Due Diligence the First Step to Addiction Cure

Addiction treatment centers are all over the United States and most other post industrial countries.

Choosing between the ones with available openings can be hard, especially if you are like everyone else and are on a limited budget.  If you are relatively wealthy or have excellent health insurance, you’re in luck and will more than likely be able to find a program with an opening.  There is a good chance you’ll have to fly in somewhere, so count on taking an extended trip.

Although they all vary significantly, there are two basic categories that all addiction treatment centers fall into; social model and medical model. 

Social model addiction treatment centers emphasize therapy, discussion, counseling and group work, but generally have a limited or non-existent medical staff.  These treatment centers normally will not provide detox services.  Medically based addiction treatment centers have the same kinds of therapy and counseling in the social models, but also have a medical staff that includes one or more doctors.  These centers will usually provide a detox service prior to treatment, and are able to administer and prescribe medication for use throughout treatment.

Today, the most popular addiction treatment centers are medically based. 

These centers also tend to be the most expensive.  If you can afford it, or have health insurance willing to pay part or all of the costs, I recommend using a medical model treatment center.  Having the advice and services of an addiction-trained physician is very valuable in the early stages of recovery.

However, it is a good idea to research the facility before signing up. 

In your research, pay special attention to the doctor or doctors they have on staff.  Are they ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) certified?  Do they actually have any experience in addiction treatment?  A doctor with limited knowledge or experience with addiction can actually make your problems worse by prescribing you highly addictive medications.  And it is dangerous to assume that just because the doctor is working at an addiction treatment center that he or she must be an addiction specialist.  Many addiction treatment centers help cut costs by hiring any doctor they can find!

Also, when looking for an addiction treatment center, look into the kinds of services they offer. 

If you have any say in the matter, look for a center that provides a variety of different kinds of therapy, exercises, nutritional information, mediations, etc.  An addiction treatment center provides plenty of resources will help you to customize your recovery a little more, which increases the chances of finding a form of treatment that works for you.

The Extremely Popular 12 step program

The 12 step program is an extremely popular and often effective route to seek support or treatment for any number of conditions.

There are dozens if not hundreds of different kinds of support group style meetings that follow the 12 step program model today. The 12 step model is for most people easy to follow, and is virtually guaranteed to produce at least some positive effects in your life if you tackle it seriously.

The first, biggest, and most famous 12 step program is of course Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA. AA began in the 1930s when two guys suffering from alcoholism got together and decided they would to whatever they could to assist each other in getting and staying sober.

These two guys were Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, often referred to as Bill and Bob, and little did they know the impact their 12 step program would have on the world of the future.

The early 12 step program associated with AA was heavily focused on religion. If you pickup a copy of the AA ‘big book’ (a clear reference to the Bible) you’ll see that it’s filled with religious wording and references to God, the Father. The religion associated with the 12 step program was of course Christianity, and the model itself is loosely based on a Christian fellowship called the Oxford Group.

The Oxford Group emphasized a method involving self-reflection, surrender to God, admission of character defects, and restitution for harm done to others in order to recover from behavioral illnesses including addictions. The method that Bill and Bob put together was largely influenced by the Oxford Group, and would become the same 12 step model followed in 12 step programs today.

12 step programs still therefore usually encourage religion or at least spirituality. For this reason, atheists, agnostics, and non-Christians are often turned off from 12 step programs due to their strong Christian roots.

However, most 12 step programs today offer meetings specifically designed for atheist or non-Christian members.

Even in the regular meetings, it is rare for there to be any specific denomination emphasized or even mentioned in any religious discussion.

Today there are 12 step programs to help people struggling from addictions of any kind you can imagine, eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, as well as many other mental illnesses and traumatic experiences. Tried and tested, the 12 step program is always a good place to start if you are suffering from any of the conditions that there are programs for.

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