Intensive Outpatient Treatment – Is This The Cure for Substance Abuse?

drug addiction

Getting over a drug habit isn’t a cakewalk for most people because of the substantial chances of relapse. Therapy methods tend to vary depending on the sheer extent to which a patient is hooked on the substance. This is to say that the dependency level determines whether 24*7 supervision is a skippable option, and an Intensive Outpatient Treatment or Program (IOP) can be considered.

In Layman’s terms — IOPs are designed to employ a time-intensive approach in order to help a patient get done with the therapy while staying at home. This routine focuses on arranging group meetings and therapy sessions but is specifically limited to a few days in a week, that too for 3-4 hours.

IOPs let you continue therapy from home

While these are significantly stricter than a regular outpatient therapy routine, you promptly get to pave the path of improvement without having to leave your place permanently. This means staying nearby to the loved ones becomes feasible when a patient is signing up for an IOP.

However, this doesn’t imply that the approach becomes any less systematic and goal-oriented. The sole purpose becomes to track one’s progress without caging them and detaching from—proven for its effectiveness—familial support. This treatment method further facilitates a more extended social-connect that can help exercise skills a patient acquired during therapy hours.

Skill-improvement groups for behavioral growth

A considerable part of outpatient drug treatment revolves around working on enhancing the behavioral patterns of the patient. The group discussions are thus focused on sharing experiences so that new joiners can discern the journey of recovery better.

This allows a safe learning environment in which one can bring out the desired shift from addiction routines to become a more productive and focused individual.

Refusing training to tackle substance abuse

Relapses are undeniably the worst thing that can happen to a person striving for results from an intensive therapy session. Keeping up with an outpatient routine means your refusal game needs to be on par as you will be spending plenty of time at your own place.

These treatment sessions are specifically intended towards tackling the situations in which one might be likely to give in, whenever offered to retake the substance. Subsequently, the patient can understand and master the art of saying a big fat NOT to any drug offer.

Assessing triggers with relapse prevention group

Although detoxification takes merely a few weeks or months, depending on the severity of substance abuse, a patient will still get timely triggers. At times, failing to brainstorm on the cause of any specific trigger might lead to an avoidable break to your therapy routine.

Outpatient treatment methodology ensures that you realize the essentiality of staying clean as well as remaining calm during possible relapse situations. This way, one can leverage the advantages of staying at home while getting along with their treatment so as to fight the battle against substance abuse.