What is Drug Rehab?
Usually, the definitions given for Drug Rehab remind one of the fable of the blind men and the elephant. Each person sees it from their own perspective. What is Drug Rehab?
Drug Rehab is a shortened form of the phrase Drug Rehabilitation. The word rehabilitation makes one think of recovery. This is the true meaning of the word. It is a recovery from the control of a substance or drug. The phrase has become an umbrella term that covers a multitude of different approaches to the problems of addiction. These approaches are in the form of counseling, most often, but have, increasingly, been involved with medication as well.
The Drug Rehab is normally directed at an individual. Drug Rehab is very personal and the exact best method of treatment differs even based on the type of substance and the level of addiction. In most cases, de-toxification is the first step. This is the physical part of Drug Rehab. There are certain medications that ease this part of the process. It is known as withdrawal and it is hard and painful. It simply must be endured.
The second stage of Drug Rehab involves addressing the root cause of the substance abuse. Normally, this is not the substance itself that is the problem. Certain conditions inside a person make him into an addict and to simply remove the drug without dealing with the root problem leads to relapse rather than recovery.
One of the major divisions in Schools of Drug Rehab is between those who would blame the addiction on illness. Treating it like an illness tends to weaken the resolve of the individual to accept and overcome the addiction. It is not their fault, they would say, but rather, “they caught it.” On the other side, advocates of a medical approach to Drug Rehab say that to just deal with the problem from a “free will” standpoint ignores the advances of modern science and medicine. They have identified chemical imbalance associated with addictive behavior and have medications to deal with it.
Regardless of the type, from 12 Step meetings to high dollar Rehab spas, the purpose of the Rehab is to free an individual from the bondage of addiction and the legal, emotion, physical, and mental problems associated with it. The goals of Drug Rehab are always the same. First, to free the body from the addiction and then to insure it does not return.