Comments on: Do You Know The 5 Common Elements Of Good Addiction Treatment?

By: Rodney Robbins

Rodney Robbins — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:54:44 +0000

Found your website while doing some research. Great information. As an addiction professional, I am always searching for useful websites and information for the teen clients I work with. This disease continues to be cunning, baffling, and deadly. I believe in longer, lower intensity treatment, and have seen what the research indicates in success rates. Thanks for your website!
Rod in Oregon

By: Jon Heller

Jon Heller — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:12:55 +0000

On point as always, Bill. One of the “read between the lines” I get from the length of treatment surveys is that a person not necessarily be “in” treatment that entire time; rather the longer a person remains connected to the place they became sober, you’ll get the same numbers.

That, however, leads to another problem/issue. “My way is better than your way.” Although natural to feel grateful for a facility/program, the problem begins when “mine” is “better” than “yours.” The fact remains that a 6 month, free, Salvation Army program will always have a slight edge over any mansion in Malibu. Better treatment? Nope…longer treatment.

Jon Heller
The Addiction Channel

By: skinthetic

skinthetic — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:47:20 +0000

This is a great guide in my opinion I’ve worked in treatment a long time now and I’ve encountered various elements of this article time after time. The support system alone is tremendous tool in staying sober so is the therapeutic alliance.

By: Fitness Weights

Fitness Weights — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:36:45 +0000

Point #1 is very deserving of its spot. My brother struggles with an addiction. If it weren’t for his family and support group there is no telling how far he would sink in to his hole. He has been sober for 2 years, after a long haul of addiction (more than 8 years). Everyone is really proud of him and we continue to give our support. Like this article, I also believe it’s the most important element in good addiction treatment.

By: how to write

how to write — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:03:30 +0000

Another great post. I am addicted to this site. Just love the quality of the posts and the message they carry. Hats off.

By: Adi Jaffe

Adi Jaffe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:45:03 +0000

There’s no doubt that longer retention yields better results. time and time again in my research I see the same finding.

One of the things that was left out of this excellent list was the notion that pharmacological treatment (i.e., medication) is sometimes a very useful part of recovery for some people. 12 Step groups hate this notion for the most part, but medications can help some people make it through early treatment where they would otherwise fail.

Keep up the good work!

By: personal statement examples

personal statement examples — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:34:28 +0000

I think that the success of any drug addiction treatment is greatly affected by a patient’s support network. Without the love and support of family, friends, and loved ones especially during treatment, anyone who’s suffering from addiction will most likely go back to his or her old habits.

By: mark88

mark88 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:03:34 +0000

The list of 5 common Elements of Good Addiction Treatment are true enough. A person who are into addiction needs more emotionally & psychologically support & understanding. They are sensitive in nature and always feeling isolated. Indeed, you can hardly feel them that they are something not just here on earth but also for God…

By: Relapse Prevention

Relapse Prevention — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:10:05 +0000

By: Bill Urell

Bill Urell — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:47:38 +0000

Your eyes will cross and your hair will smoke, but here you go…

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/txDischarges.htm#Success

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/Sros/sros8020.htm#E28E16

Length of Stay and Change in Drug Use after Treatment:

In addition to the type of treatment, the length of stay in treatment (Figure 3-7) was consistently associated with the extent of change in drug use. Although the pattern does not appear strictly linear in Figure 3-7, this is a consequence of grouping clients in types of treatment with shorter (generally the 24-hour facilities) and longer (outpatient) planned terms. By and large, the “less than one week” and “less than six month” groups are more heavily weighted with clients with suboptimal lengths of stay. The multivariate regression results reported below make it more clear that, after controlling for type of treatment (and therefore planned length of stay), length of stay is associated with the extent of decrease in drug use. Clients who completed their treatment plan were more likely to reduce their pretreatment drug use than noncompleters for every principal drug except crack.

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/txDischarges.htm#Success

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Hi Bill

The “staying in treatment longer is better” one I have always wondered about. Long term treatment worked for me after short term stays had failed. BUT….I saw a pretty horrible success rate in long term all around me. Also, it seems like I have seen other data or “facts” thrown around online where they seem to indicate that length of treatment really does not matter much.

Plus, you have all sorts of oldtimers barking at the newcomers that they never went to treatment at all, and just went to meetings!

So there are some different issues there I think. Not sure what to think in some cases. Can you point me towards some studies that look at the difference between long and short stays in treatment? I would love to see more “hard evidence” that supports it one way or the other….