Who Should Go to Outpatient Drug Rehab?
Outpatient drug rehab has some limitations. Personally, outpatient never really worked in my specific path to sobriety. But there are some benefits to it as well, and it seems to work for some.
Outpatient is essentially the day program at a residential treatment facility without actually staying in the facility overnight. In other words, with outpatient treatment, you go from your home to the treatment center each day, and then stay there and attend lectures and groups all day, then come back home at night.
So outpatient is really a step down from staying overnight in an inpatient setting.
Is outpatient treatment effective?
Some people do find success in outpatient drug rehab, but the odds are lower than if they had checked into a residential program. The research seems to back this up.
Are there any benefits to outpatient treatment?
Sure outpatient treatment is more convenient, because you can go home each night. So it does not disrupt your life as fully as if you were to go stay somewhere inpatient for a few weeks. The overall expense will be much lower, as you don’t have to pay for an inpatient facility to put you up for a few weeks and provide meals.
In a lot of cases you can continue to stay employed whole goint to outpatient, so this can be a big plus for many people as well.
Who should go to outpatient drug rehab?
People who have never tried any treatment before might do well in outpatient treatment, so it might be worth a try for some. If it works in your situation, this is fantastic. Sobriety is what matters. Results matter.
On the other hand, if you’ve tried and failed previously with outpatient treatment then it might be time to consider other paths to recovery. Residential treatment is just one of those possibilities. You might think about trying some AA or NA meetings or perhaps getting into some regular therapy sessions each week. There are several ways to get clean and sober in the long run.
If you attempt one strategy for recovery and it fails for you, my advice is to try again with a more structured environment next time. If outpatient fails for you, then step up to inpatient. If this also fails you, then you could step up to a long term facility. You get the picture.
