Inpatient Vs. Outpatient Therapies

Considering how distressing and uncomfortable the physical effects of addiction can be, it’s understandable how some may view the therapy aspects of addiction treatment as unnecessary.

After so many months or years of drug abuse, a person’s mind comes to fall into different patterns of thinking, which over time turn into full-blown belief systems. These changes inevitably seep into a person’s behaviors, motivations, and priorities. By the time a person enters drug rehab, his or her entire psychological make-up has been altered to the point where drugs have become the be-all and end-all of daily existence.

Inpatient and outpatient therapy services help recovering addicts undo the effects of addiction on the mind. In effect, addiction treatment doesn’t start until a person works through addiction’s effects on the mind. Inpatient and outpatient therapy services specifically address the underlying psychological issues that drive addiction behavior.

Addiction treatment follows a continuum of care the moves from the most intensive to the least intensive treatment interventions. Ideally, someone in recovery would progress through treatment in the same manner; however, relapse episodes do happen. This means someone who experiences a relapse while in outpatient therapy services may well have to re-enter inpatient treatment and start over again.

Inpatient therapy services take place within a highly structured treatment environment. Patients reside at the facility for the duration of the program, following a daily schedule of treatment sessions.

Someone in need of inpatient treatment likely has a long history of drug abuse and has been in and out of drug treatment multiple times. People with long or chronic histories of drug abuse also tend to develop other conditions due to the damaging effects of drugs on the brain and body. For this reason, inpatient programs also provide medical care as well treatment for psychological disorders.

Outpatient therapy services work best for people who’ve progressed through the recovery process in terms of successfully completing detox and drug treatment programming. Rather than require patients to live at the facility, patients live at home, allowing them to schedule treatment sessions around their existing schedules. This works especially well for people with While outpatient therapy services may offer more in terms of overall convenience, this loosely structured treatment approach allows for considerable freedom on the patient’s part. This degree of freedom can leave a person vulnerable to relapse in cases where he or she isn’t yet equipped to handle daily life pressures.

All in all, the choice between inpatient and outpatient therapy services comes down to which program will provide the level of care necessary to maintain abstinence on a day-to-day basis.