Inpatient Treatment

There are numerous treatment options available for those looking to recover from drug addiction. Individuals who feel their drug addiction has affected their lifestyle such as their family, friends, or work will benefit greatly from inpatient treatment. This form of treatment provides the recovering drug addict with support 24-hours a day. Additionally, removing the individual from their former surroundings (in regards to drug using friends and the individual's personal drug using paraphernalia) helps them to adjust to living a drug-free lifestyle. The benefits of inpatient treatment also include the reduced likelihood of the individual using alcohol or drugs while in treatment as well as highly structured days.

Inpatient treatment can take place in a variety of locations. Many first think of hospitals or similar accommodations, however, this is not always the case. Inpatient treatment takes place in residential settings as well. In fact, the preferred treatment environment in a lot of inpatient situations would be one that was less restrictive than a hospital, but did have supervision and structure, such as residential inpatient treatment. These programs often offer supervised detoxification that may involve medication in a hospital setting or social detoxification (i.e. no medication) in a non-hospital setting.

Inpatient Short-Term
Short-term inpatient programs keep patients up to 30 days. Most of these programs focus on medical stabilization, abstinence, and lifestyle changes. Staff members are primarily medical professionals and trained counselors.

Short-Term Residential Programs provide intensive but relatively brief residential treatment based on a modified 12-step approach. Once primarily for alcohol abuse treatment, these programs expanded into drug abuse treatment in the 1980s. Reduced health care coverage for substance abuse treatment has resulted in a diminished number of these programs, and the average length of stay under managed care review is much shorter than in early programs, averaging 7-14 days.

Inpatient Long-Term / Residential
Long-term residential programs offer around-the-clock, drug-free treatment in a residential community of counselors and fellow recovering addicts. Patients generally stay in these programs several months or up to a year or more.

Long-Term residential programs provide care 24 hours per day, generally in non-clinical settings. The best-known residential treatment model is the therapeutic community (TC), but residential treatment may also employ other models, such as the Social Education Model.