For most alcoholics and drug addicts, a residential alcohol or drug rehab program is the best way to begin to earnestly pursue a program of recovery from alcoholism or addiction. A residential program not only ensures that the participant remains abstinent from his drug of choice, whether it be alcohol or some other drug, but it also provides an environment free from any of the outside dynamics that have influenced the addict’s most recent addictive behavior prior to entering treatment. In a residential program, there are no arguing spouses to deal with (except on visitation days); no angry bosses, employees, co-workers, or other job pressures; no bills to pay; no promises to keep; and most importantly, no addicted friends from the participant’s usual gang of pals to offer access to the participant’s drug of choice. It is an environment free from all the responsibilities and pressures of the outside world, and such an environment allows the addict to focus clearly on just his recovery.
The quality of the recovery treatment plan in actual drug rehab centers is exemplary. While many individuals out in the world do find recovery by simply joining a twelve-step group and following the suggestions made there, no one could deny the benefits of beginning one’s recovery work in the environment of a residential treatment center. Residential treatment plans have the advantage of having been developed by trained professionals who have studied psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and a variety of other related disciplines, as well as having continued to train routinely in classes and seminars pertaining to the treatment of addiction. Counselors help an addict look into his or her background for issues that may have contributed to his or her particular situation, to dissect and understand the nature of those issues, and most importantly, to lead the addict to an understanding of his or her personal responsibility for the events that have occurred in his or her life, as well as those that will occur in future. This sort of focused beginning to a recovery program helps an addict understand where he or she is going by understanding where he or she came from.
In addition, treatment often involves beginning step work from an appropriate twelve-step program (such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous). Drug treatment centers generally strongly recommend involvement in an appropriate twelve-step program as part of a participant’s extended recovery plan after leaving the treatment center. Beginning step work while still in the drug rehab center gives the addict a sense of belonging to the twelve-step group that the addict can carry with him back out into the “real world” after discharge, a sense of identity that helps boost the addict toward continued recovery and away from quick relapse. Most treatment centers also help the addict develop a discharge recovery plan, personalized to the actual circumstances the addict expects to face upon returning home, to aid the addict in continuing to succeed in recovery. Alcoholics and addicts leave the treatment center after becoming well-armed to succeed in recovery, should they choose to do so.