Alcoholism Treatment

Do You Have A Problem With Alcohol?

Do you want to do something about it but are afraid to tell anyone?

Alcoholism Treatment and Detox Center puts you in charge of your recovery and your life. Forget about looking for the next drink! Start living the life you were meant to live and let our treatment program give you back your freedom.

Based on the latest alcoholism research and our own experience in the field our treatment center clinicians and physicians designed the Simply Healthy recovery program to give you the tools needed to change your life.

STOP living for the bottle.

STOP living a dependent and unhealthy existence and transform your life into a simple and healthy journey.

Currently we are looking for Beta Testers, people with a drink problem who will try out the site and feedback their experiences of using it. If you would like to help develop the site as a Beta Tester please go to this link and fill in the form. Thanks.

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Alcoholism treatment, like every other aspect of alcoholism, is the subject of debate on many levels. Alcoholism treatment arouses passions and divides people into opposing camps. In one camp are the believers in the disease model who firmly believe there is only one valid outcome to treatment - abstinence. The other side believes you can recover completely and lead a normal existence. The fact is, both sides are right. But the right answer for you may be abstinence and for someone else it may be a break for a while and then they can drink like a normal healthy person. Your answer is your answer and nobody elses'. It is not a one size fits all kind of problem. However, if you find yourself checking into a treatment center for alcohol problems you are more than likely in the camp that requires ABSTINENCE. (click here for a discussion about whether abstinence is a realistic outcome for alcoholism treatment). In the other camp are the believers in learning models, no labels and that everyone should learn controlled drinking. So who is right? Well they are both right and neither of them are right.

It may sound a bit of a cliche but not everyone is the same and abstinence is the right -and only- way for some, and controlled drinking is fine for others. Although it's a bit difficult to know who is who.

Is Alcoholism Treatment Effective?
Ahh, the $64,000 question. Unfortunately it begs all sorts of other questions before it can be answered.

What do you mean effective?

and for whom?

and compared to what?

Let me explain that. Effectiveness can be measured in many ways - which is one reason that the 2 camps start squabbling - for some only abstinence is sufficient, for others a reduction in previous drinking (ie an improvement) is a success.

If we look at the all or nothing figures (abstinence) then after one year only about 10% have had continuous abstinence - not great!! However if we look at improvement - drinking less and less often - then at one year the percentage improved is around 70% - better.

Other considerations are the costs to society for policing,

losses to industry through absenteeism

and the drain on health resources.

Recent economic studies in the UK found that for drug treatment and alcoholism treatment, every $1 spent resulted in a saving of $3 across these other areas. However, beware of such generalizations as they need to make considerable and sometimes questionable assumptions and at the end of the day they are only a guess, sure they represent the best guess at this time, but it is a guess nevertheless.

The next few pages will discuss the different approaches to treatment, the rationale, assumptions and evidence of effectiveness.

Pharmacological Treatments