Drug Rehab: What works?
May 3, 2018
Professor Nicole Lee has recently published an article on "The Conversation" website, titled "Drug rehab: what works and what to keep in mind when choosing a private treatment provider." When people hear "rehab" they usually think of residential rehabilitation or 'live in' treatment, but there are many other options such as outpatient treatment, day programs and home based detox.
Day programs are very similar to rehab except that people go home in the evenings. Having these options with varying levels of intensity is important so that there are treatment options for a wide range of people. There are a number of alcohol and other drug therapies that have an established evidence base for individual and group therapy such as cognitive behavioural therapy.
When choosing options for rehabilitation, it is important to assess the program content and consider factors such as the cost, the program duration and what is important to the individual such as family involvement. Also account for the service delivering the program, some questions to ask include- do the staff running the program have appropriate skills and qualifications in alcohol and other drug treatment, is the service accredited and is the program delivery informed by the evidence base? Something to keep in mind is that there is no evidence that a higher cost of treatment leads to better treatment outcomes.