You are not alone if you or a loved one suffer from alcohol addiction. Around 20.4 million Americans, or one in every two adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence. Alcohol addiction destroys and tears families apart each day. Getting the proper treatment for alcohol problems from a licensed rehab center is the first step on a sobriety journey that leads to rebuilding a life.
Finding the right alcohol treatment can be difficult, especially since there are many rehab centers in Denver. You need to find one that suits your specific needs and understands how all-encompassing alcohol addiction can be. We at the AspenRidge Recovery Center would love to help.
How Successful Is Alcohol Rehab Treatment?
Rehab is the most successful treatment option for alcohol addiction, but it is important to note that no rehab program will guarantee 100% success, regardless of its quality. Anyone suffering from addiction must be committed to long-term abstinence and maintaining sobriety.
Here are some statistics to put this in perspective:
- In the mid-90s, the NHS – National Treatment Service released some results from a study that showed 47% of the addicts that received alcohol treatment management remained abstinent for up to five years after completing the programs.
- Of those that received only community-based services, only 35% could remain sober within five years.
Almost 20 years later, this has completely changed, and the studies show even better results. Another survey conducted in 2012 found that:
- The best-performing inpatient rehab clinics had a success rate of between 60% and 80%.
- The least performing facilities, however, had only 20% success.
This shows that rehab is a successful treatment program that will give positive results the majority of the time.
What does Positive and Negative Discharge Mean?
Upon completion (or lack thereof) of a rehab program, clients are either positively or negatively discharged. When a client is discharged positively, they have completed the treatment program and adhered to all the guidelines from start to finish.
When you are negatively discharged, it means you did not finish the program (or completed with such resistance as to not be positively discharged).
The clinics that achieved a 60% success rate and above were found to have had a higher percentage of clients who completed the rehab successfully and were positively discharged. The lower-performing clinics had a high rate of negative discharge, and the dropouts were high. In other words, commitment and attitude matter. Even the low-performing clinics had 100% success rates for patients committed to the process.
To put it simply, you have the best chance of achieving abstinence for the next five years if you are in a rehab clinic and are committed to the process.
The Main Stages of Alcohol Addiction Rehab And Recovery
There are four main stages in the treatment for alcohol problems, but these will not work without giving the process enough time, effort, support, and willpower. When one decides to go to rehab and receive treatment for alcohol problems, one begins an intense journey through the following stages.
Stage One: Initiation
When you reach out for help at a rehab clinic, you will start the recovery process. Whether the help you seek is voluntary or forced, your recovery will start with a professional who will initiate the program. In the beginning, you will probably have ambivalent feelings and wish to give up on the recovery process. Your attitude and desire to improve will determine your ability to stay in rehab through this time.
Denial and ambivalent attitudes will be your worst enemies in the beginning. At this point, the goal is to help you decide whether or not you are willing to participate actively in the rehab program.
During this point in your treatment, the main goal is to help you decide that you need the treatment and allow you to participate and accept your circumstances. To accomplish this, a counselor will work with you and help you with the following:
- Understanding the damaging effect of your alcohol addiction.
- Exploring the feelings of denial you may have towards your problem.
- Help you become motivated to seek treatment and recover.
Your alcohol abuse history will be considered, and a program will be created by the counselor that best suits your addiction.
Stage Two: Alcohol Abstinence
After you have committed to receiving treatment for your alcohol abuse, you enter into the next stage in the rehab process, which is “Early Abstinence.”
Early abstinence is associated with positive treatment outcomes, and it is one of the most challenging stages to cope with because it has many factors, such as:
- Withdrawal symptoms.
- Cravings.
- Psychological dependence on alcohol.
- Triggers that can cause temptations and relapse.
There are many challenges in this stage of treatment, and these can cause some problems. Social pressures to drink, intense cravings, and high-risk situations that would trigger extreme alcohol consumption.
In this stage, a trained addiction counselor will start teaching you some coping skills that will come in handy when leading a sober lifestyle. These tools will help you throughout the recovery process.
Some early abstinence issues in this stage include learning the psychological and physical aspects of withdrawal, identifying your alcohol use triggers, and learning how to handle the different cravings without drinking.
Other helpful strategies include:
- Being encouraged to participate in healthy activities.
- Finding behaviors you can engage in rather than drinking alcohol.
- Participating in group activities that offer support and information on staying sober.
- Recognize the environmental triggers likely to lead to cravings, such as places, people, and things.
Stage Three: How to Maintain Abstinence
When you complete 90 days of abstinence, you will move from the early abstinence stage to the third stage – maintaining abstinence. If your treatment were in a residential clinic, you would need to continue your rehab process in an outpatient clinic.
The main focus for this stage of rehab is maintaining abstinence to avoid relapsing. Here, you will learn how to identify the warning signs and any steps to relapse.
In this rehabilitation stage, one learns how to use the tools they learned in all areas of life. In this way, you can start living an authentic and sober lifestyle.
Here are some coping tools and skills that will come in handy:
- Avoiding substitute addictions.
- Building healthy relationships.
- Developing an alcohol-free lifestyle.
- Learning money management and employment skills.
- Learning how to manage anger.
- Utilizing nutrition and exercise.
To maintain your abstinence after rehab, you will need to start immediately, and this stage can last up to five years of living a sober and clean lifestyle. At this time, the follow-up counseling sessions will be terminated.
Stage Four: Advanced Recovery
This stage sets in after approximately 5 years of living in abstinence. It is the fourth and final stage of your recovery. In this stage, you will need to take in all of the skills and tools you have learned during rehab and put them into living a fulfilling and satisfying life.
Here are some strategies that can come in handy;
- Coming up with a consistent schedule each day.
- Coming up with long-term goals.
- Establishing relationships with a group of people who don’t drink.
- Participating in activities that don’t involve alcohol.
- Finding out new ways of reaching beyond yourself and seeking happiness and fulfillment. This could involve spirituality, religion, social activism, and community work.
When you learn how to implement these specific strategies, you will remain sober and have the right skills to become a healthy individual who is a better spouse and parent.
In the end, you can return to everyday life as a good neighbor, citizen, and productive member of society.
Recovery is more than just staying sober. It also includes learning to return to your former life to live it better, happier, and healthier.
How Does Detox Help in Alcohol Rehab?
Detox is part of the treatment for alcohol problems. Most treatment plans will start with a detox program to help treat withdrawal symptoms when when first stopping the consumption of alcohol.
Detox is often done in an in-patient treatment clinic and takes around one week to complete. Due to the symptoms of withdrawal that are sometimes life-threatening, you may be given some medication in the form of detox that will help with the following;
- Confusion
- Shaking
- Agitation
- Sweating
- Irritability
- Restlessness
- Insomnia
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Hallucinations
- Tachycardia
- Convulsions
What Are The Benefits Of Therapy During Rehab?
There are many benefits of therapy during rehab. A therapist will be able to determine your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, and as such, they will be able to get to the root cause of your addiction.
Other benefits include:
- They will help you develop strategies you can use to cope with your dependency on alcohol.
- They will help you express yourself without any judgment or fear.
- They will help you practice your self-awareness.
- They will help you learn how to create behaviors geared towards helping you curb your dependency.
Support Groups After Alcohol Rehab
Support groups are essential and helpful for anyone going through alcohol treatment. They help members connect with people with similar challenges and help receive direction and encouragement for recovery.
What Types Of Groups Are There?
There are many different types of support groups and specifically for alcoholics. Additionally, family members and friends of the person with addiction can join these groups to learn how to deal with someone suffering from AUD. The different groups include:
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Al-Anon (for friends and family of people living with AUD)
- Alateen
- National Association for Children of Alcoholics
- National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- Local alcoholic support groups
What Is The Long-Term Outlook Of AUD?
Left untreated, the long-term outlook of AUD will take a toll on your body and may cause a wide variety of complications such as:
- Raise the risk of heart disease.
- Cause many different kinds of cancer.
- Scar your liver, also known as Cirrhosis.
- Cause inflammation on your stomach lining, also known as gastritis.
- Cause dementia and many other neurological disorders.
- Cause erectile dysfunction.
Dependency on alcohol also causes mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression and inevitable mood swings. In addition to your AUD treatment, you should seek medical care for other complications associated with alcohol addiction.
A Lifelong Journey
The treatment for alcohol problems is a lifelong journey, and you’re likely to experience temptations and relapses from time to time. This is entirely normal. You may slip in and out of sobriety on the journey to recovery, but having supportive family members and friends will go a long way in helping you overcome this addiction.
Some people can recover from AUD the first time they attend rehab. But it takes more effort for others, so be gentle with yourself if this is the case.
AspenRidge Recovery Colorado Treatment for Alcohol Problems
At the AspenRidge Recovery Center, we are all about success stories, and we would love to be part of yours. Please contact us for alcohol addiction treatment, and we will guide you from the initial stage until you achieve sobriety.
We have created a safe space for patients who need treatment for alcohol problems, including trauma and mental health issues affecting the body and the brain. We are set apart from the others due to our focus on the root cause of your addiction. We currently offer day and evening treatment programs for everyone in Colorado and the surrounding areas.
The Joint Commission also certifies our center, and our licensed counselors are trained, specifically, in substance misuse and addiction. We offer the following programs:
We can help guide you through the different stages of alcohol rehab and next steps. It’s also critical to understand that treatment is different for everyone and, therefore, a tailored treatment approach is important. Contact us today for more information about Colorado alcohol rehabilitation at 855-281-5588.
