If so, you may wonder how long the alcohol rehab program will take. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question because the amount of time you spend in rehab depends on various factors. For example, the duration will depend on your state when you enroll in the program and how your doctor or therapist has designed the program. It will also depend on whether you are admitted to an inpatient or outpatient program. Whichever program you choose, the first step is likely to be detoxification.

Alcohol Rehab: Detoxification

As you continue drinking alcohol, your body gets a buildup of toxins. Detoxification refers to the process of eliminating these toxins from your body. This process will allow your mind and body to heal from the effects of alcohol without suffering too much from life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.

Because detoxing from alcohol can potentially be fatal, it is essential to be supervised by a medical professional such as a member of our team at Liberty Bay Recovery Center. The detoxification process and how long it takes vary from person to person. It will depend on how long you have used alcohol and whether you are also using other drugs. You will experience various psychological, emotional, and physical symptoms during detox. Once the process ends, you may enter the post-acute withdrawal phase, where your cravings and physical symptoms will subside. However, you will still have emotional and psychological issues lasting for weeks or months after detoxification.

Each detox case is unique. The detox process may only take a few days for some people, while others may require weeks or months. If you have been excessively drinking alcohol for many years, your detox period will likely be longer than it would for a person who has been drinking for only a few years. On average, the initial detox from alcohol lasts between 7 to 10 days. Sometimes, people may experience detox symptoms for up to 14 days. However, even after the initial detox symptoms have cleared, psychological and physical issues can linger for months.

Can You Detox on Your Own?

Some people prefer detoxing at home for fear of embarrassment, shame, or stigma. However, detoxing at home can be unproductive and dangerous. Detoxification, just like other treatments, needs the support of professionals. Also, detoxification may have serious side effects, like psychosis or seizures. This is why you should be in an environment where medical experts can supervise you.

How to Detox Safely

The safest way to detox is in a medically supervised setting. Medical detox programs provide the support, safety, and comfort you need. In a medical facility, you can get emergency help if you experience life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. Additionally, if you have any underlying medical conditions, your doctor will be on hand to take care of them. Your detox process will also be personalized to help you get the best results.

Alcohol Rehab: Inpatient Rehab

There are many types of inpatient alcohol rehab programs. You can opt for either long-term rehab or traditional inpatient rehab. Your circumstances and diagnosis determine how long you will be in treatment.

Long-Term Inpatient Alcohol Rehab

Long-term alcohol rehab may take anywhere between three and 12 months. You will live in the treatment facility with other drug users to help one another in your recovery journey. These programs may include family or individual counseling and group therapy. The doctors may also organize for you to join support groups.

Traditional Inpatient Alcohol Rehab

Traditional rehabilitation for alcoholics requires at least 28 days. This mode of treatment can be recommended if you are a moderate drinker. The rehab program may include counseling sessions and group therapies involving your family. The rehab may sometimes last up to three months, depending on your situation. Traditional inpatient alcohol rehab generally takes three months to complete.

While in the rehab facility,  you will have to abide by certain rules and regulations. These rules vary from facility to facility and are tailored to ensure the patients get the best results. In addition, during your stay in the rehab, you will meet other addicts with whom you will be encouraged to form groups to participate in therapies together.

Some rehabs offer daily group therapies. There may also be individual therapies to address unique personal needs. Your days will be filled with activities to distract you from thinking about alcohol. Most of these activities include psychotherapies, 12-step meetings, and educational sessions to equip you with skills to maintain sobriety.

Can You Be Forced to Enroll in Inpatient Alcohol Rehab?

A parent or guardian can admit someone younger than 18 to rehab for alcohol without their consent. However, most states do not allow forcible rehab for adults. The main exception being a court sentence for an alcohol-related crime. However, your loved ones may feel inpatient alcohol rehab is the best option to save your life. In some states, loved ones can petition the court to have you involuntarily admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation program. The court will assess the situation and decide. Involuntary commitment to an inpatient alcohol rehab is often referred to as “sectioning.” Sectioning is often a last hope option for alcoholics who need urgent intervention.

Alcohol Rehab: Outpatient Programs

Outpatient alcohol rehab is a multistage program that does not require you to live at the treatment facility. The length of outpatient alcohol rehab programs will depend on your state and the facility that offers this service. On average, an outpatient alcohol rehab program takes about three months. There are three types of outpatient treatments for alcoholics: intensive outpatient treatment, and partial hospitalization.

Intensive Outpatient Treatment (IOP)

Intensive treatment is necessary if you struggle with alcohol use and cannot stop drinking by using your willpower. You will live in your home as you receive this treatment but will spend long hours at the facility. In most cases, IOP treatment can take three months.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)

Partial hospitalization requires more commitment than OP and IOP. It is recommended for heavy drinkers who need more care in a home setting. With this program, you will have to attend group meetings for five or seven days every week, and each session will last for between seven and eight hours. You can opt for this method if you require more support and intensive therapy. Your doctor can prescribe this treatment mode if you have a severe substance use disorder (SUD) or other underlying medical conditions. If you are unsure which type of outpatient treatment is best for you, leave this decision to your doctor, and stick to your doctor’s advice.

Advantages of Outpatient Alcohol Rehab

Outpatient alcohol treatment has many benefits. This treatment mode will ensure you have all the resources, tools, and skills you need to maintain sobriety. In addition, choosing a facility with a smaller group is advisable so you can receive more individualized attention and care. Other benefits of outpatient alcohol treatment include:

• Engagement in evidence-based therapies, including eye movement reprocessing and desensitization, motivational interviewing, dialectical behavior therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
• The treatment focuses on relapse prevention. You will be taught the techniques to help identify and prevent situations (triggers) that can cause relapse.
• You will be taught life skills, including personalized vocational training and educational placement.

Alcohol Rehab: Aftercare

Once you complete your treatment, some facilities may allow you to join an alumni program as part of an ongoing aftercare plan.

How Long Does Aftercare Take?

Detox is only the first step in the treatment process. However, once you are successfully and safely detoxified, you must restructure your life to help build a solid foundation for your recovery. Aftercare programs can ensure that you maintain your sobriety for many years. Addiction treatment is an ongoing process that can extend for a lifetime. Once you graduate from a rehab facility, it may seem more straightforward to say no to drugs and alcohol, but as time goes by, you may relapse. This is what an aftercare program helps you avoid.

Aftercare is part of alcohol treatment and is a plan to support you and help you to avoid relapsing. Aftercare has no fixed duration because it is regarded as a new lifestyle. For example, some recovered alcoholics join support groups, like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which considers membership permanent. Once you become a member of AA, there is no turning back.

What Constitutes a Good Aftercare Program?

For an aftercare program to be effective, it must have several activities and resources to keep the recovered alcoholic busy. The activities vary according to an individual’s needs though some activities are done in groups, like AA meetings. Common aspects of aftercare programs include:

• Establishing a support system after you’ve completer alcohol addiction treatment
• Sponsors, a mentor, or a guide who has been in recovery and worked through the steps.
• Presence or recovery sessions such as AA’s 12-step meetings
• Alumni groups with people who attended the same rehab facility
• Group or individual therapy
• Checking in with your case manager or counselor
• Training for life skills like gaining financial freedom.

Counseling sessions, whether individual or group, are a crucial component of any aftercare program. Individual therapy sessions can help you work on what you missed during your rehab program. Your doctor will design a personalized program that meets your unique needs during such therapy.

On the other hand, a group therapy session is vital for helping you to work with others who also want to maintain their sobriety since working together as peers can help you fight cravings that can lead to relapses. Additionally, group sessions mean you will have a new group of friends to keep you away from your drinking buddies.

Recovery depends on your commitment to the treatment process. At Liberty Bay Recovery, our team will be happy to answer your questions or help you start on the path to a happier, healthier life of sobriety.

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When Does Your Drinking Become an Issue?

For moderate drinkers, one or two drinks a day will suffice (a drink refers to 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine, or 1.5 oz of spirits). Moreover, they rarely exceed their limits even if they attend a party where drinks are freely available. This is not the case with an addict, who would want to drink until the alcohol supply is depleted or until they are thrown out of the party.

The problem with alcohol is that you can start drinking moderately but eventually progress to becoming an alcoholic. When you become an alcoholic, your life will revolve around drinking. You are said to have alcohol dependence at that stage and will start abusing alcohol.

Alcohol abuse is an uncontrollable drinking pattern resulting in adverse and recurrent consequences. As an added risk, you may fail to honor your school, family, or work obligations. Eventually, you may start having alcohol-related conflicts and legal problems like drunk driving, theft, or involving yourself in unnecessary fights. Your relationships may also break down, and you may end up in jail.

Alcohol dependence means you have lost control of your drinking. Alcohol addiction means you cannot stop drinking when drinks are still available. You may try stopping, but you find yourself slipping back. Worse still, you may struggle to talk, walk, or eat without a drink. In addition, you will become shaky and sweaty in the morning before drinking and, in some cases, may suffer from hallucinations and delirium tremens (DTs) when you try to withdraw from drinking.

Medication-Assisted Treatment for Alcohol

If you are an alcoholic, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is one of the best ways to solve your problem and break your drinking patterns. Medication-assisted treatment uses a combination of physical therapy and medications. It is a safe and effective way to help you stop drinking and start working to improve your health.

The medications used to treat SUD will affect your brain and restore the chemicals disrupted by alcohol. MAT will clear your body of all alcohol-related chemicals and help you achieve sobriety. The program can also help you maintain recovery and prevent future risks like overuse of alcohol or even death. MAT can not only help alcohol abusers but also treat disorders resulting from nicotine or opioid use.

The main aim of MAT is to limit cravings and reduce withdrawal symptoms related to alcohol. Withdrawal symptoms are the main reasons that people relapse. So, by addressing them through MAT, you will regain your control over alcohol and eventually stop drinking. As a result, your cravings will decrease, and you will finally live an alcohol-free life.

MAT does not mean substituting alcohol with another drug. The treatment only corrects your body’s chemical imbalances to restore it to a healthy state. A qualified medical practitioner must oversee the treatment so you do not become addicted to the drugs. MAT heavily relies on medications combined with professional therapy sessions. With both behavioral therapies and counseling, medication-assisted treatment will address your well-being and health.

As you continue drinking, you will develop an alcohol tolerance, requiring more alcohol to achieve the same effect. Moreover, the more dependent you are on alcohol, your withdrawal symptoms will be more severe. These symptoms may include convulsions, hallucinations, tremors, irritability, restlessness, sweating, and nausea.

Although excessive alcohol consumption gets public attention and concern, even moderate or mild alcohol-related problems can cause severe damage to an individual’s life, community, and immediate family.

Data from the NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) shows that 6.2% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older have an alcohol use disorder. This is a considerable number by all standards. For instance, in one governmental survey, it was found that 20% of U.S. citizens aged between 12 and 20 years are users of alcohol, about 40% of young adults aged between 18 and 25 years are binge drinkers, and about 10% are heavy drinkers.

What Medicines Are Used in Medication-Assisted Treatment for Alcohol?

Seeking medical intervention for alcohol addiction is crucial because quitting without medical help can lead to severe withdrawal symptoms like seizures and delirium tremens. Without medication-assisted treatment, some symptoms can be fatal. MAT will ease these symptoms so you can stop drinking safely.

Withdrawal from alcohol use is life-threatening, anxiety-ridden, and excruciating. Therefore, the withdrawal process must be gradual and supervised by an experienced doctor. The FDA approves four medications for the treatment of alcoholism. It is worth mentioning that these medications do not treat alcoholism instantly but will help you gradually withdraw until you recover.

Benzodiazepines (Librium and Valium)

Librium (chlordiazepoxide), Valium (diazepam), and other long-acting benzodiazepines are used to detox alcohol addicts since these medications act on the same brain receptors as alcohol. These drugs can be prescribed immediately if the doctor realizes you are in danger of alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The doctor will taper them off gradually as your condition improves and you leave the dangerous stage. This can take about five days from the time you had your last drink. However, the time taken to escape the danger zone varies from person to person. People may stay longer on benzodiazepines, whereas others can be switched to other FDA-approved alternatives.

Naltrexone (Revia and Vivitrol)

Naltrexone is a popular drug for opioid addicts but is also effective for alcohol abusers. The drug blocks the brain’s opioid receptors, thus decreasing drug cravings and preventing the person from getting high when they use alcohol or opioids. Initially, this drug was only used to treat opioid addicts, but it was later discovered that naltrexone could also be used to treat alcoholics.

To date, many doctors do not understand the mechanism of its action, but they believe the brain responds to opioids the same way it responds to alcohol. This means naltrexone can suppress the pleasurable and euphoric effects that alcohol brings.

If you are on naltrexone, you will not feel high even if you drink alcohol. Naltrexone does not eliminate withdrawal symptoms, meaning you must undergo detox before naltrexone is administered. The doctor will determine the stage where you will be fit enough to start using naltrexone.

Acamprosate (Campral)

Acamprosate reduces alcohol-related cravings and alleviates withdrawal symptoms. Doctors in the U.S. like to prescribe it for the treatment of alcoholism. This drug will reduce the dependence of your brain on alcohol and restore your brain’s functionality and chemistry. Acamprosate interacts with brain neurotransmitters to help normalize and modulate the brain’s activity, which excessive alcohol consumption has thrown into disarray.

Immediately after you stop consuming alcohol, your brain will start functioning differently, triggering withdrawal symptoms in your body. This is the process that acamprosate will control so that you can get relief. This drug is usually administered after detoxification. It is commonly prescribed alongside other medications like disulfiram and naltrexone.

Disulfiram

Disulfiram is another popular medication for the treatment of alcohol dependence. When you use this drug, you will have a strong, unpleasant hangover-like experience when you drink alcohol. The undesirable effects include sweating, weakness, chest pain, vomiting, nausea, headache, and facial flushing.

These symptoms will begin after 10 minutes of consuming alcohol and can last up to 60 minutes. Disulfiram is not meant to treat SUD but to deter you from drinking. That is why it is a good option for you when you still have alcohol cravings.

Causes of Alcohol Use Disorders

Alcoholism has many causes, with social, psychological, physiological, and genetic factors playing the most significant roles. These factors affect people differently. For example, certain alcoholics’ disorders are caused by psychological factors like low self-esteem and impulsiveness. For some drinkers, alcohol provides them with a way to cope with emotional problems.

Still, a group of people drinks because of environmental and social factors like the need to fit in (peer pressure) and the ease of access to alcohol. For example, people who grow up in areas where alcohol is readily available are likely to start drinking at a tender age. Other causes of alcohol use disorders are sexual abuse, physical abuse, and poverty.

Genetic factors have also been found to make some people highly likely to become alcoholics, although this happens only to a small percentage. For example, some children born to alcoholic parents may lead alcohol-free lives, and those born to sober parents can become alcoholics.

Once you start drinking excessively, the problem will perpetuate itself. Excess alcohol will cause changes in your body that make you feel comfortable only after drinking. As a result, you may sometimes find yourself drinking to avoid suffering from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

How Will Substance Use Disorders Affect You?

Some research has found that using alcohol in small quantities has some health benefits, like positive cardiovascular effects. On the other hand, excessive drinking has been found to have adverse health effects. Heavy alcohol consumption has both short-term and long-term effects.

The short-term effects include blackouts, hangovers, and memory loss. On the other hand, heavy alcohol consumption’s long-term effects may include liver cirrhosis, severe cognitive impairment, brain damage, cancer, heart problems, and stomach ailments.

Alcoholism also increases an individual’s chances of committing suicide or dying from homicide, accidents, and fights. Interestingly, men are more likely to develop alcoholism than women, but women suffer more from alcoholism than men.

Alcohol has been found to negatively affect mental health because it acts directly on the brain. Alcoholism and alcohol abuse can worsen anxiety and depression and create these conditions if they never existed.

Often alcoholics do not only hurt themselves. You will also hurt your children and spouse. You can expose them to family violence, deprivation of a good life, and, in the worst-case scenario, physical or sexual abuse. In addition, when your children see you in your drunken state, they can develop serious psychological problems.

Children who cannot face you when drunk may attempt to run away from home. Then there is the problem of stealing. Most broke alcoholics still sell household items to get money for a bottle or two. This can plunge your family into poverty. Alcohol also leads to job loss, which can hurt all your dependents. Furthermore, drinking while pregnant can damage your fetus. You may also cause the same family problems caused by men.

When Should You Seek Help?

The problem with alcoholism is that it develops gradually, so it is a big challenge to know when to seek help. Another problem is that most alcoholics live in denial. They cannot believe they are alcoholics. Most alcoholics only seek help when they have hit rock bottom.

The first step in seeking help is acknowledging your drinking problem. There are many questions you can ask to gauge your condition. You can be on the lookout for the effects discussed above to indicate whether you have slipped into alcoholism.

For instance, do you find it easy to stop drinking? Have you ever sworn you would never drink again, only to find yourself drunk the next day? Have you missed classes or work because of alcohol? Have you begged for alcohol? Do you have an alcohol-related medical condition?

Such questions can help guide you in deciding to start seeking help. But please do not wait until it is too late. Alcohol addiction can be fatal. Instead, consider visiting a professional rehabilitation facility such as Liberty Bay Recovery Center for medication-assisted treatment.

Do You Need Other Treatments With Medication-Assisted Treatment?

MAT is a comprehensive treatment option that combines different therapies and medications. However, you can combine it with other treatment options, which your doctor should approve. For example, you can take other drugs for other mental health problems like anxiety and depression. You can also join support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

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