6 Month Rehab Facilities

Recovery programs exist for all types of addictions and also for all degrees of addiction. As a general rule, the more severe the substance use disorder problem the more intensive treatment should be. Six-month rehab facilities specialize in treating the most severe forms of addiction. When short-term treatment programs fall short in helping you get well, the level of care offered by longer-term programs may be what’s needed to help you get your life back on track and keep it on track.

6 Month Rehab – Why So Long?

With one-week, 30-day, and 60-day rehab facilities to choose from, why choose a program that takes up half a year of your life? If you’re coming off a chronic addiction problem, the answer lies in the way addiction has up-ended your life. This includes the physical and psychological changes that occurred along the way.

Drugs (and alcohol) change the brain on a physical level, affecting the areas of the brain that determine how you think, how you feel, and how you interact with the world around you. After months of frequent drug or alcohol abuse, these physical effects start to take on a life of their own. This is how addiction works.

Besides the compulsive drug use, addiction becomes a way of life that “feels” normal in the mind of the addict. In cases of severe addiction, this mindset-lifestyle becomes so ingrained that extensive reconditioning is needed to help you live a normal life. A six-month rehab facility provides the type of setting, daily routines, and interpersonal interactions that enable you to replace the addiction mindset with a drug-free approach to living.

What Happens in 6 Month Rehab Facilities?

Six-month rehab facilities work to create a therapeutic community that promotes a sober lifestyle. Within this environment, patients have time to heal from the social damage caused by the chaos that addiction breeds. Structure and stability are two of the greatest benefits of living in a long-term treatment facility. Your time spent there will involve developing healthy ways of thinking and interacting with others through ongoing treatment interventions, peer supports, quiet time, and recreational activities.

Here are some of the treatment services you’ll take part in during your stay:

Behavioral Interventions

Compulsive drug-seeking behaviors develop out of warped ways of thinking that convince a person that he or she can’t deal with daily life without drugs. This line of thinking and behavior promotes continued substance use disorder. Six-month rehab facilities attack this mindset head-on with behavior-based treatments, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and group therapy.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps you identify the destructive thinking that drives addiction-based behaviors. From there, you’ll learn how to replace destructive belief systems with a mindset that believes you can function in the world without drugs. Group therapy uses a more interpersonal approach, helping group members learn to confront difficult issues and communicate them in constructive ways.

Relapse Prevention Counseling

Developing ways to manage drug-using urges early on in treatment goes a long way towards helping recovering addicts avoid relapse. Relapse prevention counseling helps you identify external triggers, such as old hangouts or certain friends, that aggravate drug cravings and find ways to avoid them. Counseling also helps you zero in on internal triggers, such as boredom, depression, and stress while developing strategies to manage cravings and find alternative, healthy outlets.

Medication-Assisted Treatments

When abused, certain types of drugs (opioids, alcohol, anti-anxiety drugs) leave behind extensive damage to the brain’s chemical system. This damage can cause residual withdrawal effects to last for months or even years after drug use stops. Under these conditions, your risk of relapse runs especially high. When needed, long-term drug treatment facilities provide medication-assisted treatments, which work to support healthy brain chemical activity and relieve uncomfortable residual withdrawal effects.

Family-Based Therapy

The destructive effects of addiction not only impact the addict’s life but also his or her loved ones. Families have a way of adapting to addiction’s effects without even knowing they’re doing it. Secrecy, distrust, and lying become norms that accommodate the instability that addiction causes.

For these reasons, 6-month rehab facilities encourage family members to take an active role in the addict’s recovery process. Participating in family therapy is a way for loved ones to better understand the recovery process, develop healthy ways of interacting with one another, and hold each other accountable for their actions.

Rehab Settings & Accommodations

Much like settings for any other type of treatment facility, settings for long term rehab programs run the gamut, from beautiful ocean-side settings to suburban locales. Most all programs offer the same amenities as you have at home though the more luxurious facilities offer spas, private rooms, private bathrooms, top-notch cuisine, and the like. Long term drug treatment programs may also cater to certain groups, such as women, men, and teenagers. Group-based facilities take a more in-depth approach to addressing problematic issues that affect the group, such as domestic violence in the case of a women’s facility.

Aftercare Support Services

Staying engaged in the recovery process is essential to living a sober lifestyle. Even after a lengthy six-month stay, returning to the activities of daily life can be overwhelming for people leaving rehab. Being able to access needed resources and supports can mean the difference between continued abstinence and relapse. Many six-month rehab facilities make it a point to maintain contact with former patients through follow-up interviews and referrals to 12-Step recovery and support groups. Patients may also be referred for ongoing behavioral therapy, family therapy, and medication-assisted therapy as needed.

Cost Considerations

Not surprisingly, long term drug treatment facilities tend to be more expensive than programs of shorter duration. Even with the increased cost, the cost of not getting the level of treatment and support you need to overcome addiction is even greater. Six-month rehab facilities understand affordability can be a make or break issue so they make an effort to provide a wide range of payment assistance options. Treatment specialists can work with you to find payment options that you can afford.

Payment assistance options offered may include:

• Sliding-fee scales
• Health insurance coverage
• Flexible payment plans
• Grant eligibility options

Who Can Most Benefit from 6 Month Rehab Facilities?

The decision to enter a six-month rehab facility doesn’t come lightly for most but when the impact of addiction threatens to destroy your life, the choice becomes easier. Anyone who struggles with a chronic or long-term substance use disorder problem will likely require the level of intensive care a long-term rehab facility provides. Other circumstances that may warrant long-term treatment include:

• When both an addiction and a mental health problem (depression, anxiety disorder, or bipolar disorder) are present
• You’ve had little to no success with shorter-term treatment programs
• You’ve experienced multiple relapse episodes
• You’re addicted to more than one substance, such as alcohol and opioids

When chronic substance use disorder problems exist, it’s never too soon to seek out treatment help. Long-term programs offer the level of comprehensive care that will help you take back your life from addiction once and for all.

Sources:

• health.harvard.edu – How Addiction Hijacks the Brain
• ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – Relapse Prevention and the Five Rules of Recovery
• samhsa.gov – Recovery and Recovery Support
• sunshinebehavioralhealth.com –  Drug & Alcohol Addiction Treatment Centers