Alcohol Treatment Program

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a condition that’s diagnosed when a patient develops an addiction to alcohol and its consumption creates significant health and social problems. It can range from mild and severe, depending on the symptoms and time frame, and recovering from it depends on where the patient falls in that range.

Patients with severe AUD are alcohol-dependent and experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop drinking all of a sudden. Stopping cold turkey after a long period of drinking excessively can yield discomforting and even deadly results. That is why knowing about alcohol treatment programs is important.

What is Alcohol Treatment?

Alcohol treatment, or detox, is the first step towards recovering from alcohol dependence. Within 6 to 24 after an alcoholic’s last drink, they may experience withdrawal symptoms that may start even when there’s still alcohol in the blood. This is called alcohol withdrawal syndrome, or AWS.

These symptoms can range from mild like anxiety, sweating, and shakiness. It can get worse with trouble sleeping, hallucinations, and depression. It can even get to severe symptoms like nausea and vomiting, fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rate, and delirium tremens (DT’s).

Delirium tremens is a life-threatening condition that causes one to be restless, confused, and distressed, as well as cause physical symptoms such as fever, hallucinations, and seizures.

In extreme cases, the withdrawal can get so bad that the symptoms can end in a heart attack. A severe case of AWS is considered a medical emergency.

This makes quitting alcohol a difficult endeavor, which is why it’s necessary to undergo a proper alcohol treatment program in order to recover from alcohol dependence.

Do You Need an Alcohol Treatment Program?

A lot of people like to have a drink every now and then. However, if your body needs alcohol just to feel normal, then you most likely need help. Recovering from alcohol dependence is not merely a matter of willpower, but also understanding what alcohol does to the body and the lengths one must take to become sober—lengths that require outside help.

The first thing you must look into when you’ve made the decision to be rid of the bottle for good is to look for “alcohol treatment programs near me”. Even within the first 24-72 hours of your withdrawal—an ordeal that can last for up to a week or more—you will need lots of help to get you through the worst.

Types of Alcohol Treatment Programs

The two main options for alcohol treatment programs are inpatient programs and outpatient programs.

Inpatient programs require patients to reside in the treatment center for the entire process in order to receive round-the-clock care and support. They cost more, but provide more hands-on services, giving them a higher success rate. Most 90-day alcohol treatment programs tend to be done with inpatient treatment.

Outpatient programs allow patients to live at home and visit a health care professional on a regular basis to get prescriptions and therapy. They cost less, but are only viable for patients with stable homes and good support systems. You can find 28-day alcohol treatment programs in outpatient settings for mild cases of alcohol dependence.

There are also other programs that can support both, such as a 12-Step Program, which is a prominent example of Christian alcohol treatment programs that use faith-based methodology to enforce sobriety.

Mild to severe cases of alcohol dependence may require a 26-week alcohol treatment program from start to finish in order to ensure success and minimize the chance of relapse, along with aftercare.

How to Choose an Alcohol Treatment Program

The cost of alcohol treatment programs can vary, depending on your particular needs, as well as other medical and mental health conditions you may also have.

For instance, if you don’t have a strong support network, an inpatient program is recommended. If your condition isn’t severe, an outpatient program may be more economical and less intrusive.

You’ll have to look at various criteria to decide on which program is best for you, like what types of insurance they take, staff credentials, counseling and other medical services, aftercare program, success rate, and so on.

Aftercare

Upon completing the treatment program and re-entering normal life, the battle has only just begun. The rest of the patient’s life will be an ongoing struggle to not relapse, which is why there must be an aftercare program to help the patient with the process of staying sober, whether through 12-step programs, therapy, group counseling, or so on.

Broadway Treatment Center provides comprehensive alcohol treatment programs in Orange County, CA for patients in need of help to recover from their alcohol dependence.