Recovery can be a long and winding road. For many people, it takes years before they find the right program to receive the best treatment. However, as medical knowledge has advanced, it has become easier for people to seek better ways to recover from alcohol or drug abuse. Today, rehab centers provide a safe and familiar environment for patients to receive diverse types of treatment.
In recent decades, detox has become a significant part of rehab because it provides faster relief and helps people transition away from addictive behaviors to healthier ones. Medical detox centers help those addicted to alcohol, benzodiazepines, opioids, or other drugs from intense withdrawal symptoms. In this article, we explore whether a medical detox program should be part of a comprehensive addiction treatment program or whether it should be a standalone program.
How Rehab Centers with Detox Services Differ from Standalone Detox Centers
According to many drug addiction experts, patients who receive both therapeutic and medical phases of treatment are more likely to achieve and maintain sobriety. Patients not only receive psychotherapy to increase self-awareness as well as learn essential life skills to improve communication, relationships, and self-care, but they also receive medical detox to cope with their withdrawal symptoms.
On the other hand, standalone detox centers offer a more specialized approach to addiction treatment. While they still provide some counseling during the treatment process as well as follow-up therapeutic services after a patient has completed their stay, they are not dedicated to providing in-depth psychological, social, and educational features. They consider these aspects of recovery secondary rather than primary.
Pros and Cons of Rehab Centers with Detox Services
Counseling and addiction treatment programs are available at rehab centers with detox services. Patients receive an array of services in a supportive environment to help them cope with life’s challenges. Besides psychological sessions and detox treatments, clients will also take special classes to learn how to rebuild their self-esteem and confidence, improve their social skills, and apply stress management techniques.
Although these centers offer medically supervised detox services to aid in the recovery process, they only offer a standard detox treatment program to ensure the safety and health of their patients. Since most of their available organizational resources are directed to empowering patients to be more self-reliant, only a small staff manages the detoxification aspect of the recovery program.
Pros and Cons of Standalone Detox Centers
A standalone detox center offers patients a more thorough and intense detoxification process than the traditional rehab model. They believe that a larger staff with better medical and technical qualifications and more experience ensures higher levels of safety, quality, and treatment efficacy.
Because most of their organizational resources are allocated to hiring a medical team with pharmaceutical knowledge and medical technical expertise, standalone detox centers often lack the psychological, social, and educational support of a residential treatment program. While counseling is still available, it primarily focuses on helping patients cope with their body’s adaptation to the detoxification process. Standalone detox centers do not put an emphasis on developing psychological maturity or life-management skills, such as self-reliance, personal accountability, and relationship management skills.
Deciding Between the Two Types of Rehab Centers
While there is nothing inherently flawed with a holistic approach where a patient receives both psychological and medical care, a good argument can also be made for standalone detox centers that offer more specialized medical care for addiction. The key difference between these two models is where resources are focused. While both models provide psychological and medical detox services, they do so in different ways. Traditional rehab centers provide services like counseling, group therapy, relapse prevention, 12-step meetings, and education on how to overcome addiction. Conversely, standalone detox centers provide services specifically designed to reduce intense withdrawal symptoms from highly addictive drugs quickly and effectively.
Taking sides and claiming that one is better than the other is a mistake. It is better to ask what a patient needs. When a patient has intense cravings for a particular drug, it will be challenging for them to pay attention to the nuances of becoming more self-aware and a more responsible person. Specialized detox centers are the fastest way to provide relief for these patients. However, patients who have resorted to alcohol or drug abuse as a numbing agent to blank out traumatic memories and who are only experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms, will be better served by programs that focus on psychological well-being. Finally, it’s possible to choose both. Someone can start with one recovery model and then transition to the next.
As you begin your healing journey, we can help you sort through the available rehab treatment plans. Contact our counselors at 833-610-1174 for help and guidance on how to begin your recovery journey.