Pros and Cons of Short-Term Residential Programs
Most short-term residential programs are intense inpatient treatments that may last anywhere from three to six weeks, with most averaging about 30 days. The goal of these programs is a drug-free life and the path they follow to arrive there is a traditional 12-step plan. The constant cuts in HMOs and health insurance plans have led to these programs growing shorter and shorter.
The upside to these programs is the short break they provide from the world of influences that may have led to you using drugs in the first place. Others even allow for a three-day, “cold turkey” detox when you are first admitted. And of course, any recovery is better than no recovery at all. You may meet people who will go to AA or NA meetings with you after recovery is over or people you can call when you feel like using.
The downside is that the “cold turkey” detox is not a medical detox, which means that it will be painful, making you extremely ill for days, unable to sleep or move without feeling like you need an immediate trip to the bathroom. After this harsh detox, you will feel ill for another couple of weeks, which will take up most of the treatment time. By the time you adjust physically to being off drugs, you hardly have time to get your head into the right place before you return to the world where you began using initially.
A better plan might be to detox more slowly on your time and in the privacy of your home where you can go to 12-step meetings if you like, see your own therapist and fill your time with work instead of losing your job. With an outpatient prescription for Subutex or Suboxone and a set treatment plan, you can handle your drug addiction without feeling sick and without jeopardizing your career and your family’s trust. By the time you complete your treatment plan, you will be drug-free with a strong foundation beneath you, having spent the time rebuilding relationships that may have floundered during your drug use and creating new ones that will sustain you as you return to a life of abstinence.
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