Alcohol Rehabilitation

Alcohol rehabs are made to create a caring environment where a person can overcome their psychological and physical addiction to alcohol. The rehabilitation process includes detoxification, counseling and sometimes also group therapy where other persons recovering from the addiction can help one another.

Usually a person tends to be uncertain of the rehab program, but those who have an idea about the rehab programs and the steps he/she will take for recovery, tend to be better in accepting the program when they enter the rehabilitation centers.

In this post you will find an overview of the different steps of the alcohol rehabilitation program. Though every person has a different program designed depending on their addiction level, the basic steps are same for almost all the programs:

Alcohol Detox

This is the very initial step of the alcohol recovery program. Detox involves slowly stopping the consumption of alcohol and giving the body time it needs to get used to the absence of alcohol, as well as cleanse it of all the harmful substances which are associated with any type of alcohol. During this rehab program a person might experience many withdrawal symptoms. Listed below are a few of them:

• Anxiety and depression
• Sudden and extreme mood swings
• Sweats or chills
• Going back to alcohol consumption
• Being always irritated
• Blackouts

This stage usually lasts approximately up to several days or even two weeks. The withdrawal symptoms listed above usually are experienced after the first few days of this process.

Counseling

This is the heart of the rehabilitation of alcohol. It includes sessions with a counselor or a therapist where a person is taught relapse prevention skills, education on alcoholism and also finds out the cause of their unwanted behavior. Counseling includes two forms:

• Individual counseling: During regular individual counseling sessions, a person has a one-to-one therapy between him and the therapist.
• Group counseling: These sessions are taken once or twice in a week. This involves the addict to meet other addicts enrolled in the program. Here they share their stories and learn to break down the walls of isolation that were built because of alcohol addiction.

Aftercare

Once a person completes his alcohol rehabilitation program, he is ready to face the world. This is not easy and the addict might face many problems like:

• Temptation: Meeting his old friends might make him return to his old behavior.
• Stress and distraction: Usual daily routine like work or school can get stressful as the person tries to catch up his/her missed time due to the condition. This can cause the person to turn to relapse behavior.
• Lack of understanding: People around the person who has gone through the alcohol rehab, may not be able to understand the processes going on in the rehab centers. Hence, they might find it difficult to communicate with the person who has gone through it.