FCYU-Feature Story

Does Rehab Work?
Explaining drug treatment

By Joe B.

When I was put in care because my parents had a substance abuse problem, I heard about something called rehab. I learned that was short for “rehabilitation,” which means “to restore to good condition.” But I wanted to know how rehab works, and whether it really helps parents stop drinking and doing drugs so we can go back home to them.

To better understand rehab, I interviewed two experts: Dr. Kim Sumner-Mayer, a family therapist, and Raye Barbieri, a social worker. Both of them have experience working with children and adults from addicted families.

Inpatient Treatment

Sumner-Mayer told me that rehab can definitely help people who have serious problems with substance abuse, but it may not work on everyone the first time.

There are several different types of rehab. Inpatient treatment requires people to live in treatment facilities for up to two years. Sometimes these patients first go through a 28-day program called short-term detox, to help them get the drugs out of their system.

Some patients only go to short-term detox. But research shows that inpatient treatment of at least six months works best for people who are severely addicted. With longer-term inpatient care, patients can learn how to stay sober.

Phoenix House, the drug treatment organization where Sumner-Mayer works, runs several inpatient centers in New York. Clients there wake up at 6 a.m., do chores, go to meetings and have classes about how to handle stress and cope with the feelings that make them want to use drugs and alcohol. They may also visit with family members and work on getting jobs and educations.

People aren’t forced to stay (there are no locks on the doors), but if a judge orders someone to complete rehab and he doesn’t, he can wind up in jail. Rehab can be hard to complete because there are a lot of rules, and lots of drug addicts and alcoholics are not used to following rules.

Other Kinds of Treatment

About 60% of all people who go to rehab use outpatient treatment. That means the person lives at home but goes to a program almost every day to take rehab classes and get counseling. They spend up to 20 hours a week at this place.

Another kind of rehab is “self help” offered by groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. After people leave inpatient or outpatient treatment, they may continue going to self-help groups to help them stay sober.

No professionals supervise self-help groups and the only cost is a donation. People come to these groups to help themselves and each other by sharing advice, experience and stories so they can stay motivated to keep sober.

Trying to Stay Clean

Sometimes people have a “relapse.” That means they go back to using drugs or alcohol. Slightly more than half of all people who go through rehab have a relapse within two years of completing treatment. And 44% wind up getting treatment again within three years of going to rehab.

That doesn’t mean they will never recover. Motivation is a major factor, but sometimes treatment can work even if a person isn’t eager to quit. “Lots of people go to rehab because they don’t want to go to jail, but many of them still end up having a successful treatment,” said Sumner-Mayer.

Why doesn’t rehab work on everyone? “It can be difficult for people who are drinking or using drugs to think clearly about what they need to do,” Barbieri explained.

Also, giving up an addiction can be really difficult. You may feel sick for a while before you feel better, Sumner-Mayer told me.

Whether or not your parent is able to recover, you should figure out how to get help for yourself. Support groups like Alateen give children of alcoholics or drug users a place to talk about how they were affected by their parents’ addiction. And Sumner-Mayer said we must always remember The Three C’s: “You didn’t Cause your parent’s addiction, you can’t Control your parent’s addiction and you can’t Cure your parent’s addiction.”

To learn more about addiction, rehab, and how to get help go to www.phoenixhouse.org