With chart-topping tracks released by artists like Amy Winehouse and Rihanna dealing with the topic of Rehab, old taboos concerning substance abuse and recovery are evaporating. The success of detoxification programs varies and depends as much on the determination of the client or patient as it does on the nature of the program offered.
Parents contemplating the array of treatment options available to their offspring have a difficult decision; a misguided choice can be an expensive error. Centers exist which deal with combating addiction via the use of sauna treatments, exercise regimes, the administering of vitamin and mineral supplements, the use of natural products to combat withdrawal symptoms, re-education strategies, one-to-one and group therapy and more traditional drug-substitutes such as methadone.
Today, drug rehabilitation tries to rely less on replacement drugs, the buzzword being ‘natural’. The sauna approach to detoxifying flushes out the chemical components faster, for example, but it has to be used in tandem with other tactics, such as counseling to promote self-scrutiny and occupational re-training. Long-term sobriety is never guaranteed, and it is thought by many that a spiritual as well as a mental shift is needed if a person is to remain addiction-free.
Naturally, residential programs of this kind are expensive. The well-known not-for-profit Crossroads Center on the island of Antigua charges $21,500 for a 4-week stay. At the opposite end of the spectrum, for the ten-day programs in a Thailand monastery, patients are charged a token $5 per day. Spiritually rigorous, the monastery requires commitment from its inmates. Only one chance is given, so once ‘clean’, addicts have no option to return. Meditation and herbal concoctions which some find unpalatable are two cornerstones of the treatment. More standard live-in programs within the US tend to cost several thousand dollars per month. Any choice, therefore, has to be made with care.