The biggest myth of drug addiction rehab:
You will be cured of addiction after 30 days. On day 31, you’re done with addiction and ready to move on. Can this happen? Yes. Does it happen often? Unfortunately, no. Insurance companies are the problem here. Many policies will only cover addiction treatment for 30 days, so that’s how treatment centers offer it. Did you know that there is no scientific addiction rehab reason for this? It’s just an arbitrary number that’s used. Even though study after study after study has shown that the best form of addiction treatment is a long term program. So if insurance only pays for 30 days, what should you do? You should find a place that offers a long term treatment program and you should pay for it. You know why? Because even though it may seem like a big price tag at first, and I know you didn’t plan for drug rehab treatment when you were saving money for college and it’s painful and scary to think about getting help for more than 30 days – it’s cheaper and far less devastating than paying for a funeral. Read that again. It’s cheaper and far less devastating than paying for a funeral. Addiction is a disease – like cancer. If cancer happens to your loved one – do you only treat him or her for 30 days? Insurance might cover a little bit more, but you will still be paying a lot on medical care and medicines. Do you choose to stop treatment after 30 days because it got expensive? Of course not. Because death is a possibility with the disease of cancer. Just like it’s a possibility with the disease of drug and alcohol addiction. You know why else I know that 30 days doesn’t work? Common sense. Because I’m new to this company and new to the addiction treatment industry, my first week of work I toured quite a few treatment facilities to get an idea of different programs, locations, philosophies etc. I spent hours and hours walking the grounds, talking to various facility management and seeing first-hand the world a person lives in when they are in rehab. All day every day they are in programs. Classes on anger, classes on 12 steps, classes on addictions. They participate in outdoor activities relating to addiction, they have group therapy, individual therapy – all of it relating to their particular addiction. It’s a beautiful thing to see, really. Because it’s watching people turn their lives around. But the entire time I looked at this particular facility, I had this nagging thought that kept popping into my head. Finally, I asked – “They live in this treatment for their addiction world from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed, right?” I asked one of the tour guides. “Yes,” he replied. “So all they do is focus on themselves and their addiction and then they just hit the 30 day mark and out they go?” Then I asked, “How do you know it works?” I was met with some fluster in the response. He mentioned an alumni group and that they keep in touch with many former patients. But he didn’t truly have an answer for me. I’m not even sure he knew. Look, I believe the program was a cool program. I also know that there are many great rehabs out there. I think they help people – for 30 days. But use common sense. Is that enough time to detox, get the fog of addiction out of your head, open your eyes, heart and mind to the world around you, learn about yourself and how you got sick to begin with, ask your friends and family for forgiveness, ask them for forgiveness again and then one more time, learn how to live a new life, how to cope with stress, how to deal with failure, establish your new self, new life and new family? You can do ALL of that in 30 days? Shoot, I have bruises that don’t heal in 30 days. I know a long term program seems overwhelming. It seems like it’s too much money. It seems like it will last forever. But what if it works? Won’t that be money and time well spent? Would you regret paying for the chemotherapy treatment if it saved you from cancer? 30 day treatment programs are a myth. Plain and simple. Do it right the first time and get long term addiction treatment and you will not only beat addiction, but you’ll avoid relapse. And that’s priceless.
