Alcoholism is never a choice. On the contrary, it’s a disease, and like all disease it exists outside the volitional power of its victims. No one ever decides to be a cancer patient. By the same token, no one ever decides to be an alcoholic. And, as should perhaps go without saying, no alcoholic can ever simply decide to get sober.
Alcohol recovery is and must be the product of private, professional alcohol rehab. There’s simply no other way for healing to happen. You wouldn’t expect a cancer victim to beat cancer without assistance from an oncologist. The same logic applies to alcoholics and alcoholism. If you’re going to get better, you’re going to need help.
The good news is that there are plenty of private alcoholism treatment facilities in Los Angeles. The only catch is that they aren’t all equally capable of helping their patients. Some “exclusive” alcohol rehabs really do deliver on their promises. Some don’t. If you’re going to win the fight against alcoholism, it’s going to be because you find an alcohol rehab center that can give you all the care you need to get better. Here’s hoping you can muster the strength and the wisdom to make the right choice.
How important are private drug and alcohol rehabs? The latest government research suggests that upwards of twenty million Americans exhibit symptoms of unhealthy dependence on habit-forming substances. That’s a staggering statistic, one that speaks in no uncertain terms to the central role of drug and alcohol rehab in shaping the future of the country. Addicts don’t get better outside of addiction treatment centers. Substance abuse is a disease, after all, one that can only be eradicated with professional substance abuse treatment. If you’re going to get better, in other words, you’re going to have to get help. And the good news is that drug and alcohol rehabs can make a world of difference in the lives of their patients.
The day you check into an exclusive rehab center will quite literally be the first day of the rest of your life. Addiction is a devastating disease. Drug and alcohol rehabs can repair the damage. The only catch, obviously, is that you have to give rehab a chance. Rehabilitation and recovery can’t start until you find the courage to take the first step. With so much to lose, and so much more to win, you can’t afford to wait another day.
The goal of an intervention is to get the person suffering from drug addiction or alcoholism to agree to be admitted to a luxury high-end residential drug or alcohol rehab facility. This has been discussed and agreed upon by the group, prior to the intervention. A promise to go, or a promise to stop drinking or drugging is not god enough. The addict or alcoholic must agree to take action now. Everyone must clearly communicate the consequences each will impose, if the person refuses to access the care the professional believes is warranted. These types of decisions can be life altering and extremely difficult that is the reason to include a professional interventionist at the actual intervention.
Why use an Intervention?
It was once believed that an individual struggling with drug addiction, alcoholism or resisting change had to “hit bottom” before they would become willing to get help and agree to enter a drug rehab program. While in some cases this may prove true, the problem with this concept is that someone could overdose, die or kill someone else while driving under the influence, while we sit by and wait for them to “hit bottom”. One of the goals of an intervention is to bring the bottom to the addict or alcoholic. What may take years to happen can be greatly accelerated, saving everyone involved a tremendous amount of pain and suffering.
Research shows that the majority of people enter treatment due to some type of external pressure. The threat of losing relationships, health, employment or even their reputation may motivate some to enter treatment, even if they are not thrilled to do so.
Inpatient and detox are considered the same level of care. Partial programs are also known as partial hospitalization or PHP. Partial programs consist of half days of rehab; either AM or PM. Short term can be anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks, full time, while living in a free standing alcohol rehab facility. Long-term alcohol rehab programs can last from 1 to 3 months, or more. Outpatient includes a wide variety of programs for patients attending rehab for a few hours several times per week. Most residential programs are based on the “Minnesota Model” of treatment. These programs involve a 3- to 6-weeks of inpatient followed by extended outpatient therapy and/or participation in 12-step, self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The goal of is to educate the alcohol user to the facts about chemical dependency and the changes needed to live a alcohol-free lifestyle. A variety of therapy can be included in a given alcohol rehab setting Most luxury or high-end addiction treatment programs provide interventionists, counseling, behavioral therapy, lectures, group therapy, discussion groups and other types of services to persons with alcohol use disorders.
I knew I had a problem, but I didn’t think that my drug and alcohol use was the problem.
I thought my uptight parents, my jerk boss and all the boring people I ran into every day were the problem. Then, I hit a serious bottom. I was arrested for drunk driving while my girlfriend was in the car. The next day she came over and told me something she had never told me before. She shared with me how a drug and alcohol rehab had saved her fathers life. Something inside me told me to listen to her, to trust her, and I did. A week later I checked into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and I have to say, it changed my life. I thought only losers went to drug rehab, but I was wrong. The private alcohol rehab I went to, in Malibu, CA, was full of loving, caring people that all wanted one thing, to recover from drug and alcohol abuse. Good people, loving people, funny people, sober people. Most importantly, what I learned is that I don’t have to go through this alone. And now, like my girlfriend (who is now my wife), I get to share with someone else about how this Malibu addiction treatment center saved my life.
Drug and alcohol rehab is the key to any life that has been destroyed by drug abuse or alcoholism. A lot of people think that drug and alcohol rehab are not effective at all. There are some people who believe that drug and alcohol rehab is not a way to successfully help a person kick the habit, but it turns out that drug and alcohol rehab may be the best ways to do that. There are so many people out there that can tell the world that their lives have been saved by drug and alcohol rehab. They can hold their heads high and be confident in the fact that they will no longer be plagued by the sadness that comes with being an alcoholic or from being a drug addict. That’s something special. I know what that feels like because I am a drug rehab success story. I learned how to better myself throug rehab and it is an experience that I will never forget. I love that about having gone to drug rehab. It not only meant that I was getting guaranteed help for what was ailing me, it also meant that I was strong enough to do something to better myself. Nothing beats that.
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.