Considerations When Picking a Rehab Center: Outpatient Treatment

If you have decided to change your life and seek out treatment for a drug or alcohol addiction, congratulations. You have begun the important process of becoming sober and that is a big deal. Sometimes, starting is the hardest part and that’s because you know so little when you get started.

The first things you need to learn about are inpatient or outpatient care. Both have advantages and drawbacks. This post will deal specifically with the pros and cons of outpatient care.

Part of preparing to undertake treatment is learning about the pros and cons and weighing which one would best help you to reach your goal. If the thought of that overwhelms you, reach out to the trusted advisors at RehabCenters.com. We accept calls 24 hours a day and we are waiting at 888-646-0635Who Answers? to connect you with resources and recommend treatment options. Let us help.

Data

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) performs a National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services. On March 29, 2013 were asked how many patients in treatment fell into specified subcategories of care. The results were as follows.

• Outpatient treatment: 90 percent
  • Regular outpatient care: 48 percent
  • Outpatient methadone/buprenorphine maintenance or Vivitrol treatment: 27 percent
  • Intensive outpatient treatment: 12 percent
  • Outpatient day treatment/partial hospitalization: 2 percent
  • Outpatient detoxification: 1 percent
• Residential (non-hospital) treatment: 9 percent
  • Long-term treatment (more than 30 days): 6 percent
  • Short-term treatment (30 days or fewer): 2 percent
  • Detoxification: 1 percent
• Hospital inpatient treatment: 1 percent

As you can see, the majority of people seeking treatment during the day this data was collected were overwhelmingly receiving outpatient rehab. But, that doesn’t mean that it is the perfect choice for all of them or for you. There are many factors to consider.

Outpatient Treatment

Outpatient care is the most popular treatment option, partially because it’s the most affordable.

As you can see in the data above, outpatient care does take different forms, so it is important to know that the following discussion may not be entirely true for all aspects of all type of outpatient care.

Outpatient, as the name would suggest, is a form of treatment where you visit the treatment facility regularly. Typically, patients visit the treatment center for therapy and other treatment components.

Benefits

The primary benefits of outpatient programs are financial. Because these programs do not provide room and board, they are much more affordable and that is a concern for most recovering addicts.

Another benefit is the patient’s ability to remain employed, in school, or both. Because you would primarily attend to your own treatment, you could still go about your daily life. This would also provide you with access to your family and friends, thus offering potentially more support than you might get if you were in a more isolated inpatient facility. Additionally, by leading your daily life while in treatment, you do not face the same transition issues that many people do when they exit inpatient treatment. You can smooth over those transitions during your outpatient program.

Drawbacks

However, this proximity to friends and family and ability to continue leading your life leads to one of the biggest detractors of outpatient care: the risk or relapse. With access to liquor and drugs, you may not be able to keep yourself from using.

Furthermore, outpatient programs are legitimately dangerous for some users. If there are dangers associated with your specific addiction, you may need to seek inpatient care. For example, the severity of your addiction may require round the clock medical care to protect you from the health fall-out of getting clean. You may have a comorbid disorder—another medically treatable condition on top of the addiction—like bipolar disorder or clinical depression. SAMHSA reports, “Approximately 8.9 million adults have co-occurring disorders; that is they have both a mental and substance use disorder.” In these instances, it may not be safe for you to take the brunt of the responsibility for your treatment.

Now that you have learned about outpatient care, you are probably ready to learn about inpatient care, look around the website for additional information and make sure to give us a call. You may be the perfect candidate for inpatient care and we can help connect you to resources and facilities. We can do the same for people seeking outpatient care. Give RehabCenters.com a call at 888-646-0635Who Answers?.

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