Drug rehab is typically grouped into two general categories: inpatient and outpatient rehab. Outpatient rehab, generally speaking, is a low-intensity, daily treatment option that can be completed at a nearby clinic or facility. Those participating in an outpatient program are allowed to return home during non-treatment hours. Inpatient rehab, on the other hand, is a residential option that requires its participants to live at the treatment facility for an extended period of time.
Because of the seclusion and healing environment it offers, inpatient rehab is most often the preferred option for those looking to combat their addictions for good. If you are here, you too may be looking for the best path to get – and stay – sober. You may be considering inpatient rehab as a means to escape from life’s daily temptations, and to focus solely on getting clean. But still, you want to know more. Will inpatient rehab lead you to the most successful recovery outcome? Will a residential drug treatment program help you achieve long-term sobriety?
Sources say yes, but your recovery journey will be completely unique to you. To find out if inpatient rehab is the right fit for your wants and needs, Turnbridge has outlined the most common benefits of inpatient rehab, and why it can be such a crucial step in one’s recovery journey.
1. Inpatient rehab provides a safe-place, free of drugs and outside pressures.
Inpatient treatment settings provide substance-free zones for those in recovery. Unlike an outpatient program, where you return to your home after a day of meetings, inpatient rehab removes you from any negative influences or relapse triggers you might encounter in an everyday setting – walking by the local bar on your way into town, coming home to an intoxicated family member or booze in the house, even drug-using or party-going friends calling you to hang out. While these may seem like minute factors now, any of these outside influences could lead you back into the addiction cycle.
By choosing to go to an inpatient rehab center, you are making the conscious decision to reject the dysfunctional, detrimental, drug-seeking lifestyle you previously lived, and to enter a safe, secluded treatment facility away from any temptation. Inpatient rehab gives you the chance to get away, the space needed to focus on sobriety, and a healthy environment to jumpstart your recovery journey.
2. It also allows you enough time to focus on yourself and your personal healing.
The private, peaceful environment of inpatient rehab also allows you the time and space needed to focus on yourself, away from outside distractions or stresses, and gives you the chance to build a better you. Not only will you develop coping mechanisms and recovery strategies in an inpatient rehab program, you will also gain the strength and self-respect needed for a successful, long-term recovery.
In an inpatient rehab setting, not only are you away from any temptation, you are also away from any potentially stressful obligations such as work, school, friends, and family. This gives you the space you need to focus solely on your own healing and personal well-being. At a long-term rehab facility like Turnbridge, you will learn more than just how to get sober. You will address personal issues, traumas, and the root of your addiction. You will learn how to care for yourself again, love yourself again, and form healthy habits and positive attitudes that will pave the way for recovery. This structure, given enough time, provides the space needed to heal in mind, body, and spirit.
3. Inpatient drug rehab provides structure for its residents.
Structure sounds scary, we know, but it is very beneficial (and essential) for those in addiction recovery. Without structure, there is down time, and for those battling drug addiction, down time means time for cravings to grow. This often stirs troublesome moments of recovery, hard-to-handle distractions, and feelings of giving up.
That is why in the first phases of an inpatient rehab program, residents are given a schedule to adhere to, consisting of meetings, counseling sessions, therapy, and sober activity time. They carve out times to go to the gym, attend tutoring sessions, participate in 12-step meetings, take on chores, and cook nutritious meals. With this set routine in place, they learn how to live sober successfully, as well as develop a sense of accountability.
4. There is 24/7 physical, emotional, and mental support available.
Inpatient rehab centers offer around-the-clock care for those battling addiction. In the early stages of your recovery, you will likely experience difficult withdrawal symptoms, uncontrollable cravings, and emotional lows that will feel hard to bear alone. Many treating addiction on their own will succumb (rather than overcome) these negative feelings, because they do not have anyone to tell them differently. Addiction is a brain disease that makes it very hard to control impulses – which is why chances of relapse are so great.
In an inpatient, residential setting, addiction counselors and clinical specialists are always available to provide emotional, psychological, and physical support. These professionals genuinely care about your health, and can help you get through the trying times of early recovery. Not only this, but residential rehab programs are full of other, supportive individuals who are also working towards sobriety. In an inpatient setting, you will have the constant opportunity to speak with residents and get peer-to-peer support when you’re struggling most.
5. An inpatient setting will allow you to meet and build relationships with peers of similar ages and gender, who are all walking the path of recovery.
The long-standing stigma of addiction makes it hard for many drug-dependent individuals to form stable relationships. If you are battling addiction, you likely know this firsthand: feelings of isolation, misjudgment, and shame are not foreign to you. You might find it difficult to make friends with those feelings hanging over your head. You may be in constant fear that others will not understand you, or will wrongfully judge you, because of your drug-using past. As a result, you may stray away from sober, potentially supportive relationships altogether.
Part of the beauty of an inpatient rehab program is that it creates a sense of community and collaboration. All day long, you will encounter other same-age, same-gender peers who have walked similar paths to you. They all know what it’s like to feel loss and pain, to feel defeated by drugs, and they all carry the common goal of sobriety. They can relate to you, just as you can relate to them, making a solid foundation for friendship.
As a residential rehab center, Turnbridge promotes a collaborative treatment model, putting healthy relationships and a sober support network at the forefront of one’s recovery journey. In our young men’s and women’s programs, residents participate in group therapies with peers of their same age group and gender. We have found that in these types of sessions, residents find it easier to share stories, talk about their emotions, and connect with one another with that common ground established.
6. Longer-term inpatient rehab programs have proven to be very effective in treating addiction for the long haul.
While there is no predetermined length of drug treatment, long-term, inpatient rehab is typically associated with higher success rates for recovery, according to one study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. As much as it may feel like an inconvenience now, the longer your recovery program, the more likely you are to stay sober for a long period of time. Fact of the matter is, it can take weeks to break a habit and months to replace it with healthier ones. In order to have a successful recovery, you need to create those healthy habits and make them second nature, so that when you have a drug craving, you know how to combat it. For this reason, the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that those battling addictions pursue at least a 90-day stretch of treatment.
For more information on the long-term, inpatient rehab programs at Turnbridge, please do not hesitate to call us at 877-581-1793 today.