Alcohol rehab-an unfortunate kept secret
04 Jul 2007
They work. That’s the truth about alcohol rehab centers: They really do work. Alcohol rehab patients really do get sober. Alcohol rehab graduates really do go on to lead meaningful lives.
As for the alcoholic in you…well, he really will be missed. Or then again maybe not.
The effectiveness of alcohol rehab centers is one of the best and most unfortunately kept secrets in America. It is perhaps our collective fascination with failure that generates so much publicity for relapse stories: for tales of alcoholics who try and fail to get an upper hand on their demons. But relapse stories, sad as they are, don’t tell the whole truth about alcohol rehab and alcohol treatment. In fact, they don’t tell much of the truth at all.
Alcohol rehab success stories often go unacknowledged because they are by their very nature unremarkable. A recovered alcoholic isn’t as socially visible as a lapsed one; a recovered alcoholic looks just like you, and just like any of us, and so is exceptionally unlikely to generate the sort of headlines that end up on the 6 o’clock news.
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t real. And it doesn’t mean his story isn’t worth telling…or that you, whoever you are and wherever you come, can’t have the same success.