I found this in “Dispelling The Myths About Addiction, Strategies To Increase Understanding And Strengthen Research,” Institute Of Medicine, National Academy Press, Washington, 1997, pages 73-74.

“One of the most enduring myths about addiction is that treatment for these disorders is ineffective.'

"O’Brien and McLellan (1996) reviewed and compared treatment literature for addictive disorders and three common health problems – hypertension, diabetes, and asthma. Treatment effectiveness for addiction was defined as a 50% decrease in drug taking after 6 months. The literature reviewed showed treatment for alcoholism to be successful for 40% to 70% of patients; success rates for cocaine addiction were 50% to 60%, opioids 50% to 80%, and nicotine 20% to 40%.  Interestingly, review of studies relevant to diabetes, hypertension and asthma revealed that high proportions of these patients did not follow their physician’s advice and did not adhere to diet and other behavioral components of their treatment. For example, among patients with insulin-dependent diabetes, less than 50% adhered to their medication regimen and less than 30% conformed to their diet and other self-care requirements.  Less than 30% of patents with asthma and hypertension were found to take their medication as instructed.  Noncompliance and other factors, according to the studies reviewed, resulted in 50% to 60% of hypertension and 60 to 80% of asthmas patients needing to be retreated within a year.

The comparability of these data argue that addiction is similar to these three common medical illnesses in that they all can be treated successfully in many patients, but none can be cured and all 4 often require retreatment.

Yet, there are important differences between addiction and these other illnesses in the perception of the public, insurance companies and physicians. Few would argue that retreatment for diabetes, hypertension, or asthma indicates treatment failure, or that treatment should be withheld from or denied to these patients when they relapse and their symptoms reoccur. Yet such an argument is commonly made about addiction.”

I find this is interesting considering the number of people who when they hear about my work for a drub rehab center, and ask me questions that start out with in a doubting tone, “And what is your success rate?”  How many people ask the same question to the physician or othe rhealth care provider, in the first line of a conversation…….hmmmm.   What do you think?

We have gotten better at most things in the world over the last 20 years, and drug rehab treatment is one of them.  We are starting to understand human behavior at a level deeper than ever before in history.  We are also much better at changing patterns of thinking around addiction than before.  Cognitive Therapy is probably the most efficient vehicle to change thought patterns that has ever been developed.

There is however no free ride.  If you are looking for a drug rehab program that will help you change, but somehow you will experience no discomfort, no regret, no sadness, in other words no pain on the way to changing, you most likely will be disappointed.  Life is filled with these emotions.  People who never use drugs and alcohol and have lead fairly normal and successful lives still feel them. They are a part of life, every life. On some level it is the endless search for a pain free existance that is at the heart of all addiction, drug or otherwise.  It is the very cognitive distortions that keep us addicted, that are the basis of our endless running away from pain.  The first is the all or none thinkng that the pain and regret you are feeling will last forever.  Nothing lasts forever, pain included.  Plus there is the fortune telling and predicting of the future, that a life without drugs wi be boring and painful.  Again, nobody is born with an accurate crystal ball for the future.  Learning to deal with pain in real life, sithout medication is an important part of drug rehab.  Don't miss it.

My frustrating search for free and low cost drug rehab programs continues.  It is easy to see why those who absolutely need free drug rehab services continue to call from one place to another.  If you type free drug rehab as a search into google, the first page has no listings at all that are free.  There are four free drug rehab consultations.  There are toll free numbers.  There are rehabs that will make you drug free.  Apparently google is unable to sort out the actual drug rehab programs that might be free.  The second page of listings is not much better.  Two of the listings actually deal with free drug rehab, the other eight so not.  The rest are back to the free drug rehab consultations again.

The point I am trying to make here is that if google cannot find these resources with all their computing power, how is the average person with a severe drug addiction and few or no resources supposed to find them?  The only way I can see, is if we all start posting these places in our websites so they can be found.  If everyone with a website with material on drug rehab, gave a link or two showing where some free drug rehab programs could be found, then google and the other search engines could find them and a lot of pain and frustration from families in this situation could be prevented.  So if you know of some that I have not mentioned, come on, what are you waiting for?  Tell me, or somebody else.

We need more good stories in drug rehab.  There is nothing as motivating as a good story.  Too bad we couldn't take a page from pro sports.  One of my favorite things to do is to watch the highlights of the best plays of the week or day.  Even if you are not into that particular sport, the highlights are always exciting.  Success breeds success.  Wouldn't it be great if there were a bunch of short clips we could put together about lives changed after drug rehab.  If people in rehab could tune in once a week and see the difference in those who came before them, think how motivating that could be!

It would also be so much more healthy to look at all the success stories, rather than one more story about Britney and Keifer and all their woes.  I just think we need some balance out there.  The only thing we seem to see in the news about drug rehab are those that are going to avoid legal issues and those who have went and failed.  I know bad news sells, but bads news can also keep people from hanging in there and pushing on to success when they are in a drug rehab program.  Maybe the guys who do the Intervention show could just have a 5 minute burst on each show of people who made the change.  It could be from drug rehabs all over the place, and people who were not even featured on their show.  So all you people out there who have moved past addiction, how about some comments on all the blogs out there.  Just a couple of words at he right time could make the difference in someone's life.

There are two battles in dealing with drug and alcohol addiction.  The first one involves getting someone into a drug and alcohol rehab center.  Getting someone to the place where they see the need to change and the belief that the drug rehab they have chosen can teach them the changes and skills they need.  The second battle involves the individuals definition of their own self worth. 

Many clients will sobotage their own efforts in drug rehab in the misguided belief that somehow they are not worth a great life.  Fortune telling statments like, "I'm going to screw up and relapse anyway, so why even bother?"  Or looking back at some of the very negative behaviors and deeds they have done in the past, they fear that "karma" will catch up with them and they are not going to be successful after rehab. 

The way out of this self sabotage is to point out they and everyone else, really has no ability to predict the future, either positively or negatively.  Nobody has the ability to accuately measure karma.  If they did, they would be very powerful and rich, and probably not in a drug rehab program.  Predictions and assumptions of failure and lack of worthiness are no different that tarot cards and crystal balls.  You deserve a better life, because you are trying to change.  Going to a drug rehab program is an act of courage and faith.  When anyone acts with courage and faith, they deserve a better life.

Is there danger in letting your mind wander and imagine drug use?  If after attending a drug rehab program should you train your mind to quickly move on to other topics when you mind starts to imagine drug use?  A simpler question to ask might be what good things could happen by slipping into a fantasy of drug use?  That seems like an easier question to answer.  I guess someone could make a sort of remote arguement that in the fantasy you could make drug use painful or damaging and therefore promote sobriety, but I think really there is not a lot of good that can come out of these fantasies.

The real danger lies in that in fantasy, we always have control.  We never get caught.  We never get diseases.  We never get arrested.  Drug rehab is about remembering all these other possibilities.  Fantasy can be a preamble to a real relapse, so is it really worth the risk?  Any behavior that carries a real risk of relapse is just not worth it.  There are simple methods to stop a fantasy in it's tracks and stay focused on the path you chose in drug rehab.  Simply ask yourself a quality question.  "What one thing could I be doing now to make my life better, instead of dreaming about drugs?"  Or how about," What are three negative things that will happen if I experiment with drugs again?  This will stop any fantasy cold in it's tracks.  Play it smart, dream about things that really will make your life better.

After you have completed a drug rehab program there are several things you may want to consider to keep up the change you started in rehab.  One of the most important is to find a mentor.  There are few things in life quite so important as finding the counsel of wise people you truly trust.

When looking for a mentor, you want to seek out people that already have the skills, life, family, and friends you would like to have in your life.  If someone has a large degree of skill and success in all these areas of their life, it was not by luck.  To have a good life and a balanced life, is a sign of hard honest work and commitment.

Mentors are people who are able to give you the best advice as they like and care for you, but are not so close as to have their judgment affected by any other agenda, other than helping you.  I am lucky to have such people in my life.  Life will always have a few storms along the way.  You path after drug rehab will not be perfect or smooth.  Mentors will help you stay calm and focused during such storms.  Their experience and confidence will be contagious, and will help you to stay on the goals and sober path you chose in drug rehab.  Just be open to finding a mentor, if you have faith and keep your eyes open, they will appear.

We all want to hit a home run.  We all want to find out "the one thing", that will change our lives for the better, totally for ever.  It is funny but we live in a world that just doesn't seem to want to wait for results.  Drug rehab suffers from the same mentality.  We all want diets that will let us lose wieght at the speed of light.  Turn around specialists are supposed to take years of bad decisions and make a company profitable almost immediately. 

The biggest complaint we hear about drug rehab other than the cost, is the time it takes.  "Are you kidding?  I can't take 3 months off!"  It seems rather ironic that someone who has lost their job, friends, and self-respect, cannot find the time to fix the problem.  Success in any project is always measured and accomplished with small steps built on top of eachother.  So instead of looking for the big secret to sobriety, or rebuilding your life, look for the 1% improvement you can make today.

I saw some more information today from a study.  It had lots of great information about how people felt about their lives and their concerns.  It hasn't been published yet so I can't say anything really specific.  The one thing that stuck me though was that a lot people are still ashamed or afraid to seek out drug treatment.  With all the celebs entering drug rehab today, you might think that a lot of the stigma associated with drug rehab treatment might have disappeared.  If you are young and famous drug rehab is almost a rite of passage. 

The study I saw clearly showed that people still are reluctant to seek treatment.  They are still looking for very confidential ways to seek drug treatment and drug rehab information.  People obviously are concerned about the after affects of admitting drug or alcohol abuse.  They fear for their reputation and their jobs.  Presents one of the classic catch 22 situations.  If they seek help, they worry about losing their job.  If they do not seek help, they will lose their job.  This again is why we need more on line drug rehab or even self help drug rehab.  I do not think this will "cure" everyone.  It is a source of real information though, that will allow people to see how serious their problem really is.  It will allow them to do it safely and from the privacy of their own home.This might convince more people to seek more extensive drug rehab treatment.  More information will lead to less stigma and more action about drug and alcohol addiction.  This is the real value of in home drug rehab.  Maybe on line drug rehab will not solve the problem, but it will help the client find the solution.

The wonderful thing about working with people is that no two days is ever the same.  Yesterday was another day which I learned something new.  I was talking with someone on the phone who was helping a family member get into a drug rehab program.  They wanted to give their family member a couple of drug rehabs to choose from during a family intervention.  While they were discussing things with me, they mentioned a well known, top drug rehab as one of their choices. 

I was quite surprised as this is a rather expensive place and while the money they were willing to spend on their family member was a substantial sum, it was a lot less than what I thought this rehab charged.  By talking with this drug rehab, they were able to get about 40% off the regular price people pay to go there.  While this is not possible for rehabs that are charging lower fees, as this example proves,it is certainly worth a try.  So go head and ask for a discount if you are going to a drug rehab, you never know, you just might get one!