An alcohol rehab center is a clinical facility that offers addiction treatment programs for alcoholics, drug addicts, people with other types of addictions, also known as people who are dual diagnosed.
The term alcohol rehab center is also sometimes shortened to simply rehab, or is known as a treatment center, or a substance abuse addiction centre. And alcohol rehab center will normally be residential with clients staying a average period of about four weeks.
Some alcohol rehab centres offer longer stays, and some rehabs will offer ongoing longer term treatment with what is sometimes known as second stage treatment.
An alcohol rehab center will normally be set in a fairly serene and tranquil environment, with substantial buildings and facilities, whilst it is not a hotel, its standard of luxury will sometimes resemble that of a well-known resort. There is a substantive amount of reasoning behind this approach.
There is a belief that in order to really help an alcoholic understand the nature of that alcoholism, the alcoholic needs to be treated with dignity and respect.
To this end the physical environment that the alcohol rehab center is situated in will be comfortable and relaxing, whilst at the same time it’s therapeutic programmes will be challenging and in many ways difficult.
Alcohol Rehab Center – Programs
An alcohol rehab center will have a number of therapeutic addiction treatment programs designed to help someone who is an alcoholic understand, or begin to understand the nature of that alcoholism.
The very nature of alcoholism means that it is a complex illness, that can take a long time for the alcoholic to make sense of, or to begin to understand. Whilst an alcoholic is spending time in an alcohol rehab center, the clinical staff and clinical experts will be helping the alcoholic to see that alcohol is in many ways a symptom of the illness.
In many ways an alcoholic will often see alcohol as being the solution to his or her problem, not the problem itself, which is a deep hold emotional belief, and acts as the central piece of denial that an alcoholic will have about the nature of their drinking and their alcoholism.
An alcohol rehab center will have a number of clinical experts on staff, who will range from medical doctors, nurses, psychiatrists through to dieticians, nutritionists and social workers. An alcohol rehab center will have a number of programs which are its in-house treatment methods.
Whilst these will vary from rehab to rehab, most of them will be variations on different types of therapy/counselling. An alcoholic rehab center will most likely adapt a number of its therapeutic programs from the first five steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and use the principles contained in those first five steps as the basis for their own therapeutic approach.