What Happens First at an Addiction Treatment Center?

When you take your first very brave steps into an addiction treatment center, the process will begin with the staff (in some addiction treatment centers there may be nurses and/or medical professionals as well), will evaluate and assess each incoming patient, their needs, and their status of addiction (timeline of using, what drug, how often, etc.). Before an individual can be admitted into an addiction treatment center, a complete physical examination will be performed in order to determine whether there are any medical problems present, and do decide if a person may be at higher risk for experiencing more severe withdrawal symptoms during the detoxification period. If such risks are present during this examination, then a different method of detox for that individual will be administered in order to minimize the withdrawal symptoms and lower the risk of complications with the detoxing. Most addiction treatment centers are designed around the idea of making their patients as comfortable as possible in an attempt to make their recovery process as easy as they possibly can. Not only will the addiction treatment center focus of the rehabilitation of the addiction itself, but they will also address any other mental disorders through an initial psychiatric evaluation followed by additional counseling. Underlying medical conditions, in some cases, can contribute to the addiction and therefore those conditions need to be treated as well.

The Rehab in Addiction Treatment Centers

After the initial intake process is completed, and the process of detoxification is over, then the addiction treatment continues with the counseling and therapy parts of rehab. There are several types of counseling that patients will undergo during their time at an addiction treatment center. Of those, the may include, but are not limited to: group counseling or therapy, individual counseling, family counseling and therapy, and educational counseling. The very first goal of counseling for addiction treatment centers is to help the person explore him or herself and identify why they began to use drugs in the first place. Another is to have the person compare their life and their behaviors to who they are now, a person who was using drugs, to who they were before they started using drugs, which was a person clean and sober. Another important aspect of counseling while in an addiction treatment center is to identify the “triggers” the person has that make using drugs or drinking more likely. Triggers can be anything from people, places, events, and so on. By identifying the individual’s personal triggers, the counselors can help them to construct a plan of attack in order to assist the individual in avoiding those triggers and ultimately making the choice to stay sober much easier once they leave the addiction treatment center.

By evaluating themselves and really looking into who they are as individuals, the willingness to change will become much more prominent. By knowing, and acknowledging, what it is about themselves that patient wants to change, and understanding the reasoning behind these changes, the time spent at the addiction treatment center will be much more beneficial.