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inpatient vs outpatient reahb

Inpatient vs Outpatient Rehab: What Are the Differences?

If you’re struggling with alcohol or drug addiction and looking for help online, you should be proud. The urge to overcome a substance use disorder is the first step on the recovery journey. However, with so many different addiction treatment programs, the research process can feel confusing and intimidating. In this article, we’ll help you understand the differences between inpatient vs outpatient rehab so you can make an informed decision about which treatment option is best for you.

What Is Inpatient Treatment?

Inpatient rehab is another term for residential rehab. When you enter this type of program, you commit to spending a set amount of time — usually one to three months — dedicating your life to recovery. This means leaving home and taking time out from your responsibilities and triggers to focus on learning about addiction and exploring various methods of healing from it.

On the first day, you’ll meet with a healthcare doctor who carries out a thorough medical care assessment. They’ll ask you questions about your medical history and conduct a physical examination. When it’s complete, they’ll liaise with the rest of your recovery team to create a customized drug and alcohol rehab treatment plan that takes into account your specific needs.

In residential treatment programs, there are usually additional alternative treatment methods such as fitness classes, psychoeducation, alpha stim treatment, satori chair sessions and EMDR. You’ll enjoy a variety of these activities in addition to the usual group therapy, one-on-one counseling and family therapy.

You’ll spend several weeks in a highly structured and organized environment that’s designed to promote recovery in a therapeutic community setting. Residential substance abuse treatment is unique because it’s an opportunity to hit the reset button on your unhelpful habits under the guidance of medical professionals. Not only that, but you form close-knit bonds with your peers and the staff. This makes it easier to open up, and openness is one of the most important qualities you need to be able to access in recovery.

What Is Outpatient Treatment?

Outpatient rehab is a less structured version of addiction treatment services. Instead of sleeping in the facility or spending time together outside of therapy, you meet up to five times a week. In many cases, the content that you cover is similar in inpatient vs outpatient rehab. Both start with an assessment from a doctor. Residential and outpatient treatment programs also both include a mixture of group sessions, one-on-one counseling and family therapy sessions.

If you have a loving support system and a safe, calm home environment, outpatient rehab can work well. However, it can be difficult for someone in more challenging circumstances to cope with life as usual while trying to make the changes necessary for recovery.

Inpatient vs Outpatient Rehab: A Comparison

Whether an outpatient or inpatient programs level of care is better for you depends on your individual circumstances. There is no single method of addiction recovery treatment that works for everyone. Instead, it’s a mixture of various therapies, counseling styles, education and lifestyle changes that bring about success for any individual. The more time you can dedicate to these practices, the better chance of long-term recovery you have.

In some cases, it might be the severity of the substance use disorder that dictates how long you spend in a rehab facility.

Mild Substance Use Disorder

You only really see mild addiction in people who haven’t been abusing drugs or alcohol for a chronic period of time. Even the mildest addiction has the potential to progress to the next stage of severity. Most addiction specialists agree that substance use disorders are progressive diseases. As your tolerance increases, you’ll need to take more to get the same effect. As you take more and more, the substance has more of a hold over you.

Some people suggest outpatient care as the only option for a mild SUD, but we disagree. Any level of addiction is a signal that you’re struggling to cope with or regulate your emotions. In residential treatment facilities, you get more time, space and guidance to explore why you’ve turned to substances so you can do your best to avoid them in the future.

Moderate Substance Use Disorder

A moderate substance use disorder can affect different people in very distinct ways. One person may be able to keep a job and support themselves, while another’s life is turned upside down. If you can’t take time off from work or have other responsibilities you can’t cover, outpatient is probably the best option. However, if you can take the time out from work on medical grounds and get coverage for anything else, inpatient care gives you the best chance of long-term success.

Severe Substance Use Disorder

When it comes to severe substance use disorders, inpatient rehab is the best course of action for drug and alcohol abuse. You can get access to medication and around-the-clock care from dedicated addiction specialists. When addiction is at its worst, it can entirely take over your life and leave your hobbies, personality and dreams for the future behind. In a residential rehab center, you have the full support of a team of experts and a ready-made peer support network to help you rediscover yourself.

Inpatient vs Outpatient Drug Rehab: Which Is Cheaper?

People often assume that outpatient treatment is always cheaper than inpatient treatment. However, that doesn’t take into account the fact that someone might need to keep going back to outpatient services if treatment is unsuccessful. It can be harder for caregivers to spot issues like underlying mental health conditions in an outpatient program setting.

Inpatient recovery centers cover a wider range of therapy and gives each member of the community the best chance of maintaining sobriety long term.

Get Help at Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment Today

If you or a loved one would like to hear more about our treatment center in BC, call us today at +1-778-430-1212.

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Yoga

Yoga – Clients participate in Hatha yoga exercise sessions. It involves the use of postures called asanas. The asanas connect mind, body and breath to gain self-awareness and focus attention inward.

Yoga has several benefits, including:

  • Stress relief
  • Increased physical stamina and strength
  • Self-reflection and increased self-awareness
  • Heightened self-confidence and improved self-image
  • Pain relief
  • Improved sleep
  • Increased energy levels
  • Reduction in fatigue
Trauma Therapy

Trauma Therapy – This is an optional program for those who need and want up to 10-one hour EMDR trauma therapy sessions during their stay at Recovery Works.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.

EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma.

More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy.  There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the Canadian Department of Defense.

The net effect is that clients complete EMDR therapy feeling empowered by the very experiences that once debased them.  Their wounds have not just closed, they have transformed. As a natural outcome of the EMDR therapeutic process, the clients’ thoughts, feelings and behavior are all robust indicators of emotional health and resolution.

Step Work

Step Work – The 12-Step program are an effective tool in changing the way residents view the world and respond to it. This personality change in AA rooms is referred to as a spiritual awakening. Psychologists have long recognized that “step work” is cognitive therapy at it’s best because it’s been proven over and over that the only way to change thinking and our relationship with ourselves and others is through action. We can act our way into better thinking-not the reverse. Each client of the Recovery Works completes at least the first 5 of the 12-Steps. Some complete all 12-Steps.

Satori Chair Sessions

Our Satori wellness system consists of a zero-gravity lounge chair which gently delivers specific vibrational frequencies throughout the body, while you listen to sound and music through headphones. This combination of vibration and acoustics has the effect of guiding your brainwaves toward deep levels of relaxation while you enter a meditative state. This physically balances the body’s natural energy centers, and the deep states of relaxation and meditation result in the rejuvenation of the mind and the body.

The experience has similarities to neuro-feedback in terms of its impact on the mind and body, using a combination of guided imagery and visualization, with vibrational stimulation of the senses.

The U.S. military has used Satori Chair technology to help combat troops returning from war to more quickly rebalance their minds and bodies in order to reduce the likelihood of developing debilitating depression, anxiety and trauma.

Fitness Training

Fitness Training – We view physical fitness as one of the pillars of recovery. That’s why we train twice-weekly at Cross Fit Vic City with instructors that train elite Canadian athletes. Additionally we hike in the forest and on nearby beaches and take advantage of the wide range of recreational opportunities that Victoria has to offer.

Psycho-Education

Psycho-education – A big part of recovery is learning about the disease of addiction to alcohol and other drugs and how to recover –  stay clean and sober. The Recovery Works psycho-education program is an evidence-based therapeutic intervention. Our program includes lectures, videos, guest speakers, reading and written assignments on the disease of addiction and recovery from it.

One on One Counselling

One on One Counselling – Individual counseling is exactly what it sounds like. It is one of our therapists working one on one with a resident. They meet and agree on some goals for their work together. The great thing about Recovery Works’ one on one therapy is the individual is able to have a safe and confidential environment to talk about difficult things and get unbiased, objective feedback and suggestions from our therapists.

Family Program

Family Program – This is an optional program and an additional fee is charged for families that wish to participate (see cost of treatment).

Addiction is called “a family disease” for good reason. Family members are profoundly affected when a loved one becomes addicted to alcohol or another drug.

By the time most families reach out for help and drug treatment, the disease of addiction has typically progressed to a crisis level for the addict and family alike.

Through a variety of educational presentations and activities, Recovery Works’ Family Program provides the whole family the opportunity to begin their own journey of recovery.

Recovery is stronger when all family members understand the nature of drug and alcohol addiction and are involved in the healing process. By educating you about the disease of addiction and the different ways family members are affected—whether parent, child, spouse or partner—our programs and services help you:

  • Work through the chaos you’re experiencing
  • Set healthy boundaries
  • Rebuild trusting relationships
  • Improve communication with one another
Group Therapy

Group Therapy – Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. At Recovery Works we employ psychodynamic group therapy where the group context and group process is used as a mechanism of change by developing, exploring and examining interpersonal relationships within the group.

Alpha Stim Sessions

Alpha Stim Sessions – The Alpha-Stim electrotherapy device treats anxiety, insomnia, and depression. It has no lasting side effects, no risk of addiction and no danger of interaction with medications. Our brains naturally have electrical currents. The Alpha-Stim cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) device delivers a natural level of micro-current, via small clips worn on earlobes, through the brain to stimulate and modulate specific groups of nerve cells. The micro-current is tiny, just millionths of an ampere, and so gentle that most people don’t even feel it. The Alpha-Stim waveform, application and protocols result in significant anxiety relief, mood normalization and better sleep (both in quality and duration). Treatments take 20 to 40 minutes and can be completed in bed, while reading or just relaxing.