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What are rehab clinics?

Rehab clinics are institutions that provide care and support to enable a return to a healthy life after a period of illness. In this context we are concerned with alcohol rehab clinics which provide care and support for people suffering from alcoholism.

Rehab clinics will usually provide both the medical and psychological care needed to treat alcoholism. As such, in the UK, rehab clinics will usually provide both alcohol detox and on-going psychological rehab, both of which are commonly necessary to achieve recovery from alcoholism.

As far as the psychological element of treatment is concerned, there are various types of rehab clinic - twelve step rehab clinics, therapeutic community rehab clinics, religious based rehab clinics, and medical model rehab clinics. The commonest form of rehab clinics in the UK is twelve step.

All rehab clinics tend to share a number of key features. Residents must be drug and alcohol free (apart from tobacco); rehab clinics provide a structured programme of psychological, educational and social therapy, which aims at preparing the alcoholic or addict to manage better an alcohol free life back in society; rehab clinic programme lengths vary between 1 and 9 months. Many rehab clinics will provide detox in-house when this is necessary, in advance of commencement of the rehab programme.

Rehab clinics versus community (home) treatment

Admission to a rehab clinic for a period of residential treatment, appears to present a higher probability of successful outcome than does community based treatment. A 1996 follow-up study, conducted as part of the National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) indicated the following (Gossop M et al, 1999): When compared to community services, residential rehab clinics are likely to achieve comparable outcomes, but treat clients with more severe patterns of addiction, thus indicating greater effectiveness of residential rehab clinics as compared to community rehab.

Duration of rehab clinic stay

Compared to early leavers from rehab clinics those retained at least 28 days in short rehab clinic programmes, and 90 days in longer rehab clinic programmes are probably four times less likely to relapse than others, as indicated by some research studies. The issue of retention in rehab clinics is central to effectiveness, and can be seen as a function of how the rehab clinic relates to its clients, rather than the reverse.

Rehab clinics which actively engage with clients, provide supportive environments and well structured programmes, which are clear about their policies and their therapies, and which tailor their activities to individual needs produce better outcomes.

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