limited amount of family counselling.

Here’s how it might work:

• the family might undergo separate counselling during the first few weeks of recovery

• the family is eventually invited to join the addict for a few weeks of joint counselling

• family members are encouraged to seek aftercare while the addict continues his/her therapy

• families may participate in aftercare together once the recovering addict returns home.

The guidelines for family counselling are as different as the clinics offering residential programmes. That’s something we inquire about when we investigate treatment options in the UK. We believe family treatment to be a very important component to successful recovery.

Getting Help

We cannot stress enough the need for you to get help with your alcohol or drug problem, regardless of whether or not you’ll be able to receive visitors during your stay at a residential treatment facility. After all, you might lose your family entirely if you fail to seek treatment. Would it be better to be apart for 10 to 12 weeks or to be separated forever?

Another thing to think about is the fact that your doctor or therapist may determine the best thing for you would be to seek help on the other side of the country. Sometimes being completely cut off from friends and family is necessary in order to truly address addiction problems.

If all of this seems overwhelming to you, we want you to know we are here to help you. We already know and understand the various treatment options available; we are prepared to walk you through those options as soon as you contact us. Above all else, our number one goal is to make sure you get the help you need as quickly as possible.

Who Needs Addiction Treatment in Southampton?

One of the main reasons for why it can be so difficult to help people in Southampton with addiction problems is that most of us will be convinced that our problems are not serious enough to warrant such help. Even when we reach a stage where we are prepared to admit that alcohol or drugs, be it taking canabis or cocaine, is having a negative impact on our life, we can still hold onto the idea that we will be able to sort things out for ourselves – just not now. This type of thinking has meant that people have ended up enduring a great deal of unnecessary suffering, instead of turning to drug rehab.

In too many cases, it meant that the person died still convinced that their addiction problems were not that serious. It is vital that you understand that this addiction is your most pressing concern in life, and that if you do not get help you could easily lose everything. You have already lost enough. If you are considering checking into one of our local drug rehab clinics call us now on 0800 140 4824. You can find out about your addiction recovery options in Southampton.

The Dangers of Delaying Addiction Recovery

It is often said that addiction is a disease that tells you that you don’t have it. It is also a condition that deludes you into believing that you have all the time in the world to get help. If people who fell into addiction were not caught up in so much denial, it is unlikely that any of them would be able to continue with this behaviour. The physical and psychological dependence leads the person to think irrationally, and to ignore the reality of their situation. This is not something that they will be consciously doing – it is just the nature of addiction. It is therefore vital that the person is able to break through this fog of denial. They must see that they not only need to end the substance abuse, but that they need to do this now. If they delay getting help for this problem, they are taking an unacceptable risk because:

• · Addiction is often described as a downward spiral. This refers to the fact that things tend to get worse over time. The individual may have good days and bad days but overall things will be getting worse for them. This means that the longer they remain addicted, the more they will end up suffering.
• · The individual will be delaying the time that they begin putting their life back on track. This means that they will be delaying their own happiness.
• · There is no guarantee that the person will be able to stop later if they cannot stop now. In fact, it may be less likely that they will be able to stop because of the nature of addiction. Some people will mistake ideas about hitting rock bottom as meaning that they need to keep on with the substance abuse until they feel able to stop. This is an extremely dangerous misunderstanding. The reason people hit rock bottom is that they decide they’ve had enough – this can happen at any time during the addiction process, but the person has to make it happen. If the individual waits to hit some magical rock bottom, they are likely to end up dying as a result.
• · The longer the person remains addicted the more they are going to hurt other people. The individual is not responsible for ending up with an addiction problem, but they are responsible for remaining that way.

Now is the Time to End Addiction in Southampton

There is no better time for you to end your addiction problems than right now. You should check into one of our local drug rehabilitaion centres. We will be able to tell you about recovery resources available in the Southampton area – or elsewhere in the UK or even internationally if you would prefer. Call us now, or just text the word “help” to 66777. You do not need to commit to anything, but it will help to know your recovery options if you should decide to quit.