Drug Rehab and Addiction Treatment Centers

History of Drug Rehab Centers

This site will help the reader understand the truth about alcohol and other drug addiction. You will learn why so many alcoholics and drug addicts go to treatment and shortly after graduation, behave the same or worse than before. The addiction treatment field and the "war on drugs" are examples of how throwing money at a problem doesn't necessarily make things better.

In fact, because of all of the failed attempts alcoholics and drug addicts have had at recovering from alcohol and other drug addiction from ineffective treatment centers, an argument could be made that the addiction treatment scene is actually worse than it was before.

In reading this brief history of alcohol and drug treatment or rehab, you should realize that the addiction field, in total is doing a poor job, but there are drug rehab and treatment centers with very dedicated employees that are very effective. The majority of treatment facilities get between 2% and 15% success. Research shows that about 10% of the drug addicts and alcoholics will recover without any treatment, so how effective are most centers, really?

We hope that information on this site will shed some light on the drug treatment and rehab scene and that you will take advantage of the data here, as well as calling our counselors at 877-444-1137 with any of your questions. The National Drug Rehab and Treatment Center's service provides information and brings clarity to those that are addicted to alcohol or other drugs and their loved ones and families.

Our purpose is to ensure that everyone receives that best alcohol or drug treatment available and to help ensure that no one goes into alcohol or drug treatment without understanding what they can actually expect in terms of outcomes, both positive and negative.

Since the 1970's we have experienced a much greater need for drug rehab and addiction treatment in the United States and Canada. This increase in demand for drug rehab and/or alcohol and drug treatment centers comes from an addicted public that dramatically increased in numbers, and continues to do so with the introduction of more pharmaceuticals into the general marketplace. But the more important cause for the rapid rise in the establishment of drug rehab and addiction treatment centers evolved due to the money that was invested into the drug rehab and treatment industry.

In the beginning, most of this money came from health insurance companies that had added a provision for drug rehab or addiction treatment in an overwhelming majority of their health plans. This started with Nixon's War on Drugs and was enhanced by Reagon's War on Drugs and the passing of laws regarding drugs in the workplace.

The problem lies in the fact that drug rehab and addiction treatment centers were established well before there was any workable science to deliver a technology that would handle addiction successfully - and the reputation of addiction treatment has suffered because of the need to quickly establish drug rehab centers without doing the due diligence necessary to find out what clinical actions work and what doesn't. Once these drug rehab and addiction treatment facilities were opened and "serving" the public, they have continued to do their same ineffective treatment without questioning their methods or outcomes. Insurance companies brought in Managed Care consultants to limit the amount they were spending on inpatient and residential drug rehabs or addiction treatment centers, so many of the beginning centers were not able to survive a fee-for-service atmosphere. Most business would work on creating a lasting and real product in order to say competetive, but in drug rehab and addiction treatment, most have yet to question their basic tenants, but rest comfortably on the idea that drugs are becoming more addicting and addiction is a disease of relapse.

Rather than question their approach to treatment, these ineffective drug rehab and addiction treatment centers have redefined the "disease" and the behaviors of the clients, but most of this name changing actually justified the facts that addicts were not getting well. Because it has been labeled a "disease" that is supposedly chronic... meaning it last forever, and progressive, meaning that even if you stop taking drugs, the "disease" progresses with time. Just imagine being a young adult and being caught up in a drug addiction that is ruling your life, and you finally go to addiction treatment, with the idea that you can now begin to be sane and productive, but they sell you the "disease model of addiction".

Drug addicts are already depressed about their plight, but they are holding on to some hope that they can turn their lives around. Then they are told by authorities who are supposed to know addiction, that they have a chronic and progressive disease. It is no wonder that many drug addicts go through treatment counting the days until they can go to their dealer for more of the same. Our counselors have talked to numerous drug addicts that have related this thinking when they were attending drug rehab.

These early drug rehab centers were basing their treatment on the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, which was a marginally successful approach to helping alcoholics recover from their addictions, but was not intended to be an institutionalized form of therapy within a drug rehab center, and by altering its basic tenets, these centers did not deliver the results that one would anticipate if they were seeking a cure to their addiction. For about ten years, this didn’t seem to be a problem as drug rehabilitation was finding clients and making money. This pattern declined in the late 80s and into the 90s and tough drug laws resulted in a skyrocketing jail and prison population full of drug-related offenders.

In time, the insurance companies and other financial sources became disaffected with these poor results and measures were taken that limited the amount any individual insurance company would pay for addiction treatment and the number of treatment episodes anyone could have within a given year and/or the life of the policy. Most of these drug addiction treatment centers had less than 10% of their graduates leaving their care and being free of their addiction. This meant that over 90% returned to their destructive behavior and, it was just a matter of a short while before these graduates were looking for help again. It wasn’t uncommon to find addicted persons that had attended these types of treatment multiple times, with many going through more than five episodes of treatment and using up all of the money that family could dedicate to their recovery.

The pendulum has recently begun to swing back in the other direction, though, and legislative and advocacy efforts are once again turning toward drug rehab centers and addiction treatment centers as opposed to incarceration. The money to pay for the drug rehab centers is still being figured out, as insurance companies don't offer as much coverage and there is only a relatively small amount of government dollars available for addiction treatment, especially quality drug rehab centers that get results.

Drug Rehab Treatment Options

In finding a drug rehab center, you should explore the programs that are available to you and make your decision based on the ones that can demonstrate that those addicts that graduate from their drug rehab center have a chance of being drug-free. In making your search for drug rehabilitation, look at their results before you consider the price and/or location. Length of treatment is also a factor, as 28- or 30-day inpatient programs rarely have an outcome better than 10%. A drug rehab center with a longer-term treatment approach is often the must successful, but just as important is what the drug rehab center is doing while they are in attendance. the common 30-day program has entirely too much down-time. Most of these drug treatment centers could complete the "therapy" they deliver in ten days of concentrated work. When you find a long-term treatment programs that has a schedule that is task-oriented and requires the attention of the clients at least eight hours a day, you are eliminating many of the ineffective programs.

It has been shown that drug rehab centers that operate on the idea that addiction is a disease believe that an addicted person cannot take on the responsibility of a demanding curriculum and, therefore, the clients begin to feel as though they are victims and go into agreement that they are incapable of handling a demanding schedule or the responsibility of not taking alcohol or other drugs. Those drug rehab and addiction treatment centers that demand the most from their clients, have the best outcomes. One shouldn't confuse demand with force. There are some drug rehab and addiction treatment centers that use ridcule and strong force to get compliance and those drug rehabs cause more invalidation which leads to more personal abuse in the form of drugging and drinking. However, there is much more than just a demanding schedule that makes for a successful center. Obviously, it is as important that what they are learning actually will give them the tools to handle life and be successful in handling whatever problems they are confronting in their lives. Some drug rehab centers have demanding schedules, but most of the effort is related to being able to handle the physical work demands, without much attention being given to the value of the learning. Many of these types of long-term residential treatment programs are more successful than 30-day, 12-step based programs, but the graduates do not have the needed life-skills to turn their lives around outside of the program.

Here is a short description of the main residential rehab and treatment facilities that are available in the US:

1. Biophysical Drug Rehab
Biophysical treatment methods get the residue of the drugs out of the body. Through research, it has been found that the human body will store a residue, called a metabolite of the drug, in the dormant fat tissue for 5 – 7 years after drug use/abuse. When a person stops using drugs, this residue of the fat-soluble drugs begins to be released back into the blood stream which causes cravings, anxiety, and depression in the addict who may be trying desperately to curtail his use.
This can go on for literally years and is the major reason why many programs claim that addiction is a life-long disease. As these toxins are released back into the blood stream, it causes the struggling drug affected person to experience some of the original drug effect and causes depression and mental health problems that lead many to see advice from psychiatrist who will then prescribe a psychiatric medication, which leads to more toxins in the body to add to the emotional roller coaster that most recovering people experience daily.
Drugs like heroin, oxycontin, cocaine, and meth are more powerful than the natural chemicals the brain produces to be happy, so these "flash-back" type experiences overpower ones natural chemistry. It takes at least a year for this natural chemical balance to be restored and most "recovering" addicts cannot take the anxiety and depression they are causing for any length of time without relapsing back to their drug of choice or drug of availability.
The Biophysical method uses a purification technology in conjunction with vitamins and minerals to release these toxic residues stored in fat tissue, back into the blood stream where they are then forced out of the body, leaving the person free of this contamination and free of the cravings, anxiety or depression caused by the side effects of these drugs. This enables a return to a natural chemical balance, which is why these types of programs don't subscribe to the expression, "Once and Addict, Always and Addict". This type of drug rehabilitation center uses a social educational model to restore ethics and build life-skills to ensure their graduates are drug free and productive members of society. Drug Rehab Programs with this method are having a success rate of over 78%. This is why Biophysical drug treatment centers are the most highly recommended and fastest growing form of treatment.

2. Drug Rehab using behavior modification
Behavioral Modification gained popularity in the 1970's and is based on the Pavlovian idea that man is an animal and changes actions based on stimulus and response. It was popular during these early years for teachers to have bags of M&M's to reward children for proper responses. In drug treatment, the Therapeutic Community model was developed, which uses ridicule and shamming tactics rather than M&M's in an attempt to change thinking and behavior. These program are popular with criminal justice populations and have demonstrated less than a 10% long-term success rate. As long as the person is in the original group and has gained some privileges for being a "perfect client", the compliance is high, but for those that need support to make changes, it can be devastating and leads to many clients exiting the programs early to maintain some personal power and dignity.

3. Drug rehab using a 12-step approach

This method of recovery is employed by Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous,Cocaine Anonymous and many other Anonymous groups.
The originators of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) looked long and hard for something, anything, that would work to save alcoholics from self-destruction, anything to break the cycle of addiction. In the 1930's alcoholics were thought of as the reprobates of society and were usually institutionalized in psychiatric centers as being insane and given horrendous treatment, which, of course, didn't solve the addiction. So, the original work of the two founders of the 12-step approach are to be commended for reclassifying the problem, but, unfortunately, in the process, they removed all of the personal responsibility by making addiction a disease.

There are many positive aspects of the 12-step approach in that it gets addicts into communication about their lives and their addiction and that is far better than the isolation that they were experiencing. However, it falls short of the truth about addiction and actually re-labels the problem to fit their philosophy and doesn't actually treat the addiction, but supports addicts with the idea that there is no cure, but by belonging to a like-minded group, one can stay off of alcohol and other drugs and survive at a higher level.
This recovery method was never intended to be institutionalized into a treatment modality, but when insurance programs in the 1970's began to pay for up to 30 days of addiction treatment, many programs opened throughout the US and huge profits were actualized for their owners. Soon the insurance companies looked at the lack of ongoing success and have since drastically reduce their support of any form of addiction treatment. These 30-day, 12-step programs do not pretend to graduate their patients free of relapse, but contend that addiction is a disease of relapse and that will continue throughout ones life. They believe that addiction is a chronic and progressive disease, meaning that is last forever and gets worse even when one isn't drinking or using. Less than 10% of their graduates stay clean long enough to rebuild their lives.

4. Christian or Religious based treatment
Many families soon become frustrated with behavior modification and 12-step treatment approaches, and for good reason, and turn to religious programs for an answer. These program usually don't profess to doing treatment, but are structured to bring fundamental religious beliefs into the void of spiritual feelings seen in all addicts. To develop the moral/ethics and spiritual support in anyone suffering from addiction is an important component of any program, but in itself, it has proven to be insufficient in graduating a higher than 5-10% success.
As you my have noticed, other than the Biophysical approach, all other modalities of treatment are only successful at a minimal level of 10% or less. This correlates with the fact that about 10% of the addict population will recover from their problems without any clinical interventions whatsoever, so in looking at these forms of treatment, you might find that it satisfies some part of your common sense that addicts may need some of these measures, like religion, but effective treatment of this problem is either comprehensive and successful or it depends totally on the strengths of the individual to be a success.
All program, other than biophysical programs, depend on their graduates to live within the newly acquired philosophy and to limit their contacts and associations to others that follow those ideals and ideas. This is not very realistic and, therefore you can see that very few remove themselves from addiction at a level that one should expect of a center that is treating a problem of any magnitude.

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