Any rehab that offers treatment for anyone addicted to any type of drug, should in effect be an holistic rehab whether they call themselves that will not.
It is an unfortunate fact that many people including rehabs use the word holistic because it appeals vert much to people’s sense of their own self-worth, and appeals to people’s belief that the rehab will treat the individual as a whole person, and not just treat their addiction.
Treatment of the whole person should be the focus of any rehab or any recovery process that may begin in a 12 step fellowship such as Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous.
The majority of rehabs will treat people both for drug addiction and alcoholism.
It is in the nature of rehab is that they like to treat people as addictive personalities, and as such do not focus too heavily on the nature of their addiction in terms of the recovery work.
The recovery work that is done in a drug rehab, whether it is called an holistic drug rehab or not should be largely of a therapeutic nature, and will quite often be based on the 12 step program initially used in Alcoholics Anonymous and adapted for use in Narcotics Anonymous and other Twelve Step fellowships.
Any rehab that offers addiction treatment programs for drug addictions should spell out specifically on its website which drugs, both prescription and non-prescription it will offer treatment for. This is crucially important from a point of view of understanding and be able to deal with a medical detox.
Anyone entering rehab should be assessed for whether or not a medical detox is needed. The rehab must have the facilities and the staff to adequately undertake such a clinical assessment to be able to determine whether a medical detox is needed or not.
If the medical detox is needed, then the rehab should either have the facilities and personnel to manage such a medical detox themselves, or have arrangements with a local clinical facility who can oversee and undertake the medical detox on their behalf.
This process should be clearly highlighted and spelt out on the rehab’s website. It is important in this context therefore that the rehab has qualified medical personnel who have specific experience of dealing with withdrawals from a wide range of narcotics and prescription drugs, and are able to manage these withdrawals in a safe and controlled manner.
Some holistic drug rehabs offer what they call an holistic detox. It is important to be clear that this is normally a very different process from a medical detox.
What is normally meant by an holistic detox is a cleansing process of the individual.
This cleansing process can be a physically cleansing process by way of diet, nutrition supplements, colonic irrigation etc.
It can also be an emotionally cleansing process by way of group therapy and other talking therapies. An holistic detox can also involve other less conventional forms of treatment such as sweat lodges etc.
Anyone undertaking a holistic detox should make sure that the rehab fully understands the so-called cleansing methods involved and is able to undertake them in a safe and controlled environment.