Are Alcohol Abuse Treatment Centers the Only Option for Recovery?
While traditional alcohol abuse treatment centers operate off of standardized treatment methods, not everyone can benefit from a standardized treatment approach. As different people have different treatment needs, alternative alcohol abuse treatment centers try to approach alcohol recovery from a less restrictive perspective.
Alternative alcohol abuse treatment centers offer services more geared towards specific aspects of the traditional model, such as the physical toll recovery takes on the body. Ultimately, combining methods from both the traditional model and alternative approaches can work well for people who see few if any benefits from strictly traditional treatment programs.
Combining Traditional & Alternative Treatments
Finding the right treatment option for your situation will help you get on the way to recovery.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, medication and behavioral therapies provide essential supports for people trying to recover from alcohol addictions. Traditional alcohol abuse treatment centers focus primarily on these essential supports with little deviation outside the norm. For many people, medication therapies are absolutely necessary for preventing relapse, while behavioral therapies help people gain insight on the problems that feed their addiction.
As alternative alcohol abuse treatment centers work to build on these practices, alternative methods offer additional supports that can make it easier to maintain abstinence in the long-term. Many alternative programs also take a more holistic approach to recovery by treating the whole person – body, mind and spirit – as opposed to just the physical and psychological aspects of addiction.
Combining traditional and alternative treatment approaches may work better in cases where traditional treatment fails to provide the types of supports a person needs. Considering how likely a person is to relapse when trying to stop drinking, the detoxification treatment services offered through traditional alcohol abuse treatment centers offer the best chance a person has of staying sober. Treatment programs that combine alternative methods with traditional treatment approaches can increase the likelihood of both short-term and long-term success in recovery.
Alternative Treatment Options
Withdrawal effects from an alcohol addiction can persist long after a person stops drinking. Alternative treatment options work to pick up where traditional programs leave off when it comes to helping clients deal with withdrawal effects. In order to accomplish this, many alcohol abuse treatment centers specialize in different therapy approaches, such as expressive therapy, recreational therapy and body therapy.
Expressive treatment therapy encourages clients to express their experiences through the arts, such as painting, writing, music and drama. Body therapy approaches incorporate massage therapy, acupuncture or yoga into the treatment process. Recreational treatment therapy encourages clients to take up outdoor activities, such as horseback riding, rock climbing and wilderness expeditions as ways to keep withdrawal effects in check.
Nutritional Therapy
The overall toll alcoholism takes on the body can throw off the body’s natural chemical balance, which accounts for much of the withdrawal effect people experience long after taking their last drink. For this reason, many alternative alcohol abuse treatment centers incorporate nutritional therapy plans as part of a person’s overall treatment care.
Supplementing the diet with certain key nutrients, such as vitamins C and E, magnesium and all of the B vitamins can help restore the body to normal functioning capacity. This, in and of itself better equips a person to fight off drinking urges and maintain sobriety for the long-term.