Alcohol Detox and Rehab

Alcohol detox and rehab are two different things, and it’s important that we make the distinction clear. Alcohol rehab would be the preliminary phase required before someone could actually partake in a rehabilitation program.

We’ll explain the differences below.

Alcohol detox is the phase during which your body detoxifies itself of the alcohol. During this stage, heavy alcoholics will go through withdrawal. Withdrawal symptoms are uncomfortable, painful, and sometimes, even fatal.

Alcohol is one of the very few substances where medical professionals will require patients to undergo a medically supervised detox prior to rehabilitation. This is because, without proper supervision, people going through alcohol withdrawal may experience seizures.

These seizures are caused by overexcitation in the nervous system. Alcohol is a highly relaxing substance and helps to reduce stress and anxiety. This is because it helps to flood the body with a neurotransmitter called GABA.

What GABA does is helps to regulate the activity of other, more stimulating, neurotransmitters - in this case, glutamate. Glutamate is important because it lets your nerves fire, lets your cells talk to each other. But it needs to be regulated, otherwise your nervous system would be in overdrive.

That’s what’s happening during alcohol withdrawal: your nervous system is in overdrive and you can experience shaking, convulsions, and seizures due to overexcitation. These seizures can be fatal and it’s important to have medical staff on standby in case you run the risk of having such a seizure.

At detox, you’ll have a bed, access to traiend professionals who can provide medication to reduce some of the symptoms of withdrawal, and you’ll be able to rest while your body attempts to return to a healthy state of baseline.

Alcohol rehab, or rehabilitation, is the phase during which you learn to rehabilitate yourself from the grip of alcoholism. You will learn the skills and acquire the tools that you need to return to life and thrive as a sober individual.

This is achieved in different ways at different rehab centers, but the general principle is the same. You need to learn how to live your life without booze, which means uncovering the truth about why you’re drinking in the first place, and then replacing the alcohol with something more fruitful and healthy.

With the help of therapists, counsellors, and other members of the treatment center, you’ll be able to do what you never thought possible: bregin to enjoy life again, completely sober!

There are different things involved in alcohol rehab depending on where you go and what sort of treatment program that you intend to take. The treatment programs can generally be split into one of two categories, either inpatient or outpatient.

Inpatient rehab involves committing yourself to your treatment. Fully committing yourself. During an inpatient program you won’t be allowed to leave the treatment facility unless you’re willing to forfeit your treatment entirely (except in the case of an emergency. No, having a drink is not an emergency, no matter how much it might feel like one).

The benefits of inpatient care are that you have access to medical professionals around the clock. You’ll be able to speak with people if, say, you start feeling cravings or triggers in the evening that are too intense for you to deal with.

You’ll also remain fully focused on your recovery during your stay at the treatment center, since everyone else there will also be focused on recovery. Being surrounded by this sort of uplifting environment that encourages people to discuss their recovery and share ideas with one another is very conducive to a successful recovery.

Outpatient rehab is a lot more lenient than inpatient rehab in the sense that you can come and go from the facility as you please. These programs tend to cost a lot less. They’re also less demanding: you can still keep a job or raise a family while going to an outpatient rehab.

The obvious drawback here is the lack of constant support and the risk of relapsing. While you’re outside of the rehab center, nothing but your own willpower is standing between you and a relapse.

Towards the end of the program, this will get easier as you learn the tools and techniques that you need to stay sober. In the beginning, however, it can be quite challenging to apply all the information you learned during the first couple weeks of treatment.

South Bay Behavioral Health, our sister company, offers virtual PHP and IOP for mental health conditions across California. Because care is virtual, you can attend from home and keep work, study or family going.

The basic premise for most rehab programs is pretty similar, although some of the particulars can vary from center to center.

Pretty much everywhere you go, though, you can expect to receive therapy, attend group meetings, and discuss aftercare with your rehabilitation staff.

Therapy is the cornerstone of rehab. In most basic facilities, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the main type of therapy. It focuses on helping people shift their behaviors by understanding how past actions influence present behaviors and then learning to shift them into more positive behaviours.

But recent research into other areas have proven numerous types of therapy to be useful. Rational emotive behavioral therapy, for example, helps people with the emotional components of addiction. Jungian analytical therapy helps people understand their addiction in the contextual framework of a human being according to an archetypal map inherent to all of humanity.

Group meetings are a great way to learn things that you might not otherwise learn in therapy. You can share your own story with others and you’ll get to hear others share theirs. There is much value in this.

By sharing and listening, you’ll be able to pick up tips on what worked for some people and what didn’t work for others. This can help you formulate your recovery plan.

Aftercare describes any sort of treatment that follows after the actual rehab program has been completed.

This might mean living in sober living homes, regular checkups with your therapist, and putting a plan of action into place so that you’re not bored and don’t have time to think about relapsing.

Alcohol addiction is no walk in the park, and nobody is more or less weak for falling victim to it. Addiction is a disease that can befall anyone, whether they are a multimillion dollar CEO or someone living on the street.

The important thing is recognizing that you have a problem and deciding to seek treatment for it. After treatment, make sure that you have a plan in place to prevent further relapse.

If you want to look up “sober living near me,” we can help you at our rehabilitation facility. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you want to take the first step towards your recovery.