Many people preparing to enter outpatient addiction treatment do not realize the first step before rehab is detox. Medical detox is important for your safety and comfort through the withdrawal process. If you currently abuse alcohol or drugs and suffer physical or psychological dependence on your substances, you should consider using a medical detox center, too.

What is a medical detox center?

Medical detox is a short-term program designed to help you comfortably and safely get through withdrawal. In a medical detox center, addiction treatment professionals keep you healthy, well-nourished, rested and as comfortable as possible as your body adjusts to absence of your drugs or alcohol. These caring professionals monitor your wellness and support you throughout your transition into sobriety.

In many medical detox centers, doctors and nurses are on staff 24 hours per day and seven days per week. This means you gain medications you need for your worst withdrawal symptoms. If you suffer underlying health problems or co-occurring conditions with your addiction, these gain treatment, too.

One of the most important roles of a medical detox center is safety. In a professional detox facility, you are secure in the closed environment. You gain relief from the looming possibility of relapse, as well as the deadly possibility relapse during detox presents. Being in the detox facility means you are away from triggers, temptations and stresses of home, so you focus on gaining sobriety.

How Medical Detox Before Outpatient Addiction Treatment Works

If you seek medical detox before outpatient addiction treatment, your treatment program can help you find the right detox program for your individual needs. By working with your rehab to find your detox, you also set up a seamless transition from detox to rehab. Most rehabs work with detox programs and know which ones to recommend for your best experience during withdrawal.

When you enter a medical detox facility, you undergo an intake process. This process involves having conversations with treatment professionals about your drug history, background, home life and health history. You also go through some lab tests, usually involving urine and blood sampling. These tests and the intake process as a whole help the detox clinicians understand what you need and develop your individual treatment plan.

Detox usually lasts between three and ten days. The exact length of your detox depends on factors like which substances you abused and your health.

In detox you likely gain the first well-rounded nutrition you have had in a long time. Most people in addiction eat poorly and consume mostly fast, fatty and nutrient poor foods. So this nourishment helps you feel better and start rebuilding your physical wellness. Eating well also means you look and feel much better upon leaving detox than you did coming in.

At the end of detox you transfer to your outpatient addiction treatment program. If you work with your rehab to find the right detox for your needs, your transfer is likely only a short drive to the outpatient program. Regardless of how you get to your outpatient treatment facility, this rehab is where true recovery begins for lasting sobriety.

Benefits of Outpatient Addiction Treatment after Medical Detox

In your medical detox program, the drugs or alcohol clear from your body and brain. But your addiction remains. You still suffer the desire to use your drugs or alcohol, even if that desire stays hidden for now. You need to treat your underlying causes of addiction, what motivated you toward substance abuse in the first place. Without this important treatment, you will only return to your substance abuse in the future.

In an outpatient addiction treatment program after medical detox, you address your underlying causes of addiction. Through therapies and education programs, you get to know why you abused drugs and alcohol. You gain coping skills and relapse prevention skills needed to deal with life stress, triggers and temptations in healthy ways.

At Seacrest Recovery Center in Boynton Beach, Florida, your outpatient treatment takes place in three phases as a proven approach to lasting recovery. These phases include:

Phase One: Two weeks of stabilization and five days per week of IOP treatment
Phase Two: Six to ten weeks of IOP, including three group therapy sessions per week
Phase Three: Greater freedom toward independent life with one group therapy and one individual counseling session weekly
Through only three phases of outpatient addiction treatment after your medical detox, you gain skills, support and insight you need for long-term recovery. This lasting sobriety can be yours. Simply call Seacrest Recovery Center now at (800) 411-8019 for information about available programs.