Understanding the Day Treatment Program for Drug Addiction in Rhode Island

For several reasons, the day treatment program in Rhode Island has become immensely popular. The first reason is that this is an outpatient program; the patient is not supposed to be isolated in the center. They can continue living in their own homes, but they will have to attend the treatment center for five to seven days a week. This spells a great advantage to people who are in some kind of social obligations such as work or study and do not want to give it up on account of their addiction treatment.

Also, the day treatment program for drug addiction in Rhode Island is meant for people who are in mild to moderate states of addiction. Until now, the only option for people with these levels of drug addiction in Rhode Island was the inpatient treatment where they would be isolated in a controlled setting under constant medical setting. The day treatment program has made it possible for them to move towards recovery without needing to confine themselves in a rehab center.

Here, we take a brief look at how the day treatment program for drug addiction in Rhode Island is conducted and what kind of people would do well with this treatment.

The usual procedure of conducting this kind of treating process is to call in the patient to the center for five to seven days of the week. Most centers will want the patients to attend for every day of the week; however, there are some centers that give the patients their weekends off. These sessions each day may last for three to four hours, depending on the policies of the center. Mostly, the timings are kept in the early mornings or in the late evenings. This becomes convenient for most people because they can keep up with their other duties. In some treatment centers, flexible timings can be provided to accommodate people who do not have fixed work timings.

There are three chief aspects of this program for treating drug addiction in Rhode Island. These are the maintenance medication, the one-on-one counseling and the group education and therapy.

Maintenance Medication: This is a medication process that is carried on over the patient in order to keep them from getting the urges for the substance. As long as the maintenance medication is provided, the patient will feel a much reduced urge, if at all, for the substance. However, each form of addiction responds to a different kind of maintenance medication. Hence, it is important that the day program you are considering must be experienced in the kind of addiction you are looking at treatment for.

One-on-one Counseling: This counseling can be carried out with a regular substance abuse counselor or with a psychiatrist if the situation so demands. The main purpose of this counseling is to analyze the patient’s condition of mind. In most cases, there are some emotional issues that might be keeping the patient into the addiction. For example, a patient might have taken up an addiction as an answer to some difficult time in life. During the counseling, the patient is taught how to dissociate the addiction from the mental situation.

In some cases, people develop pronounced mental issues that might be keeping them with their addictions. If that is the condition, the people are handled by a psychiatrist who will delve into their mental condition and then decide what form of treatment would be the most ideal.

Group Therapies and Education: Here, a group of people (usually six to twelve) are handled together for imparting education about the addiction. The general aspect of this education is to make the people know the seriousness of the condition they are in and to understand what repercussions it may have on their personal, family, social and professional lives. They are shown how their addictions are hurting other people and what they can do in order to remedy the situation. Most importantly, they are shown how it is not impossible for them to come out of their addictions.

These people are also explained certain therapies and techniques that can help them to come out of their cravings from the substance. Some meditation and relaxation methods can help people reduce the urges they get for the substance. Also, some holistic methods may be used such as Yoga, acupuncture, aromatherapy, massage techniques, etc.

In some centers providing this kind of treatment for drug addiction in Rhode Island, families of the patients are also called in for counseling so that they can learn how to cope with the situation. The basic intention is to provide social rehabilitation for the patient so that they can find out more meaning in their addiction-free lives.