Most people are unaware of their alcohol treatment options.

A good place to start with is a professional assessment to determine the appropriate level of care for alcohol abuse or alcoholism. Once the level of care is established we can look at the many substance abuse treatment solutions available on that level.

What are the various levels of care available?

Inpatient Treatment – this level of treatment consists of residential treatment with 24 hour per day seven day a week monitoring. This is what people refer to as a drug rehab. Short of a psychiatric lockdown facility, this is the most intensive level of program commonly used for drug and alcohol treatment. It consists of holistic treatment covering areas such as substance abuse, mental health, physical, and spiritual realms. Most commonly, it consists of a combination of individual improved therapies.

Intensive Outpatient Program – The IOP level of treatment is not rigidly defined in terms of hours per week but usually consists of 12-24 hours of combined individual and group therapy per week. This level of treatment does not generally have a residential component and programs are equally as likely to run during the day or night allowing for continuation of employment during treatment in most cases. More people have insurance coverage for this level of treatment than for residential treatment. This level of treatment is also generally less expensive than residential inpatient treatment but is, nevertheless a high level of care.

Outpatient Treatment - this level of treatment is very similar to the intensive outpatient in the types of therapy, both individual and group offered. The primary difference in the amount of total hours spent in therapy per week. An average outpatient treatment program may consist of two group sessions in an individual session each lasting an hour or an hour to half on a weekly basis. The length of treatment in these programs generally runs from six weeks to 14 weeks.

Brief Therapy - This is a program of very short duration, sometimes just a few sessions. Brief therapy has been shown to be effective in some cases and is certainly better than no professional treatment at all. This level of care may be educational in

Alcohol Detox – Detoxification is a part of the treatment process on most cases but is not, in itself alcoholism treatment. The purpose of alcohol detox is to safely monitor and medically stabilize an intoxicated person and to manage uncomfortable or dangerous withdrawal symptoms. A person with long-term and serious alcohol dependency should be detoxed with medical supervision as seizures are a risk.

One mistake a lot of people make is to underestimate the level of treatment needed. Not getting enough treatment can lead to an addiction relapse with catastrophic results. A safe rule of law is to take the amount of treatment you think you need and triple it; that might be a realistic timeframe.

The evidence is clear that a longer exposure to treatment at the highest levels increases the probability of a good outcome.