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Rehabilitation refers to the care and support provided to return to a healthy life after a period of illness. There are many different forms of rehabilitation service, but in this context we are referring to rehabilitation for addictive illness. In the UK, rehabilitation usually refers to residential psychological treatment which teaches the patient new methods of interacting with others without the use of alcohol or drugs.
There are various types of rehabilitation programme - twelve step rehabilitation programmes, therapeutic community rehabilitation, religious based rehabilitation, and medical model rehabilitation. The commonest form of rehabilitation in the UK is twelve step.

All rehabilitation centres tend to share a number of key features. Residents must be drug and alcohol free (apart from tobacco); rehabilitation centres 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; rehabilitation programme lengths vary between 1 and 9 months. Many rehabilitation centres will provide detoxification in-house when this is necessary, in advance of commencement of the rehabilitation programme.

Residential rehabilitation versus community (home) rehabilitation

As for in-patient detoxification, residential rehabilitation appears to present a higher probability of successful outcome than does community based rehabilitation. A 1996 follow-up study, conducted as part of the National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) reported the following (Gossop M et al, 1999): When compared to the community services in the NTORS project, residential rehabilitation services achieved comparable outcomes, but were treating clients with more severe patterns of addiction, thus indicating greater effectiveness of residential as compared to community rehabilitation.

Duration of rehabilitation programme

Also in the NTORS study it was found that compared to early leavers from rehabilitation, those retained at least 28 days in short rehabilitation programmes, and 90 days in longer rehabilitation programmes were four times less likely to relapse than others. The issue of retention in rehabilitation treatment is central to effectiveness, and can be seen as a function of how the service relates to its clients, rather than the reverse. Rehabilitation centres 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 rehabilitation outcomes.

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